Climate change has made droughts more frequent, longer and more severe, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The heat wave of 2024 marked the 24th year of a megadrought in the Southwest. (File photo by Emma VandenEinde/Cronkite News)
WASHINGTON – Like many in Generation Z, Aria Harness worries about whether her next meal will harm the planet. Her biggest concerns: pesticides in food, water and soil.
“It is up to each individual to make these choices about their health,” she said, though she acknowledged that processed food is often more affordable than natural alternatives, “especially for college students, due to the significant increase in price and lack of options on campus.”
Worries about the health and environmental impacts of processed foods are pervasive among younger voters. Bloggers and activists promote sustainable lifestyles by putting a spotlight on the origin and effects of the food we eat, as do some food producers.
Harness, 22, is from Sedona and graduated with a degree in health sciences and nutrition in May from Northern Arizona University, where she served as vice president of the Food and Nutrition Club. The FAN Club, as it’s known, helps students learn how to make better nutrition and lifestyle choices.
“The issue that we are seeing is these companies prioritizing profit over health,” she said.
She wants food producers held accountable for any harm they cause to human health and the planet.
Climate scientists blame human activity – including agriculture – for much of the rise in temperatures around the globe, which threaten more intense and frequent wildfires, floods and droughts.
Phoenix saw 113 consecutive days with temperatures at or above 100 degrees this year. That streak from May 27 to Sept. 16, smashed the previous record of 76 days set in 1993.
The average temperature in Arizona has risen 2.5 degrees since the early 1900s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The United Nations Environment Programme pegs the cost of damage from industrial farming – greenhouse emissions, air and water pollution and destruction of wildlife – at $3 trillion every year worldwide. The UN also links these practices to obesity and other chronic diseases and to a rise in antimicrobial resistance that kills about 700,000 people every year.
In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency attributes 10% of greenhouse gas emissions to agriculture. The rest comes from the transportation, electricity and industrial sectors, and homes and businesses.
“Why is Generation Z plagued with more disease than ever when we are the most technologically advanced?” said Grace Price, an 18-year-old high school student from Austin, Texas, at a roundtable discussion on the food industry. It was convened at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 23 by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin.
“The reason is that ultra-processed food is the new cigarette for my generation,” said Price, who advocates for sustainability in food production.
Speakers at the roundtable pointed to industrial farming as a major culprit, citing methane emissions from cattle, the use of chemical fertilizers and the overuse of antibiotics have impacted the environment and the health of consumers.
“I’m here to strike against climate change,” says Andrew Bletka, who was a Cocopah Middle School student in Scottsdale in 2019. (File photo by Annika Tomlin/Cronkite News)
The Arizona Farm Bureau Federation rejects such assertions.
“I think most Americans aren’t eating correctly, but it’s not agriculture,” said Julie Murphree, the organization’s strategic communications director.
Murphree, who grew up on a farm in the Valley, noted that the use of antibiotics, pesticides and GMOs are heavily regulated. For example, Murphree shared that when a cow is treated with antibiotics, it is removed from the herd, and farmers must wait several days to ensure the antibiotics are eliminated before the cow can return to production for dairy and beef.
Murphree rejected the idea that industrial agriculture plays a major role in climate change.
“It’s ironic, most people get it wrong and they accuse cow farts of being the problem and where a lot of those CO2 emissions are coming from,” she said, noting it’s actually coming from cow burps.
The Arizona Farm Bureau Federation quotes research that agriculture has a minimal climate impact and asserts the industry plays an essential role in food security.
“I believe that the industry is a great contributor to us having a better climate,” Murphree said.
Murphree said that according to research conducted by the federation, plants grown on farms help absorb harmful emissions, including CO2, and release purified oxygen, helping maintain t a healthier atmosphere.
A balance between large-scale and smaller, organic farms is necessary to meet both local and global needs, according to Murphree.
One member of the Arizona Farm Bureau Federation, Date Creek Ranch in Wickenburg, northwest of Phoenix, says its cattle are free from hormones and antibiotics. “They have never – and will never – know a feedlot or taste grain, soy or corn,” the ranch says in its marketing material.
The ranch sells directly to consumers.
Savannah Barteau, runs the beef side of the business with her husband, whose grandfather founded the ranch. She said the family works to minimize environmental harm and to give their livestock the best treatment possible.
“We acknowledge that it is not some dumb animal that we are packing up and giving to you. These lives mean a lot to us,” she said.
Danielle Alvarado, a food blogger from Chicago who moved to Europe after a stint in the Navy, discovered that in hindsight, “I wasn’t educated on how food is really made. I, like so many others, blindly trusted that what I ate was good for me.”
On her blog, Sustainably Kind Living, she encourages a “non-toxic lifestyle.”
“We have the power to change the narrative around our food system, and it starts with choosing sustainability and compassion over convenience,” she said. “For the sake of our health and planet, we must advocate for a future where every bite nourishes both.”
