InTeGrate Modules and Courses >Future of Food > Student Materials > Section 2: Environmental Dynamics and Drivers > Module 4: Food and Water > Summary and Final Tasks
InTeGrate's Earth-focused Modules and Courses for the Undergraduate Classroom
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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
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For the Instructor

These student materials complement the Future of Food Instructor Materials. If you would like your students to have access to the student materials, we suggest you either point them at the Student Version which omits the framing pages with information designed for faculty (and this box). Or you can download these pages in several formats that you can include in your course website or local Learning Managment System. Learn more about using, modifying, and sharing InTeGrate teaching materials.
Initial Publication Date: January 11, 2018

Summary and Final Tasks

Summary

This module has introduced some important concepts that tie our food system to the Earth's water resources. Water resources are essential for food production, and food production also has significant impacts globally on both the quantity surface and groundwater and the quality. Growing crops relies on water from either precipitation or irrigation derived from surface and groundwater. Virtual water is embedded in everything you eat, with the amount of water varying, depending on the crop and the climate in which the crop was grown. Crops grown in hot and dry climates consume more water via transpiration as evaporation rates are higher in those climates. Also, some plants need more water than others, for example, rice uses more water to grow than corn. You explored precipitation rates in different parts of the US compared to evaporation rates and considered how much water might need to be applied to certain crops. Computation of your personal water footprint allowed you to compare your lifestyle and resulting water consumption with average water consumption in the US and globally. Also, these computations along with consideration of virtual water in different food products allowed you to draw conclusions about the impacts of different types of diets on the planet's water resources.

In this unit, we've just touched the surface of the very large issue of how agriculture impacts both the quality and quantity of our water resources. We also looked at a few examples of agricultural practices that help to minimize and reduce these impacts.The Colorado River provided an example of a river on which agricultural diversions have severely impacted the quantity of water in the river. We saw that the Colorado River no longer reaches the sea! The breadbasket of the US, the Midwest, contributes nutrient pollution to the Mississippi River, which has, in turn, created a massive dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. You explored data on the size of the dead zone and proposed strategies to reduce the nutrient loading and thereby reduce the size of the dead zone in the future.

Reminder - Complete all of the Module 4 tasks!

You have reached the end of Module 4! Double-check the to-do list on the Module 4 Roadmap to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there before moving on to Module 5!

References and Further Reading

Additional Resources

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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »