Sustainable Strategies (OCR GCSE Geography B)

Ethical Consumerism

• The purchase of goods and services produced in a way that minimises social, economic and environmental impacts is known as ethical consumerism

• Examples of ethical consumerism include:

  • Fairtrade

  • Reduction of waste

Fairtrade 

• Fairtrade aims to:

  • Pay a fair and guaranteed price for a product this is often higher than the market price

  • Improve working conditions

  • Pay a Fairtrade or social premium, which is reinvested in the community

  • Fairtrade has high production standards which reduces the impact on the ecosystem

• Fairtrade is generally regarded as sustainable

• It does have disadvantages which impact sustainability including:

  • Fairtrade is usually for primary goods which have a limited value

  • It relies on people being prepared to pay higher prices for goods which are Fairtrade

  • it only benefits communities rather than regions or countries

  • There is a limited range of Fairtrade products

Reduction of waste

• In the UK almost 10 million tonnes of food is thrown away each year 

• Over 70% of this occurs in people's homes, the rest is from restaurants, cafes, hotels and fast food outlets

• An additional 3.3 million tonnes is wasted on farms due to:

  • Lack of buyers for a particular crop

  • Lack of workers to harvest the crop

  • Crops/livestock products not meeting supermarket standards

• Strategies to reduce food waste include:

  • Wonky Veg and Odd Box are available in supermarkets and online. This means that vegetables not meeting the grade standard can be sold rather than wasted

  • Removal of best-before dates on some products such as milk, fruit and vegetables

  • Creation of apps such as 'Too Good to Go' which enables retailers to sell off food which would otherwise be thrown away

  • Donation of supermarket food to organisations like FareShare who then distribute to charities and community groups such as homeless shelters and community cafes

• In LIDCs most of the food waste occurs either in the field or as a result of poor storage

• Strategies to reduce this food waste include:

  • Improved storage facilities 

  • Prevention of disease spread among crops and livestock

Food Production

• There are many types of farming including:

  • Intensive farming

  • Organic farming

• In terms of sustainability and food security each has its own advantages and disadvantages 

Intensive farming

• An intensive farming system has high levels of inputs to achieve the highest possible yield per hectare

• Intensive farms often use:

  • High levels of pesticides, fertilisers and herbicides

  • Factory farming methods where animals are kept inside in densely packed conditions 

    • Battery farming which involves the animals being restricted to small unenriched cages is now banned in the UK and EU

  • Antibiotics to stop the spread of disease rather than as treatment for diseases 

  • Other types of intensive agriculture in

Advantages and Disadvantages of Intensive Farming

Agribusinesses

• There has been an increase in agribusiness in many parts of the world, particularly LIDCs where companies are buying up large areas of land

• The aim of the companies is to make a profit and often the food produced is exported

• This means that the agribusinesses often have minor impact on LIDCs food security

Organic farming

• Increasing numbers of farmers are converting to organic standards of farming

• Demand for organic food has increased due to health and environmental concerns

• Organic farming uses natural methods of pest and weed control as well as natural fertilisers 

• The use of artificial pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers is banned in organic standards

• Livestock is only given antibiotics when unwell 

• Vaccinations are restricted 

• Organic farmers tend to leave hedgerows and encourage wildlife to help with natural pest control

Advantages and Disadvantages of Organic Farming

Technology

Over the last 100 years, there have been significant advances in technology which improve food security including:

• Genetically Modified (GM) crops

• Hydroponics 

• Aeroponics

• Green revolution

Genetically Modified (GM) Crops

• Genetic modification involves using genes from one species to improve another species and increase yields:

  • Crops can be made pesticide-resistant so that when pesticides are sprayed to remove the pests the crop is undamaged

  • The vitamin which causes carrots to be orange (beta carotene) is added to rice to increase human uptake of the vitamin

• Genetic modification is controversial

• GM crops are grown in many countries including the USA, Canada, Argentina and India

• In 2022 the UK government is looking to remove the controls which stop the widespread growth of GM crops

Advantages and Disadvantages of GM Crops

Hydroponics

• Hydroponics is a type of agriculture that grows plants without soil

• Plants can be grown indoors, in carefully controlled conditions

• Their roots are suspended in a solution that contains all the nutrients that they need to grow

• The solution flows around the greenhouse in channels so all the plants are well supplied with nutrients

• Lighting can be via artificial lights or via glass roofs, as in a commercial greenhouse

• Conditions can be monitored carefully, and yields improved

  • Yields are not dependent on good weather

• Examples of hydroponically grown crops are tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, lettuces, and peppers

Advantages and Disadvantages of Hydroponics

• Aeroponics uses a mist containing nutrients rather than suspending the roots in water

• The Green Revolution led to a significant increase in crop yields in the 1960s due to the development and use of high-yield varieties (HYV) 

Bottom Up Strategies

• Bottom-up approaches to food security are usually:

  • Small-scale

  • Less environmentally damaging

  • Socially sustainable within a community

• They rely on local communities rather than large organisations

Urban gardens

• An urban garden is an area where food is grown within a town or city

• They exist as allotments, roof gardens, back gardens, and community spaces

Advantages and Disadvantages of Urban Gardens

Permaculture

• Permaculture attempts to mimic nature in the way that crops are grown

• The term means 'permanent agriculture' this means that management of the crops ensures that they can be used continuously

Advantages and Disadvantages of Permaculture