The GREEN Revolution [AP Human Geo Review—Unit 5 Topic 5]
Heimler's History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLA4cZef_OU

Transkript (automatisch erstellt)

0:00 we've talked about the first Agricultural Revolution we've talked about the second Agricultural Revolution and wouldn't you know it there is in
0:06 fact a third Agricultural Revolution which included the Green Revolution so let's talk about it and if you're ready to get them bran cows milked let's get
0:12 to it okay first let me tell you what in the fresh heck we're talking about when we talk about the Green Revolution it refers to a movement in the 1960s
0:18 through 7s in which scientists developed new strains of high yielding grain crops through the process of crossbreeding and by crossbreeding I mean they mixed
0:25 different species of plants or animals in order to produce a hybrid version which had the best genetic character characteristics of both okay stop right
0:31 there and point your ear holes this way because there's something here that students often get wrong on their exams but now you baby so listen up so the
0:37 Green Revolution was definitely characterized by the application of science to Agriculture and crossbreeding was a kind of genetic modification to
0:45 seeds and animals but students often assume that means that genetically modified organisms or GMOs were a product of the Green Revolution but that
0:52 is a big old stanky falsehood in fact GMOs were a development that occurred later in the '90s and the early 2000s and we're going to talk about them in
0:59 another video but for now just don't get that confused anyway now let's get to the point these new hybrid seeds yielded far more crops than regular seeds and
1:06 that led to an incredible increase in agricultural productivity oh and by the way if you need help getting an A in your class and a five on your exam in
1:12 May then you might want to check out my AP Human Geography himler review guy it is the fastest way to study and you can find the link in the description below
1:18 okay now the next thing you need to know about the Green Revolution is the manner in which it diffused for the most part the scientific efforts that yielded
1:24 these developments occurred in the United States and then diffused hierarchically to periphery and semi- periphery countries like India IND
1:30 Mexico and Indonesia now each of these places were largely characterized by subsistence agriculture they had a metric buttload of mouth holes to feed
1:36 and therefore they struggled to feed them all as it turns out these new Green Revolution Technologies solved a lot of those problems and finally it's going to
1:43 be important for you to remember that along with these new developments came the necessity to use more machines and chemicals and that led to the further
1:49 increasing mechanization of Agriculture so let's consider both so in terms of chemicals in order to achieve such high yield for the crops huge amounts of
1:56 synthetic fertilizers were required now whereas your average Garden variety and animal turd worked for Millennia to fertilize crops the Green Revolution
2:03 tossed those turds and developed chemical fertilizers additionally because these new engineered crops were more vulnerable to destruction by pests
2:10 large amounts of chemical pesticides were necessary as well additionally to realize such high yielding crops in these places increasing mechanization
2:16 was required so in places where human labor was mainly used for planting and harvesting Machinery like tractors and tillers and grain carts were introduced
2:23 in order to increase the efficiency of farming practices now I reckon we ought to talk about the effects of the Green Revolution because you know they wor
2:29 some effects and we'll start with the Positive now the first positive effect in places that adopted the Green Revolution technology was higher crop
2:35 yields so because more food could be produced on the same amount of land populations in the developing world were able to feed their people and even to
2:42 have access to sell on the World Market so yet again Thomas malus and his great predictions of worldwide Doom were thwarted by human ability to innovate
2:49 with respect to food and then the second positive effect was lower food prices for almost 50 years the prices of these high yielding crops fell consistently
2:56 making it more available to people who could not otherwise afford it what that means is that the green Revolution created a substantial solution to world
3:02 hunger and then the third positive effect included a more efficient use of agricultural land like in case you hadn't notice our Fair Earth isn't
3:08 exactly coughing up any more land on which we can grow food so the application of the Green Revolution Technologies meant that farmers could
3:14 get far more food out of the same plot of land than had ever been possible before so you know noise so all of that sounds really great right but you didn't
3:21 think there weren't any negative consequences of the Green Revolution did you don't be crazy no there are all kinds of downsides to this development
3:28 but I'm going to constrain myself to three first the Green Revolution had negative consequences on the environment as it turns out one of the main reasons
3:34 so much extra food could be produced is because farmers were encouraged to double crop or plant more than one crop in the same soil per year and you might
3:40 say so what well unlike the Sass that perpetually pours forth from this gaptooth mouth nutrients in the soil are not an inexhaustible resource and that
3:48 kind of intensive use of the soil often led to soil exhaustion and erosion which would make the soil useless or at least diminished for the next year's planting
3:55 additionally critics also noted that with the increased use of chemicals for these new crops agricultural runoff could lead to significant pollution of
4:01 freshwater sources and I don't know about you but the thought of slaking my thirst with a tall glass of water laced with nitrogen and phosphates not my idea
4:08 of a good time anyway the second negative consequence was the exclusion of women in various developing societies that participated in the Green
4:14 Revolution many of them held more traditional gender roles even though women performed a great deal of the Agricultural labor in those places it
4:20 was men who were trained and given decision-making power over this new method of farming which marginalized women's roles even more it was the same
4:26 old story men were out farming and women were consigned to making everybody sandwiches and then the third negative consequence has to do with the economics
4:33 of the Green Revolution you see because these new seeds were owned and sold by large Agra bus corporations farmers in the developing world had lost a great
4:40 deal of their independence they now had to purchase new seeds from these corporations year after year but wait a minute haven't Farmers just always used
4:47 the seeds from the previous years Harvest to plant again next year well yeah but these Agri bus Executives got all kinds of Wy in order to turn a
4:53 profit on these new technologies you see these new hybrid seeds were engineered to yield large amounts of food the first year but then Le the next year and so
5:00 new seeds were required each year and that led to an increasing dependence of Farmers on these corporations and that meant an increasing number of those
5:07 Farmers could no longer afford those seeds or any of the other technology required for that matter additionally each Corporation developed its own
5:13 pesticides and fertilizers that only worked with their own seeds which further bound the farmer to that Corporation and though the Green
5:19 Revolution was successful in some places and others farmers were not able to afford the ongoing cost and thus cannot participate in the benefits of the Green
5:25 Revolution Okay click here to keep reviewing other topics in unit 5 and click here to get your hands on my AP Human Geography himler review guide
5:31 which has everything you need to get an A in your class and a five on your exam in May it is the fastest way to study and I think you're going to like it I
5:37 appreciate you coming around and I'll catch you on the flipflop I'm L out