In the selected reading, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, it discusses simple question of what a typical family should have for dinner. The author explains the overall eating habits of the American culture through the viewpoint of an environmentalist and a naturalists, as all food ideally originates from the earth. Our society consists of mainly omnivores, thus humans are faced with a wide multitude of food options, causing a problem of what to eat. Before the modern food preservation and transportation technologies, the problem of what to eat was largely resolved, influenced by cultural impacts instead of limitations.
These technologies have created a new modern issue, since the availability of foods that were previously seasonal or regional are now regularly produced. The relationship between food and the American society, which was once regulated by limitations, now finds itself confused by the mass variety of availability. The author focuses on each of the food chains that sustain American society; industrial food, organic food, and food we forage ourselves; from the source to a final meal, and in the process argues the critique of the American way of eating. After the authors detailed investigation of the chain of food growth and usage across the United States, he uses a wide multitude of typical American meals and picks through all of the ingredients further detailing the importance of the environment and using natural and organic ingredients to have a proper diet. To conclude the work, critiques commend the author for his compelling and unbiased writing. The overall message is to change the American viewpoint of health, diet, and our culture.
In the article, inside the murky world of convenience food, it discusses the similar issue to the selected reading above. It discusses the true origins of the foods that we regularly buy from convenience stores. The author makes the unpleasant discovery of how manufacturers process and distribute food across the world. The manufacturers state that the preservatives used are a necessary means to provide its goods across the world without spoiling. However are these preservative affecting the health of the people. With the world moving into the more environmentally and health conscious culture these manufacturers are forced to adapt or lose out to the companies and corporations that are willing to change as the cultures change.
“Unsafe food is ‘growing global threat’, says WHO” by Smitha Mundasad discusses how bug contaminated food is related to a large number of food illnesses. The WHO is having a difficult time figuring out which foods are unsafe because “single plates of food often have ingredients from many countries.” Since industrialization of food production, trade and distribution are now global instead of local or national. The WHO is launching a food safety campaign titled From Farm to Plate. “It aims to prompt the public and governments to consider where individual ingredients in meals come from and question whether these are properly and safely handled at every stage.” Some of the details are things that many of us do already such as washing our hands and surfaces, washing fruits and vegetables before consuming and separating raw and cooked food.
After reaching Food Inc this week for our assigned video I decided to rematch Fast Food Nation. I was truly reminded the impact the fast food industrial complex has on many of us American citizens. After reading “Edible Matter” I was really amazed about how Americans are now eating five hundred to eight hundred more calories a day then they did in 1950. After finding out the drastic change in America over a 60 year period I decided to go on the hunt to see what the global community is doing to receive the effects of obesity caused by fast food companies. In my article I read that the World Health Organizations (WHO) is urging governments to regulate fast food production for the safety of their citizens. The WHO stated that the governments should suggest “policies include economic incentives for growers to sell healthy, fresh foods; disincentives for industries to sell ultra-processed foods and soft drinks; cutting subsidies to growers and companies who use large amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, chemicals and antibiotics; and tighter regulation of fast-food advertising, especially to children.” In times many fear more federal government intervention but in a crisis like this I believe it is needed. The fast food industrial complex will do what ever it needs to keep money funneling in their pockets. We as citizens can’t rely on them to help us be healthier. We must make decisions ourselves to become healthier and think differently. This is a difficult epidemic we face but we must act soon to reverse the damage already caused.
In the work “blood child and other stories” by Octavia E. Butler, it touches upon a very interesting concept that I haven’t really considered. I felt that it touched on this whole idea of having to be taken into a reservation where our hosts would benefit from our stay and keep us protected from outside forces that would do us harm. I feel like this brings up the subject of endangered animals being taken into captivity for their own protection. In the article that I picked it discusses how the last of the black rhinos are being hunted down because of the rich black marker of selling their horns. It discusses how the last male is now being put under 24 hour watch and protection in order to protect for the survival of their species. I guess that when I read the reading I can only think of humans being the ones threatened and that an outside force is the only thing that could protect them. When I look at the article I think that the relationship between the rhino and the ones that protect it is around the same. We are able to continue its life and provide and opportunity to carry on its species, while at the same time we gain from keeping it alive. Its more of a moral benefit instead of an actual benefit, but nevertheless it still provides a benefit. The reading highlighted the aspect that these type of relationship is one of both survival and mutual benefit and love. Reading the article I knew that the security team that was protecting the rhino was one that worked out of love.
This week, we have been learning more about the industrialization and modernization of farming (of plants and animals). Food Inc. was a particularly disturbing, concerning animal treatment, but was very informative on how the system works. In addition, Michael Pollan (and Food Inc. as well) also described how corn has been such a staple to farmers to the point of over-production. Keeping the idea of more modern agricultural practices, I found an article that discussed one method that is currently being used in farming. Michael Hamm wrote an interesting article for thegaurdian: “The buzz around indoor farms and artificial lighting makes no sense” where he discusses indoor farming and need for wheat and lettuce and tomato production, but also the ineffectiveness of this method (at least cost-wise). At the end of it he offers a few possible ideas that he feels could be used, such as greenhouses in urban areas, but in abandoned areas, or a type of tunnel at field level that helps protect the crops from factors such as frost. One of his biggest points that I found interesting was that he was arguing against the current system (of artificial light) mostly on the grounds that it is environmentally unfriendly, or at least more-so than other proposed options. http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/10/indoor-farming-makes-no-economic-environmental-sense
The movie Food Inc. urges Americans to think about the food their eating habits and changing up their diets. It also tackles animal cruelty. The article I found for this week, talks about how warmer sees around the world causes for a change of diets. The natural climate change will cause for more and more fish and other seafood to be rare. It may not seem that both are similar but if you look closer, they are. Food Inc. only illuminates what’s actually going into our foods and why you should stop trusting these big companies but the warmer climates illuminates global warming and how it is affecting our eating habits.
In this week’s readings and movie we have seen many issues concerning food consumption in ways of how we get our food, how are the animals that feed us fed, what we eat. In the movie Food Inc. we find one of the many concerns of food consumption is if we are eating healthy. Now that we have information on nutrition and what is healthy eating, you would think everyone should be running to the grocery stores to buy fruits and vegetables. However, that is not the case as what is considered healthy foods may not be accessible to working families. In this article “Kids in poverty need better diet” from Japan, the government wants to conduct a research on why poor children are not eating healthy. This problem is already in existence according to the author, poor children get poor nutrition. We see a problem in how families choose to feed their children because of economic strains. Poor families choose to eat fast food as it is cheaper in cost. The rising price of food is a constraint to the poor as they earn low salaries and can’t afford to buy healthy food. The effects of unhealthy food have shown in the performance of children in sports, academics and other social norms. Taking surveys by the Japanese may be a way of finding numbers however the problems exist already in low income families. A solution should be work on where poor children have easy access to healthy food.
In the article, “Latest SeaWorld lawsuit demands park end ‘false statements’ on orca welfare”, Joanna Walters discuss the controversy of the treatment of performing killer whales. Many visitors have been displeased with SeaWorld’s claim of having ‘happy and healthy killer whales’. In reality, SeaWorld seems to be running “a whale circus” by placing whales in small concrete tanks and forcing them in captive breeding programs. The whales live short lives due to stress and depression. This article relates to Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”. How the subject perceives the object will affect how the subject treats the object. For example, as the story progresses, Gregor becomes isolated from his family. At the beginning, Grete was able to care for Gregor because she viewed Gregor as an insect with a human conscious. Later, Gregor loses his human-like qualities. His taste and hobbies change. As Gregor acts more like an insect, Grete can no longer recognize Gregor as her own brother, but only as an insect. She is disgusted by his appearance and does not wish to care for him any longer. From this notion, we are unable to treat other beings with respect if we do not associate them with human qualities. In case of the treatment of the killer whales, SeaWorld does not perceive the whales as a living being with feelings, but rather an object for profit. I noticed that the capital system makes it difficult for companies like SeaWorld to practice ethical treatments of their employees. In order to produce the largest profit, the company must make sacrifices. In most cases, those sacrifices include the investment of their employees. I also believe this case will receive more support from the public than other small organism like cockroaches. Killer whale are large mammals that share many resemblance to the human race. From recognizing these human like qualities, humans are able to sympathize with the killers whales. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/14/seaworld-lawsuit-park-false-statements-orca-welfare
“Metamorphosis” offers us a glimpse as to how we treat other forms of life on our planet. The way the Gregor’s family reacts to his transformation showed me that we view many forms of life as disturbing. I even found myself cringing throughout the read a few times.
The real question is though where is this line of human and non-human drawn? And what rights do these non-humans have? An article by the BBC brings up an interesting point. If we give animals the most basic of human rights, we are no longer allowed to kill animals and use them for things like food and experiments. However, I do not think that these simplest of rights can ever be achieved, and “Metamorphosis” does a great job in showing this. Even though Kafka’s character is a human by morals and ethics, his appearance is altered so he looks like a cockroach. His parents reject him to the point where he has lost the will to live. In an ideal situation people would merely sympathize with his change, however the book seems to depict a more realistic approach.
Humans have a difficult times relating over cross species boundaries because we lack the ability to communicate with other animals, much how Gregor was unable to communicate with his parents. This read showed to me that even though a creature may not speak, or we may think it is noisome to the senses, it does not give us the right to discriminate, and we must improve upon our relations with “non-humans”.
This week’s readings and movie viewings have addressed the relationship between our economy and the environment. In Food Inc., we are presented with the dilemma of corporate mass agriculture contributing to major health issues both for humans, animals and the environment as a whole. And In Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, there is a story of a family whose livelihood is affected by one person not being able to work and provide for said family. In the story, it is illustrated how the lack of funds causes the family to being to detest the main character who cannot work to the point where the family is satisfied when he eventually dies. Both of the aforementioned mediums .present a major issue in society: the value of money in our lives. Since the first Industrial Revolution, the American economy has seen periods of exponential growth and it has become even more evident the companies intend to keep it that way. This is done whether or not it comes at the cost of peoples jobs and livelihoods or even at the cost of the air we breathe or the water we drink. But, according to CBS Los Angeles in “Mayor Launches ‘First-Ever’ Sustainability Plan For LA Economy, Environment”, Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti, has presented a plan to encourage economic growth that also partners up with ecological sustainability and an increase in quality of life for low-income families. This is the first step that needs to be replicated throughout the country and changing the norm of sacrificing how we treat our environment and each other for the sake of money.
“Metamorphosis” was able to give an insider perspective of the treatment that humans give nonhumans. This has been a downfall of our species since the beginning, which has held us back from the true and full potential of our planet. Kafka’s character is trapped inside the body of a cockroach and must endure the mistreatment and misunderstandings imposed onto nonhumans. The news article I read for this week’s assignment was explaining an incident where a Chipinge man was trampled to death by an elephant while he was guarding his fields. Officials determined that the elephants were coming from Gonarezhou National Park, which is Zimbabwe’s second largest game reserve, in order to feed on crops in Mahenye village in Chipinge. I believe this story goes hand in hand with the mistreatment and misunderstanding of nonhumans. The article explains that the villagers were not getting help from the department of National Parks and Wildlife to keep these animals out, and took it upon themselves to protect their fields. Is there a possibility that the Chipinge man was extremely aggressive toward the elephant, creating a sense of fear and violence to the animal? Is the animal entirely to blame when it was only trying to find food? Could the game reservation be lacking enough resources for these animals to survive? When humans created these artificial barriers, they shut down the normal mode of operations for the other organisms inhabiting the same area. They don’t understand that a particular plot of land is owned. They just understand survival.
After watching the Food inc. video I found an article enlightening people about unsafe food and how it is a global threat. This article along with the video depicts how our society is money driven. There is a negative cycle that occurs with our society in regard to cost and food leading to bad health. People that are less fortunate have to gear to buying off the dollar menus in comparison to healthier food choices because of cost. We have food desserts around urban areas. The article expresses according to scientific knowledge that most death are caused by pathogens such salmonella. Our society is so money driven we no longer care what we are putting on plates as long as there is profitable money being earned; as stated in the article this puts our economy at risk! It is the little things that matter, just because something is cheap does not make it good. I think it is very important to know where everything is coming and make sure it is inspected. http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32130767
Canada is taking steps towards fighting global warming by targeting carbon emissions. They recently published a report by 65 researchers across all provinces. Their unanimous decision was to endorse “putting a price on carbon pollution.” Saying that the carbon pollution is costing the society, and without a “carbon fee” it is not a reflection of its “true cost.”
The most interesting part of the article for me was a chart showing the changes in emissions over the past 20 years compared to the levels of reduction that were agreed upon during Kyoto and Copenhagen. I have to assume that the rest of the world is at least trending similarly as Canada has. At Kyoto there was an agreed upon 6% reduction. There has been a roughly 10% increase based off of the chart shown. This is troubling. And then at Copenhagen there was a goal of 17% reduction. Canada has seemed to reduce since then, but not nearly the goal off 17%. Is a fee or cap and trade really going to help us reach these goals? I don’t think so. slightly cutting into a profit is still a profit.
The story of “The Metamorphosis” is about a man who wakes up in the morning to find out that he has become an insect. His family begins to resent him, and eventually he dies which leaves his family somewhat relieved. The story holds a theme of randomness and the absurdity of life due to the fact that it is never explained how the character Gregor becomes an insect. The fact that he somehow just woke up as a bug is not only absurd, but impossible. The story holds a theme of randomness displayed by the fact that Gregor was a good son and brother because he supported his family, and his transformation could have been due to any event that might have happened. In turn, the story implies that horrible things can happen to anyone, because life’s events are random.
Immediately after reading this story, I thought of one of the Roman philosophers that interested me during my studies of philosophy. Lucretius was most known for his writing “On the Nature of Things” where in it, he tries to explain that everything that exists and occurs is random. The philosopher tries to use a bit of physics in his explanation by saying that molecules have a tendency to move around in random motions. He also uses this to prove that we have the ability of free will. These random movements of molecules means that they could have moved in any and every way possible to create any and everything. The fact that molecules collided and created the world we know today happened completely by chance, according to him. This sort of outlook seems very gloomy in the great question of life, but also raises a few points and questions that could help us think about what our purpose is.
According to an article in the Independent, the world is actually getting greener even though we have so much forest cutting going on. This actually made me think of both the movie Food Inc. and Thoreaus’ bean field from last week too. It reminds me of Thoreau because while the cutting of trees and forest might show we are trying to make the Earth say “less green” the Earth is actually screaming “green.” Actually, according to the article, while the warming of the climate happens the tree line is moving more up north. Of course it is good that the earth is getting greener, however, the cutting of forests and trees is still alarming. In Food Inc they talked about the efficiency of factory farms and that organic farms can be just as efficient, well with the planet apparently saying that green is the way to go this may not be too far from the truth. If the Earth is allowing for more green to grow then maybe organic farms could actually give competition to large factory farms if they got transportation advantage. And it is also interesting how the deforestation in the Amazon is one of the largest but yet the Earth is getting greener, but the diversity of life is still being affected. So maybe as far as plants go, farming could be good, but it may not be as easy to handle animal farming in this changing climate. Regardless, we as humans are affecting the world, but it looks like the planet may be putting its two cents in.
After watching the documentary Food Inc. as well as reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, I started to seriously contemplate the average American meal. We are naturally omnivores, but rely largely on meat. It is not all together uncommon to have a meat product for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the United States. Should it really be this way? Is that a healthy lifestyle? After further analysis, it seems that not only is it unhealthy for us as a human to partake in this diet, but it is also harmful to the environment. Food Inc. really showed how food has become a commodity instead of a necessity and how our treatment of food as lead to some serious health concerns as well as disgusting living condition for animals. There are so many healthy alternate diets to the ones most people currently live on, it amazes me that we stick with our current one despite the fact that it is hurting us and the environment. I picked this article from the guardian because it is an example of an easy, healthy way to that is less harmful to our environment. If we focused more on vegetables and less on meat, more people would be fed, people would be substantially healthier and the environment would also better from the change.
This week I selected my reading, “Modern’ agriculture can’t face up to 21st century challenges”, from the online UK Commercial Farming News forum. The article addresses the major debate on modern industrial agriculture. The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization has put forth a statement criticizing the current agricultural processes. FAO Director-General Jose Gaziano da Silva speaks to the irony of the fact that food production has gone up, while relative world hunger has not decreased. Although 100 million people have been removed from chronic hunger in the past decade, these hundreds of million still remain without access to food on a regular basis. I believe this article calls on reform in the same way La Via Campesina does. There may be a growth in food production, but that food is not going to the right places and the increase in food production is not enough. The growing inequalities in the world have been transferred into the food industry, and many people still do not have access to food. I think that the general idea shared between these two groups is that we need to begin to reforming food production and distribution. Silva’s Global Alliance on Climate-Smart Agriculture calls for more local, region specific farming that would provide regional food security, in the same way La Via Campesina calls for local involvement in farming to provide for their own people. It is not to say that mass food production is bad, but that in order to address the growing needs of our world’s population, it needs to run more efficiently by involving local farmers and producing climate-sensitive crops. According to the UN Global Alliance, the hope is that this new reform would bring forth “Sustainable and equitable increases in agricultural productivity and incomes; build greater resilience of food systems and farming livelihoods”.
There are two known species of Gray Whale: the eastern gray whale, which typically comes from the west coast of Mexico, and the western gray whale, which comes from the Eastern Asian coast and is highly endangered. Whaling in the 20th was the cause of a massive decrease in the amount of Gray Whales in existence. While the Eastern Gray whale population has recovered to about 20,000 animals, it is estimated that there are only 150 Western Gray whales still in existence. But the lengthy migration of a group of gray whales brings all of this conventional wisdom into question. 7 Gray whales that were tagged off the coast of Russia were found on the coast of Mexico, which suggests that all gray whales are of the same kind, and possibly that the Western species is completely extinct.
This reminds me of The Metamorphosis, in that the whales are only valued by humans for the sake of capital gain. Similarly Gregor, the boy who awakes to find that he has transformed into a cockroach, loses the care and support of his family because he is no longer able to support them financially. In fact, he becomes a financial burden to his family, and they kill him. The life of the whale is not valued for its own sake. The whale is only valued for the sake of extracting expensive oils from its carcass. Gregor the cockroach and gray whales seem to have similar stories to tell.
Food Inc is a movie the focuses on the eating habits of americans. With obesity as a major problem her in the united states, this movie focus on the causes of all these horrible consequences to the food we put in our bodies her in the states. Not only is this a threat to the united states, but these corporations are also spreading world wide. take McDonald’s Corporation for example. This fast food giant has spread across the globe covering major cities and countries by the millions. People are drawn to these corporations because of the ease to have access to food, but little they did they know the chemicals that they are infesting their bodies with. A big factor that shines light on the why? is the fact that we now care more about what is in our pockets than what we put in our bodies. People have begun to be more stingy with money, spending 3 dollars on a meal instead of spending 10 on a much healthier meal, or maybe just eating at home. The convenience of having fast food places at hand, have made people lazy and accustom to cheap food, rather than spending more money for healthier food.
Food Inc. portrays a scary reality about how Americans eating habits have become more dangerous and complex over the years.Food production is controlled primarily by a handful of multinational corporations, the global food production business – where the production of large quantities of food at low direct cost that result in enormous profits, which leads to a greater control of the global supply of food sources within these few companies. Health and safety of the food itself, of the animals produced themselves, of the workers on the assembly lines, and of the consumers actually eating the food are often overlooked by the companies. The movie explains that the government often overlooks rules and regulations in an effort to provide cheap food regardless of these negative consequences.
The movie Food Inc. was an eye opener by seeing the production of the food throughout its entire journey was too much to bare. The food industry is a large corporation that views greed first and quality last. This movie made me evaluate the largest food industry in America which is the fast food industry and how American eating habits are detrimental to our health. In “The way America eats is killing us. Something has to change,” by Jill Filipovic Americans consume 500 more calories per day than we did in the 1970’s. The author does not blame our eating habits on being lazy Americans but rather on the food model of quantity over quality and how we are culturally invested in food corporations. One aspect of the food problem is what are known as food deserts. These are low income areas where there is no decent grocery store or market to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. Instead, many low-income people rely on small corner stores, which are often underwritten by big manufacturers. Another sad truth is even Americans who can physically access grocery stores that carry fresh and healthy food often can’t afford it.
Food Inc. is an important movie that sheds light on multinational food corporations that operate without being regulated for their shortcoming. By giving Americans more of an insight into how this system works, we can fight for much needed reform in the food industry.
SD 3800 Voices in Sustainable Development 
In the selected reading, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, it discusses simple question of what a typical family should have for dinner. The author explains the overall eating habits of the American culture through the viewpoint of an environmentalist and a naturalists, as all food ideally originates from the earth. Our society consists of mainly omnivores, thus humans are faced with a wide multitude of food options, causing a problem of what to eat. Before the modern food preservation and transportation technologies, the problem of what to eat was largely resolved, influenced by cultural impacts instead of limitations.
These technologies have created a new modern issue, since the availability of foods that were previously seasonal or regional are now regularly produced. The relationship between food and the American society, which was once regulated by limitations, now finds itself confused by the mass variety of availability. The author focuses on each of the food chains that sustain American society; industrial food, organic food, and food we forage ourselves; from the source to a final meal, and in the process argues the critique of the American way of eating. After the authors detailed investigation of the chain of food growth and usage across the United States, he uses a wide multitude of typical American meals and picks through all of the ingredients further detailing the importance of the environment and using natural and organic ingredients to have a proper diet. To conclude the work, critiques commend the author for his compelling and unbiased writing. The overall message is to change the American viewpoint of health, diet, and our culture.
In the article, inside the murky world of convenience food, it discusses the similar issue to the selected reading above. It discusses the true origins of the foods that we regularly buy from convenience stores. The author makes the unpleasant discovery of how manufacturers process and distribute food across the world. The manufacturers state that the preservatives used are a necessary means to provide its goods across the world without spoiling. However are these preservative affecting the health of the people. With the world moving into the more environmentally and health conscious culture these manufacturers are forced to adapt or lose out to the companies and corporations that are willing to change as the cultures change.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/11487207/Inside-the-murky-world-of-convenience-food.html
“Unsafe food is ‘growing global threat’, says WHO” by Smitha Mundasad discusses how bug contaminated food is related to a large number of food illnesses. The WHO is having a difficult time figuring out which foods are unsafe because “single plates of food often have ingredients from many countries.” Since industrialization of food production, trade and distribution are now global instead of local or national. The WHO is launching a food safety campaign titled From Farm to Plate. “It aims to prompt the public and governments to consider where individual ingredients in meals come from and question whether these are properly and safely handled at every stage.” Some of the details are things that many of us do already such as washing our hands and surfaces, washing fruits and vegetables before consuming and separating raw and cooked food.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32130767
After reaching Food Inc this week for our assigned video I decided to rematch Fast Food Nation. I was truly reminded the impact the fast food industrial complex has on many of us American citizens. After reading “Edible Matter” I was really amazed about how Americans are now eating five hundred to eight hundred more calories a day then they did in 1950. After finding out the drastic change in America over a 60 year period I decided to go on the hunt to see what the global community is doing to receive the effects of obesity caused by fast food companies. In my article I read that the World Health Organizations (WHO) is urging governments to regulate fast food production for the safety of their citizens. The WHO stated that the governments should suggest “policies include economic incentives for growers to sell healthy, fresh foods; disincentives for industries to sell ultra-processed foods and soft drinks; cutting subsidies to growers and companies who use large amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, chemicals and antibiotics; and tighter regulation of fast-food advertising, especially to children.” In times many fear more federal government intervention but in a crisis like this I believe it is needed. The fast food industrial complex will do what ever it needs to keep money funneling in their pockets. We as citizens can’t rely on them to help us be healthier. We must make decisions ourselves to become healthier and think differently. This is a difficult epidemic we face but we must act soon to reverse the damage already caused.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/2/who-tighter-economicregulationneededtoreverseobesityepidemic.html
In the work “blood child and other stories” by Octavia E. Butler, it touches upon a very interesting concept that I haven’t really considered. I felt that it touched on this whole idea of having to be taken into a reservation where our hosts would benefit from our stay and keep us protected from outside forces that would do us harm. I feel like this brings up the subject of endangered animals being taken into captivity for their own protection. In the article that I picked it discusses how the last of the black rhinos are being hunted down because of the rich black marker of selling their horns. It discusses how the last male is now being put under 24 hour watch and protection in order to protect for the survival of their species. I guess that when I read the reading I can only think of humans being the ones threatened and that an outside force is the only thing that could protect them. When I look at the article I think that the relationship between the rhino and the ones that protect it is around the same. We are able to continue its life and provide and opportunity to carry on its species, while at the same time we gain from keeping it alive. Its more of a moral benefit instead of an actual benefit, but nevertheless it still provides a benefit. The reading highlighted the aspect that these type of relationship is one of both survival and mutual benefit and love. Reading the article I knew that the security team that was protecting the rhino was one that worked out of love.
http://www.trueactivist.com/people-hunt-endangered-animals-so-this-woman-hunts-poachers/
This week, we have been learning more about the industrialization and modernization of farming (of plants and animals). Food Inc. was a particularly disturbing, concerning animal treatment, but was very informative on how the system works. In addition, Michael Pollan (and Food Inc. as well) also described how corn has been such a staple to farmers to the point of over-production. Keeping the idea of more modern agricultural practices, I found an article that discussed one method that is currently being used in farming. Michael Hamm wrote an interesting article for thegaurdian: “The buzz around indoor farms and artificial lighting makes no sense” where he discusses indoor farming and need for wheat and lettuce and tomato production, but also the ineffectiveness of this method (at least cost-wise). At the end of it he offers a few possible ideas that he feels could be used, such as greenhouses in urban areas, but in abandoned areas, or a type of tunnel at field level that helps protect the crops from factors such as frost. One of his biggest points that I found interesting was that he was arguing against the current system (of artificial light) mostly on the grounds that it is environmentally unfriendly, or at least more-so than other proposed options.
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/10/indoor-farming-makes-no-economic-environmental-sense
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32286800
The movie Food Inc. urges Americans to think about the food their eating habits and changing up their diets. It also tackles animal cruelty. The article I found for this week, talks about how warmer sees around the world causes for a change of diets. The natural climate change will cause for more and more fish and other seafood to be rare. It may not seem that both are similar but if you look closer, they are. Food Inc. only illuminates what’s actually going into our foods and why you should stop trusting these big companies but the warmer climates illuminates global warming and how it is affecting our eating habits.
In this week’s readings and movie we have seen many issues concerning food consumption in ways of how we get our food, how are the animals that feed us fed, what we eat. In the movie Food Inc. we find one of the many concerns of food consumption is if we are eating healthy. Now that we have information on nutrition and what is healthy eating, you would think everyone should be running to the grocery stores to buy fruits and vegetables. However, that is not the case as what is considered healthy foods may not be accessible to working families. In this article “Kids in poverty need better diet” from Japan, the government wants to conduct a research on why poor children are not eating healthy. This problem is already in existence according to the author, poor children get poor nutrition. We see a problem in how families choose to feed their children because of economic strains. Poor families choose to eat fast food as it is cheaper in cost. The rising price of food is a constraint to the poor as they earn low salaries and can’t afford to buy healthy food. The effects of unhealthy food have shown in the performance of children in sports, academics and other social norms. Taking surveys by the Japanese may be a way of finding numbers however the problems exist already in low income families. A solution should be work on where poor children have easy access to healthy food.
http://docs.newsbank.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:AWNB:JPTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=154A7B4058A8F530&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB5811D21E575
In the article, “Latest SeaWorld lawsuit demands park end ‘false statements’ on orca welfare”, Joanna Walters discuss the controversy of the treatment of performing killer whales. Many visitors have been displeased with SeaWorld’s claim of having ‘happy and healthy killer whales’. In reality, SeaWorld seems to be running “a whale circus” by placing whales in small concrete tanks and forcing them in captive breeding programs. The whales live short lives due to stress and depression. This article relates to Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”. How the subject perceives the object will affect how the subject treats the object. For example, as the story progresses, Gregor becomes isolated from his family. At the beginning, Grete was able to care for Gregor because she viewed Gregor as an insect with a human conscious. Later, Gregor loses his human-like qualities. His taste and hobbies change. As Gregor acts more like an insect, Grete can no longer recognize Gregor as her own brother, but only as an insect. She is disgusted by his appearance and does not wish to care for him any longer. From this notion, we are unable to treat other beings with respect if we do not associate them with human qualities. In case of the treatment of the killer whales, SeaWorld does not perceive the whales as a living being with feelings, but rather an object for profit. I noticed that the capital system makes it difficult for companies like SeaWorld to practice ethical treatments of their employees. In order to produce the largest profit, the company must make sacrifices. In most cases, those sacrifices include the investment of their employees. I also believe this case will receive more support from the public than other small organism like cockroaches. Killer whale are large mammals that share many resemblance to the human race. From recognizing these human like qualities, humans are able to sympathize with the killers whales.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/14/seaworld-lawsuit-park-false-statements-orca-welfare
“Metamorphosis” offers us a glimpse as to how we treat other forms of life on our planet. The way the Gregor’s family reacts to his transformation showed me that we view many forms of life as disturbing. I even found myself cringing throughout the read a few times.
The real question is though where is this line of human and non-human drawn? And what rights do these non-humans have? An article by the BBC brings up an interesting point. If we give animals the most basic of human rights, we are no longer allowed to kill animals and use them for things like food and experiments. However, I do not think that these simplest of rights can ever be achieved, and “Metamorphosis” does a great job in showing this. Even though Kafka’s character is a human by morals and ethics, his appearance is altered so he looks like a cockroach. His parents reject him to the point where he has lost the will to live. In an ideal situation people would merely sympathize with his change, however the book seems to depict a more realistic approach.
Humans have a difficult times relating over cross species boundaries because we lack the ability to communicate with other animals, much how Gregor was unable to communicate with his parents. This read showed to me that even though a creature may not speak, or we may think it is noisome to the senses, it does not give us the right to discriminate, and we must improve upon our relations with “non-humans”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/rights/rights_1.shtml#top
This week’s readings and movie viewings have addressed the relationship between our economy and the environment. In Food Inc., we are presented with the dilemma of corporate mass agriculture contributing to major health issues both for humans, animals and the environment as a whole. And In Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, there is a story of a family whose livelihood is affected by one person not being able to work and provide for said family. In the story, it is illustrated how the lack of funds causes the family to being to detest the main character who cannot work to the point where the family is satisfied when he eventually dies. Both of the aforementioned mediums .present a major issue in society: the value of money in our lives. Since the first Industrial Revolution, the American economy has seen periods of exponential growth and it has become even more evident the companies intend to keep it that way. This is done whether or not it comes at the cost of peoples jobs and livelihoods or even at the cost of the air we breathe or the water we drink. But, according to CBS Los Angeles in “Mayor Launches ‘First-Ever’ Sustainability Plan For LA Economy, Environment”, Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti, has presented a plan to encourage economic growth that also partners up with ecological sustainability and an increase in quality of life for low-income families. This is the first step that needs to be replicated throughout the country and changing the norm of sacrificing how we treat our environment and each other for the sake of money.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/04/08/la-mayor-to-outline-plan-for-economic-environmental-sustainability/
“Metamorphosis” was able to give an insider perspective of the treatment that humans give nonhumans. This has been a downfall of our species since the beginning, which has held us back from the true and full potential of our planet. Kafka’s character is trapped inside the body of a cockroach and must endure the mistreatment and misunderstandings imposed onto nonhumans. The news article I read for this week’s assignment was explaining an incident where a Chipinge man was trampled to death by an elephant while he was guarding his fields. Officials determined that the elephants were coming from Gonarezhou National Park, which is Zimbabwe’s second largest game reserve, in order to feed on crops in Mahenye village in Chipinge. I believe this story goes hand in hand with the mistreatment and misunderstanding of nonhumans. The article explains that the villagers were not getting help from the department of National Parks and Wildlife to keep these animals out, and took it upon themselves to protect their fields. Is there a possibility that the Chipinge man was extremely aggressive toward the elephant, creating a sense of fear and violence to the animal? Is the animal entirely to blame when it was only trying to find food? Could the game reservation be lacking enough resources for these animals to survive? When humans created these artificial barriers, they shut down the normal mode of operations for the other organisms inhabiting the same area. They don’t understand that a particular plot of land is owned. They just understand survival.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201504110453.html
After watching the Food inc. video I found an article enlightening people about unsafe food and how it is a global threat. This article along with the video depicts how our society is money driven. There is a negative cycle that occurs with our society in regard to cost and food leading to bad health. People that are less fortunate have to gear to buying off the dollar menus in comparison to healthier food choices because of cost. We have food desserts around urban areas. The article expresses according to scientific knowledge that most death are caused by pathogens such salmonella. Our society is so money driven we no longer care what we are putting on plates as long as there is profitable money being earned; as stated in the article this puts our economy at risk! It is the little things that matter, just because something is cheap does not make it good. I think it is very important to know where everything is coming and make sure it is inspected.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32130767
Canada is taking steps towards fighting global warming by targeting carbon emissions. They recently published a report by 65 researchers across all provinces. Their unanimous decision was to endorse “putting a price on carbon pollution.” Saying that the carbon pollution is costing the society, and without a “carbon fee” it is not a reflection of its “true cost.”
The most interesting part of the article for me was a chart showing the changes in emissions over the past 20 years compared to the levels of reduction that were agreed upon during Kyoto and Copenhagen. I have to assume that the rest of the world is at least trending similarly as Canada has. At Kyoto there was an agreed upon 6% reduction. There has been a roughly 10% increase based off of the chart shown. This is troubling. And then at Copenhagen there was a goal of 17% reduction. Canada has seemed to reduce since then, but not nearly the goal off 17%. Is a fee or cap and trade really going to help us reach these goals? I don’t think so. slightly cutting into a profit is still a profit.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2015/apr/15/65-canadian-scholars-draw-up-a-roadmap-to-curb-global-warming
The story of “The Metamorphosis” is about a man who wakes up in the morning to find out that he has become an insect. His family begins to resent him, and eventually he dies which leaves his family somewhat relieved. The story holds a theme of randomness and the absurdity of life due to the fact that it is never explained how the character Gregor becomes an insect. The fact that he somehow just woke up as a bug is not only absurd, but impossible. The story holds a theme of randomness displayed by the fact that Gregor was a good son and brother because he supported his family, and his transformation could have been due to any event that might have happened. In turn, the story implies that horrible things can happen to anyone, because life’s events are random.
Immediately after reading this story, I thought of one of the Roman philosophers that interested me during my studies of philosophy. Lucretius was most known for his writing “On the Nature of Things” where in it, he tries to explain that everything that exists and occurs is random. The philosopher tries to use a bit of physics in his explanation by saying that molecules have a tendency to move around in random motions. He also uses this to prove that we have the ability of free will. These random movements of molecules means that they could have moved in any and every way possible to create any and everything. The fact that molecules collided and created the world we know today happened completely by chance, according to him. This sort of outlook seems very gloomy in the great question of life, but also raises a few points and questions that could help us think about what our purpose is.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/785/785-h/785-h.htm
According to an article in the Independent, the world is actually getting greener even though we have so much forest cutting going on. This actually made me think of both the movie Food Inc. and Thoreaus’ bean field from last week too. It reminds me of Thoreau because while the cutting of trees and forest might show we are trying to make the Earth say “less green” the Earth is actually screaming “green.” Actually, according to the article, while the warming of the climate happens the tree line is moving more up north. Of course it is good that the earth is getting greener, however, the cutting of forests and trees is still alarming. In Food Inc they talked about the efficiency of factory farms and that organic farms can be just as efficient, well with the planet apparently saying that green is the way to go this may not be too far from the truth. If the Earth is allowing for more green to grow then maybe organic farms could actually give competition to large factory farms if they got transportation advantage. And it is also interesting how the deforestation in the Amazon is one of the largest but yet the Earth is getting greener, but the diversity of life is still being affected. So maybe as far as plants go, farming could be good, but it may not be as easy to handle animal farming in this changing climate. Regardless, we as humans are affecting the world, but it looks like the planet may be putting its two cents in.
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/the-climate-change-paradox-rainforests-are-being-felled-but-the-world-is-getting-greener-10157505.html
After watching the documentary Food Inc. as well as reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, I started to seriously contemplate the average American meal. We are naturally omnivores, but rely largely on meat. It is not all together uncommon to have a meat product for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the United States. Should it really be this way? Is that a healthy lifestyle? After further analysis, it seems that not only is it unhealthy for us as a human to partake in this diet, but it is also harmful to the environment. Food Inc. really showed how food has become a commodity instead of a necessity and how our treatment of food as lead to some serious health concerns as well as disgusting living condition for animals. There are so many healthy alternate diets to the ones most people currently live on, it amazes me that we stick with our current one despite the fact that it is hurting us and the environment. I picked this article from the guardian because it is an example of an easy, healthy way to that is less harmful to our environment. If we focused more on vegetables and less on meat, more people would be fed, people would be substantially healthier and the environment would also better from the change.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/15/jack-monroe-lentil-bean-kale-salad-recipe
This week I selected my reading, “Modern’ agriculture can’t face up to 21st century challenges”, from the online UK Commercial Farming News forum. The article addresses the major debate on modern industrial agriculture. The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization has put forth a statement criticizing the current agricultural processes. FAO Director-General Jose Gaziano da Silva speaks to the irony of the fact that food production has gone up, while relative world hunger has not decreased. Although 100 million people have been removed from chronic hunger in the past decade, these hundreds of million still remain without access to food on a regular basis. I believe this article calls on reform in the same way La Via Campesina does. There may be a growth in food production, but that food is not going to the right places and the increase in food production is not enough. The growing inequalities in the world have been transferred into the food industry, and many people still do not have access to food. I think that the general idea shared between these two groups is that we need to begin to reforming food production and distribution. Silva’s Global Alliance on Climate-Smart Agriculture calls for more local, region specific farming that would provide regional food security, in the same way La Via Campesina calls for local involvement in farming to provide for their own people. It is not to say that mass food production is bad, but that in order to address the growing needs of our world’s population, it needs to run more efficiently by involving local farmers and producing climate-sensitive crops. According to the UN Global Alliance, the hope is that this new reform would bring forth “Sustainable and equitable increases in agricultural productivity and incomes; build greater resilience of food systems and farming livelihoods”.
There are two known species of Gray Whale: the eastern gray whale, which typically comes from the west coast of Mexico, and the western gray whale, which comes from the Eastern Asian coast and is highly endangered. Whaling in the 20th was the cause of a massive decrease in the amount of Gray Whales in existence. While the Eastern Gray whale population has recovered to about 20,000 animals, it is estimated that there are only 150 Western Gray whales still in existence. But the lengthy migration of a group of gray whales brings all of this conventional wisdom into question. 7 Gray whales that were tagged off the coast of Russia were found on the coast of Mexico, which suggests that all gray whales are of the same kind, and possibly that the Western species is completely extinct.
This reminds me of The Metamorphosis, in that the whales are only valued by humans for the sake of capital gain. Similarly Gregor, the boy who awakes to find that he has transformed into a cockroach, loses the care and support of his family because he is no longer able to support them financially. In fact, he becomes a financial burden to his family, and they kill him. The life of the whale is not valued for its own sake. The whale is only valued for the sake of extracting expensive oils from its carcass. Gregor the cockroach and gray whales seem to have similar stories to tell.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32288279
Food Inc is a movie the focuses on the eating habits of americans. With obesity as a major problem her in the united states, this movie focus on the causes of all these horrible consequences to the food we put in our bodies her in the states. Not only is this a threat to the united states, but these corporations are also spreading world wide. take McDonald’s Corporation for example. This fast food giant has spread across the globe covering major cities and countries by the millions. People are drawn to these corporations because of the ease to have access to food, but little they did they know the chemicals that they are infesting their bodies with. A big factor that shines light on the why? is the fact that we now care more about what is in our pockets than what we put in our bodies. People have begun to be more stingy with money, spending 3 dollars on a meal instead of spending 10 on a much healthier meal, or maybe just eating at home. The convenience of having fast food places at hand, have made people lazy and accustom to cheap food, rather than spending more money for healthier food.
Food Inc. portrays a scary reality about how Americans eating habits have become more dangerous and complex over the years.Food production is controlled primarily by a handful of multinational corporations, the global food production business – where the production of large quantities of food at low direct cost that result in enormous profits, which leads to a greater control of the global supply of food sources within these few companies. Health and safety of the food itself, of the animals produced themselves, of the workers on the assembly lines, and of the consumers actually eating the food are often overlooked by the companies. The movie explains that the government often overlooks rules and regulations in an effort to provide cheap food regardless of these negative consequences.
The movie Food Inc. was an eye opener by seeing the production of the food throughout its entire journey was too much to bare. The food industry is a large corporation that views greed first and quality last. This movie made me evaluate the largest food industry in America which is the fast food industry and how American eating habits are detrimental to our health. In “The way America eats is killing us. Something has to change,” by Jill Filipovic Americans consume 500 more calories per day than we did in the 1970’s. The author does not blame our eating habits on being lazy Americans but rather on the food model of quantity over quality and how we are culturally invested in food corporations. One aspect of the food problem is what are known as food deserts. These are low income areas where there is no decent grocery store or market to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. Instead, many low-income people rely on small corner stores, which are often underwritten by big manufacturers. Another sad truth is even Americans who can physically access grocery stores that carry fresh and healthy food often can’t afford it.
Food Inc. is an important movie that sheds light on multinational food corporations that operate without being regulated for their shortcoming. By giving Americans more of an insight into how this system works, we can fight for much needed reform in the food industry.