- Published: June 10, 2022
- Updated: June 10, 2022
- University / College: University of St Andrews
- Language: English
- Downloads: 37
Almost all of Bermuda’s food supply is imported from other countries (mainly the US). {1} With extra costs coming from transportation and import duties, the consumer goods of Bermuda are much more expensive than that of the states (though there isn’t any sales or income tax). A few foods – such as, some vegetation, baked goods, and some animal products are produced locally on the island but are still rather expensive. Some US-style market are found as well.
Because of the high cost in edible items, those who reside on Bermuda prefer to grow their own food or work more to afford the costs. Growing your own food may prove to be a difficult task as there is very little adequate farming land. Although, Bermudians shouldn’t have the slightest problem with paying for food as Bermuda enjoys having one of the highest per capita earning in the world.
As of 2014, the average annual salary of a serviceman working in Bermuda was about $60, 000 per year. {4} And many others earn a lot more than that. Although poverty isn’t common in Bermuda (said to be 11% of overall population in 2007), there is still the lowline of income of $27, 000 per year. {4} Sure this is still a lot higher than the minimum wages of other countries but even when earning this much, one is said to be poor and incapable of living a healthy lifestyle without any assistance. {4} While Bermuda is dubbed as the most prosperous country, having the highest average income of any other country, it is also home to the highest housing costs in the world. {5} Which means you’ll spend a lot more than you may realize. The number of persons per family also interprets the living cost. The bigger the family the bigger home you will need.
And if you have a bigger home that housing cost will also grow. With families come children; with children come education. But as for that in bermuda, public education is only recently being reorganized to provide middle schools and reduce the number of secondary schools. {1} For the schools that they already provide, are heavily based on the schools and educators of Ontario, Canada. {1} The healthcare in Bermuda is rather good. Although the only hospital on the island is the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital just east of their capital, Hamilton, which is well equipped with modern medical amenities.
{1} The hospital is based under a Canadian system and most of the competent physicians are trained in the US or Canada. The Bermudians are very careful in maintaining a healthy lifestyle by taking preventative measures for diseases, regulating quality of food, and protecting oneself with protection depending on the weather when outside. At this point in time the only reason some Bermudians aren’t able to produce their own food is because of the space available to grow pretty much anything. Due to only 20% of land being arable, it is difficult to grow vegetation without enough space and commodities. {1} This isn’t much of an issue as Bermuda itself receives most of its food as imported goods.
There is not much of a change to this, it has been the same over a number of years but it doesn’t seem to bother many Bermudians. One way of freeing up land space for agricultural use is to eliminate animal agriculture. With animal agriculture comes a lot of land to accommodate those animals (26% of all the Earth’s land is for animal grazing and 33% of our crops are for the animals to consume). Rather than vegetation, animal products has a large environmental footprint. It consumes a lot more grain, water, and land to raise an animal to reach a ‘ suitable’ limit of consumption than it does to grow the same amount of calories in the form of grain which is directly ingested. Animals also release remarkable amounts of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, and we’re talking about a lot of animals (like billions). For example, your average cow produces between 70 kg and 120 kg of Methane per year (Methane is like a carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas).
Global warming is already an awful thing that we need to reduce, so why are we contributing to it? Compared to that, the overall size of the island itself, and the portion of that 20% of arable land being used to not produce fast growing food in higher amounts, it seems justified that we need to halt all animal agriculture operations. You may be thinking ” But won’t that ruin the economy of Bermuda?” or “ But where else are we going to get the necessary proteins for our bodies?” To clear that up, it won’t ruin any economy and you’ll still be able the eat rather healthy (maybe even more healthy than you’re eating now). No one wants to ‘ overspend’ for their food, right? And many even think that buying non-animal products are expensive. Well, it really depends on what kind of food you’re buying and where you’re buying it from.
We’re talking about Bermuda here and as I’ve stated before, almost everything in Bermuda is quite expensive (food included). Maybe with people consuming less animal products, Bermuda won’t need to use up so much resources for the animals and instead use it for crops (which take up less necessities to produce) and perhaps that could bring the price of food down. But even it that doesn’t happen, isn’t it worth paying more for your health? “ Isn’t animal products good for you?” you ask. No it really isn’t.
There’s been quite a lot of research papers and experiments done on this subject and the majority of them come to the same conclusion; animal products are bad for you. Meat lacks in fibers and other nutrients that are vital for our bodies. It contains animal proteins, saturated fats, and, in a lot of cases, carcinogenic compounds like N-nitroso compounds and heterocyclic amines. If the difference between being healthy and not being healthy is expensive plant-based food and a cheap McDonald’s dish, I’d take my chances of over-spending to keep up with my health. Protein isn’t an issue as you can get enough proteins by eating legumes, seitan, amaranth, quinoa, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, et cetera.