GEOG 5 Gillespie Thomas 2012 Fall Week 3 Lecture 6 October 16 2012 Announcements Required readings Chapters 12 14 Midterm date may change to be determined Outline of Last Lecture I Discussion of Population Growth II How population growth has changed in recent history Outline of Today s Lecture 1 Discussion of important plants Today s Lecture Civilization civilize city Name Spices Cloves Origin Sulawesi Spice Islands History Cloves gold extremely profitable Magellan bought back 26 tons of cloves this would pay for the entire trip How it s grown very easily Impact Good relatively sustainable Name Potato Solanum tuberosum Origin The Andes History 4th largest produced crop in the world China is now the biggest producer of potato Used to make vodka How it s grown Very easy Plant seeds underground and it will grow above the surface Very wide variety particularly those grown in the wild Impact Bad historically there was a push to only produce one species leaving others to go extinct Good pretty sustainable to grow in the long run Name Sugar saccharin officinarum Origin Papa New Guinea History originally brought into Europe by Alexander the Great How it s grown It is a grass it is a perennial grass We harvest it ahead of time then burn the field and repeat the process These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Impact Bad monoculture places where all the native plants are cut down and replaced by mass sugar canes Takes a lot of fertilizer nitrogen this nitrogen when it rains flows into the everglades and causes poisoning of the coral reefs Name Chocolate Theobromn Cacao Origin Amazon basin History Columbus found the cacao and brought it back home Number one exporters now are Nigeria and Cameroon How it s grown Cacao is grown from huge pods on the tree these pods contain white seeds these are fermented to form chocolate Impact Good These trees allow primates to survive therefore chocolate plantations are not too bad for the environment Name Tea camellia sinesis Origin China History 2000 BC Widely drunk in Islamic countries Half of all tea comes from China today Dutch introduced tea to England in the 1800s changing the dominant drink from coffee to tea How it s grown It s a shrub Grown in monoculture fields Some contains caffeine and tannins Impact Bad because it s monoculture impacts native vegetation Name Coffee coffea Arabica Origin highlands of Ethiopia History only been domesticated since 500 AD Coffee central exporter was from Mocha Yemen Coffee houses started in Oxford England moved to Amsterdam How s it grown 1 Good Organic Shade Grown Coffee El Salvador etc coffee is grown on the side of the highlands keeping the native tree canopy allowing birds and primates to still use the canopy Pesticides are not grown 2 Bad Sun Coffee Brazil grown in mass Everything else taken down Impact Depending on how it s grown Organic good Sun bad Name Cotton Gossypium Srp Origin Indus Valley Central America History very important plant How it s grown Needs a huge amount of water and pesticides When it s organic brown cotton uses organic methods so far less pesticides used Impact Good or bad dependent on whether organic or not Name Rubber Hevea brasilinesis Origin Brazil amazon basin History Originally all came from the Amazon and there was no monoculture of rubber trees because they were susceptible to a leaf blight Brazil had a monopoly in 1850 were not allowed to export even one seed 1860 rubber seed was exported to Singapore where there was no leaf blight and it became monoculture How it s grown Grows in trees there are cut and the sap drips down and is collected Impact Good when local groups collect rubber sustainably e g in the Amazon Bad when it s grown in monoculture as stops growth of native plants Name Pineapple Ananas cosmosus Origin Paraguay History Originally Hawaii produced a huge amount of pineapples now less than 1 Now mostly comes from Taiwan How s it grown It occurs on the floor the pineapple grows at the top of the small plant Impact Bad when grown in monoculture as destroying native plants Good when grown in small local manner Name Bananas musa specie Origin New Guinea History If you have an area of 1ha in 1 year 98 lbs potatoes 32 lbs wheat 4400 lbs bananas How it s grown it s an herb Grows as a tree chop off the banana move and replant it it will regrow very easily Impact Bad when it s monoculture they use trash bags to protect the banana from insects these bags are then washed into the ocean and look like jelly fish they get eaten by sea turtles and they die Good when done on a small scale Name Orange Origin China History introduced to Spain then to Florida then becomes very important Name Apple Origin Kazakhstan Name Watermelon Origin Africa Name Maize zea maya Origin Mexico History 5000 BC first produced Half of all maize is grown in U S How it s grown grows knee high doesn t reproduce itself anymore Impact Bad when it s monoculture e g Nebraska Good when grown in Intercropping grow peas then corns then pineapples then corn etc this means diseases cant hop from one to another reducing the impact on the environment Name Wheat Triticum Origin Iran History 7500BC first grow Its production exceeds all other crops in the world Used for bread much is used for livestock How it s grown Impact Bad when monoculture Good when intercropped Name Rice oryza sativa Origin Southern Himalayas History feeds 2 3 of humanity Provides 50 of all calories for 1 6 billion people How it s grown Wet rice rice is planted by hand and you bring in water add a plant that produces nitrogen Dry Rice occurs on very steep slope individually plant the rice seeds and then have to weed it Impact Good and Bad Name Cocaine Erthosylum coca Origin Andes History 3000 BC Inca civilizations founded on coca suppress hunger and fatigue Spanish came and took the coca leaves destroying Inca work ethic Very important as a nutrient How it s grown Nutrients compared to 50 other plants and crops in South America coca has more calories than any other crop plant more protein more fiber more carbohydrates more calcium than any other plant in the world Impact BAD in the processed sense very harmful drug Mexican drug cartels etc