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Insert Name1 Food and Sustainability Students Name Institution Affiliation Professor’s Name Due Date Sustainability Relationships and Connections Introduction Sustainable diets as explained by Food and Agricultural Organization should be able to combine environment, nutrition and dimensions of affordability. The only concern is whether the dimensions are actually compatible, and there is no guidance on what the official recommendation is, therefore there is need to find food that shows compatible sustainability dimensions (Bhatia, Arvind 23). In order to create sustainability, there have been efforts which have been put in place such as genetically modified food which is intended to increase the level of agricultural yield over a short period of time. There are also cases of overfishing has led to denudation of the sea life and the beauty that is created by the coral reef. The question has been concerned with whether the cases of genetic modifications are able to create sustainability and whether the case of overfishing has affected food sustainability that much (Bhatia, Arvind 30) This paper seeks to look at the sustainability relationships and try to analyze what practice is good for the sustainability of food supply all over the world and which activity is not proper for sustainability (Bhatia, Arvind Pg.30) Insert Name2 Concept of Sustainability Since the 1980s when the concept was first developed, it has been used more on the sense of human sustainability on earth. The concept is majorly based on the premise that people and the communities in which they live are made up of economic, social and environmental systems that are in interaction and which must be coexisting in harmony or in a form of balance if the community has to continue operating as a unit (Bhatia, Arvind 40). The fact is that a healthy balanced society is one that can be able to endure into the future, and provide a decent way of life for the members. It is a society that is self sustainable. There are several principles of sustainability that are able to help a community ensure that all the economic, social and environmental systems are well integrated (Mello, Felix 24) The first principle is that we should maintain and enhance a people’s quality of life. Quality of life is livability which differs from one community to the other. Each community has to provide a basis of quality of life that they intend to live in. The other principle is that a community must be able to maintain local economic vitality (Mello, Felix 44). This is job opportunity for future and proper tax base. There should be social and intergenerational equity, meaning that there should be sustainable community resources as well as opportunities for the current set of generation and the future generation. The other principle is that we should be able to maintain and enhance the quality of the environment. It is protecting whatever the environment has already in place. There is also another principle that requires that we should be able to use consensus building and participation when making decisions on matters of policy which can be vital for the community sustainability (Mello, Felix 24). Insert Name3 Genetically Modified Organisms It is important to define what genetically modified food is in order to find a bearing on how to relate it to the question of sustainability (Whitman, Deborah Pg. 3). As years pass by the definition of GMF has continued to change, but the bottom line remains that it is any food that has been injected with DNA of another species in unnatural way. In the past, crossbreeding was done naturally with no human intervention. The genetically modified food is human made crossbreeding (Mello, Felix 24). There has been a heated debate on whether genetically modified food does help human beings. It has been argued that there are a lot of benefits to the genetically modified foods, something that many may sound strange (Whitman, Deborah 3). The majority of the benefits have been found to help the farmer since the food is basically pest resistant, diseases resistant, sanitary tolerant and drought tolerant (Mello, Felix 34) But do the genetic modified foods adhere to the principle of sustainable environment? The pests are part of environment which survives on the plants and other plants survive of the pests. GMF technology is concerned with elimination of weak genes which are not resistant to the pests and replace them with strong genes that can be able to resist the pest (Whitman, Deborah 4). This is an avenue that is created to eliminate pests. In the natural environmental set up pests have been beneficial to the plants and plants have been beneficial to pests, which environmental mutuality is under threat now with the new technology. On the other hand, GMO foods are important since they have been used as a means through which malnutrition can be curbed. The crops grow very fast and certain vitamins can be injected into them (Whitman, Deborah 5). They grow faster and therefore can be able to help impoverished people; this has really helped the people in the third world countries. There is a certain level of admission by scientists that these foods have certain amount of side effects which Insert Name4 end up creating diseases. This is against the principle that sustainability calls for an environment that is ideal with not diseases (Mello, Felix 70) Finding Nemo on Your Plate Concept There is a reality of overfishing which occurs basically among the Caribbean, the Virgin Islands and also along the African coastal towns. This type of fishing though provides food and economic income for the current generation; it is a destruction of the coral reef. One might ask what is coral reef when people are able to get food and earn a living (Wear, Stephanie Pg. 6). There are several environmental advantages that are brought about by the coral reefs, which help the fishes and other aquarium to survive. The grazers also known as the herbivores eat and maintain the seaweed which grows throughout the coral reef, but the fishing communities are catching all the herbivores and putting them out for food and diet (Wear, Stephanie Pg. 6). If all the herbivores are killed and eaten, then the seaweed will overgrow and the coral will disappear slowly by slowly. The growing weed will cover a large portion of the water therefore making the living habitat if the fishes to end. Sustainable growth dictates that we should be able to care for the current generation and the future. Overfishing will mean that the future generation will be left with nothing to eat. Through killing the grazers and letting the weed overgrow the corals, we are stating that the environment should continue to suffer as we continue to enrich ourselves today (Wear, Stephanie Pg. 6). Everyone is part of the solution, and there is need that as we eat we are able to choose sustainable seafood rather than consuming that which should be left to stabilize us for the future (Wear, Stephanie 6). Conclusion Insert Name5 There is need to conserve the future even as we seek the present happiness and fulfillment. Every individual has a role to play in ensuring that the environment in which we live in is not depleted through selfish economic and social needs. There should be great guides who can be able to help determination of whether the seafood is toxic or free of metal. Similar methods can be used to ensure that the food that we eat is not injected with chemicals that can be very toxic and which will affect our health. There guides that leads one to restaurants that will ensure that the food that they serve is healthy and not endangered (Wear, Stephanie Pg. 6).. Before one sits down to eat a piece of fish, they need to ensure that it does not affect the reefs, people today and in the future will depend on this reef and therefore they need to be maintained. I believe that GMO food is a great idea scientifically. But it should be a means that only advances the life of people and not to limit it wholesomely. There should be a rule that people with authority to implant DNA on our food should be able to do it since there are people who may use means that have not been approved and therefore may end up killing a great generation of people through side disease that would have been avoided if people were not exposed to genetic foods. The beauty of sustainability is that it tries to create an ideal situation, which is good for the current generation and the future generation. Living today we have a role for the future. Insert Name6 Works Cited Bhatia, Arvind Lal. Sustainable Environment and Impact Assessment. Jaipur: Aavishkar, 2007. Print. Mello, J. P. Felix. Food Safety Contaminants and Toxins. Oxon, UK: CABI Pub., 2003. Print. Wear, Stephanie. Finding Nemo in Your Plate. New York: Routledge, 2010. Print. Whitman, Deborah. "Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?"" Human Health Journal 3 (2012). Print.