CHEM 181 Lecture 5: Unit 2 - Topic 5.pdf

• School: McGill University
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHEM 181
• Professor: Ariel Fenster

Document Summary

Plants take up carbon dioxide and water and produce oxygen and chemicals that make. !- 50 years ago 70% of the world was involved in farming in some way ! Today 2% of the population supply all the food for the rest of us ! Hunter/ gatherers > agriculture (able to grow crops) ! As the population grew there is increasing need for more food; conventional agriculture at the time wasn"t able to ful ll the needs ! Today we have the technology to produce massive amounts of food ! Pesticides designed to kill pests, weeds, fungi ! population ! food ! By 2050 there will be 10 billion people needing food; already having trouble feeding current. We will have to use fertilizers and pesticides; without them we cannot produce enough. !- organic: growing crops without synthetic pesticides; relying on natural means to control insects ! Michelle obama plants crops (using natural techniques) in the back yard !