Tag: Industrialization

For the vast majority of human history, eating three meals a day was not the standard. Our ancestors, including hunter-gatherers and ancient civilizations, had vastly different, more flexible eating habits shaped by food availability and daily work.

Global electricity demand reached a new record high in 2023, totaling nearly 30,000 TWh. This growing consumption prompts a crucial question: why do we need so much energy? The answer lies in the complex web of interconnected factors driving the modern world's expanding energy appetite.

Food processing has a long history, but widespread industrial processing began in earnest during the Industrial Revolution. This shift changed how food was produced, distributed, and consumed.

For millennia, organ meats like liver and heart were prized for their rich nutritional content, often reserved for hunters and tribal leaders. So why did we stop eating organ meat, transitioning to an almost exclusive focus on muscle meat in many modern Western diets?

Before the 20th century, many traditional breakfasts were savory affairs of meat, eggs, and bread. It was through a combination of industrialization, post-war surplus, and targeted marketing that breakfast became sugary and shifted toward the sweet, convenient options we know today.

According to the World Steel Association, steel is the most widely used and most recycled metallic material on Earth. This high demand for steel, and consequently iron ore, is primarily caused by accelerating urbanization, massive infrastructure development, and industrial growth in emerging economies.