Energy and food production with a systemic approach

In this article, the authors begin with a discussion of energy issues, noting some basic problems with dependency on fossil fuels. They also survey the energy situation as it exists today, including efforts to find alternative and renewable energy sources, especially related to food production. As t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental Quality Management 2011-12, Vol.21 (2), p.57-74
Main Authors: Barbero, Silvia, Fassio, Franco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative energy sources
Energy management
Food production
Food products
Fossil fuels
Renewable energy sources
Sustainable development
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Summary:In this article, the authors begin with a discussion of energy issues, noting some basic problems with dependency on fossil fuels. They also survey the energy situation as it exists today, including efforts to find alternative and renewable energy sources, especially related to food production. As the discussion makes clear, today's economy is based on a linear approach that wastes energy and material resources at many stages of the production process. They highlight the need for a new strategy that abandons this approach in favor of an interrelated and holistic methodology: Systemic Design. -- Systemic thinking sees production as a comprehensive system, not a series of disconnected stages. From this viewpoint, by-products and waste are not simply discards. In the final sections of this article, they offer some guidelines and practical policies that can be used to promote holistic development that is genuinely sustainable.
ISSN:1088-1913
1520-6483
DOI:10.1002/tqem.20318