Author ORCID Identifier
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Daedalus
Abstract
As the collective impact of human activity approaches Earth's biophysical limits, the ethics of food become increasingly important. Hundreds of millions of people remain undernourished, yet only 60 percent of the global harvest is consumed by humans, while 35 percent is fed to livestock and 5 percent is used for biofuels and other industrial products. This essay considers the ethics of such use of edible nutrition for feedstock and biofuel. How humanity uses Earth's land is a reflection of its values. The current land-use arrangements, which divert 40 percent of all food to feed animals or create fuels, suggest that dietary and transportation preferences of wealthier individuals are considered more important than feeding undernourished people, or the stability of the wider biotic community.
Pages
90-98
html
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00356
Volume
144
Issue
4
Publication Date
2015
Disciplines
Philosophy
ISSN
0011-5266
Recommended Citation
Brian G. Henning; The Ethics of Food, Fuel & Feed. Daedalus 2015; 144 (4): 90–98. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00356
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Comments
This article was originally published by the MIT Press's Open Access journal Daedalus.
© 2015 by Brian G. Henning. All Rights Reserved.
This item is included in the Center for Climate, Society, & the Environment's Faculty Publications Bibliography.
Find more Climate Studies works by Gonzaga University faculty at the bibliography's home here.