ENVR 1302 - Macy

Section A : Species 1 Common name: Grey Parrot Scientific name: Psittacus erithacus IUCN Category: Endangered Geographic range: The Grey Parrot is native to parts of East and West Africa stretching from Côte d'Ivoire, all the way into parts of Uganda and Kenya, and down into The Democratic Republic of the Congo. The bird is also completely extinct in Benin and Togo (IUCN).  Habitat: The three main habitats of Grey Parrots are forests, savannahs, and artificial or terrestrial areas such as rural gardens. Though they generally reside in dense forests, they can also be seen at forest edges, clearings, gallery forest, mangroves, wooded savannah, and cultivated areas (IUCN). Assessment information: Grey Parrots were classified as vulnerable in 2012 and 2013 and endangered in 2016, 2017, and 2018, with their current population still decreasing. This is the result of a combination of habitat loss and excessive harvesting for international trade (IUCN).  Threats: The main threats Grey...

1.0 Points of View The authors of The Savory Method Can Not Green Deserts or Reverse Climate Change (Briske, Bestelmeyer, Brown, Fuhlendorf, and Polley), and Savory’s Unsubstantiated Claims Should Not Be Confused With Multipaddock Grazing (Briske, Bestelmeyer, and Brown), clearly take a critical stance against Savory's claims. They express concern about the effects of his relentless promotion of his methods and challenge the credibility of his claims. They hold the opinion that adaptive management can have beneficial effects, but that Savory's "holistic" technique lacks substance, evidence, and even truth. These authors take a very calculated, scientific approach to this and reference only "documented evidence" as opposed to Savory, who the deplore for lacking and even opposing fundamental evidence (Briske et al., 2014). Additionally, it is clear from Ketcham's writing that he does not agree Savory's methods either. Based on the fact that he had pre...

  1.0 Introduction to Regenerative Agriculture Regenerative agriculture is a sustainable, alternative form of agriculture that focuses on soil health, animal welfare, laborers, and farmers (Patagonia, 2020a). This method takes organic farming and builds on it with the goal of sequestering carbon and in effect, reversing the impacts of climate change. In this way, regenerative agriculture attempts to work with nature to ensure that future generations may also prosper and maintain the ability to grow their food (Patagonia, 2020b). It has five major principles which include: 1) maximizing solar plant cycle, 2) increasing water cycle, 3) increasing nutrient cycling, 4) plant diversity, and 5) change of mindset (Envr Cowboy, 2019). This practice, which started with about 150 farmers in India, has proved incredibly efficient, but in order to see the necessary change to save our planet, there needs to be systems level change as well (Patagonia, 2020c).   2.0 Explore the Facts  S...

History of Agriculture Pre-Modern Agriculture Animals require nutrients to survive Most populations originally nomadic hunters and gatherers Change from hunting and gathering to more complex systems happened 10,000 yrs ago Southwest Asia  Early holocene (9,500 B.C.) First instance of planted crops Grains, lentils, peas, lentils, vetch, flax Persian Gulf (Fertile Crescent) and China 7,000 B.C. Domesticated animals: Sheep and goats plus oxen for labor Americas 3,000-2,700 B.C.  Plants such as maize, potato, tomato, pepper, squash, and beans  Development of agriculture led to Settlements  Greater population density Armies to protect croplands More advanced agricultural techniques Crop rotation  Manure fertilization Terraced rice fields Cattle plowing Irrigation systems Agricultural exchange led to Globalization  Atlantic slave trade  From the 1800’s on Advanced breeding techniques Nitrogen and phosphorous crop fertilizers Vitamins for livestock Tractors D...