Reflections: Weeks 5 & 6

Week 5:

This week I was one of the people who was assigned the review of Reading 15: Feeding the World. I found this article very interesting it rasied a lot of questions in my mind. The article had four main topics; Society's 4 Transitional Stages, Evidence for Negative Population Growth, Future Food Supply/Demand Balance, Protecting the Environment, and the Challenges Ahead. The main thing that got me thinking was the difference between supply and demand. It really made me ask myself what are we going to do if the demand of food surpasses the supply. From 1995-2000 both the population and income grew rapidly. If that streak continues to grow at the same rate, the future food supply will fall beneath the overall demand for food. There are already countries who face hunger, so in some places the demand of food has already passed the supply. What if this was a problem for the whole world? What would we do? Who could help us? There are a lot of questions that seem to have come up when reading this article. This is why its so important for us to protect the environment and our earth while we still can. If we dont take care of it now who is going to take care of it later?

This week we also began to watch the documentary "A Diet For a New America". This documentary was hosted by John Robbins, and it really opened my eyes to what we eat. There were a lot of interesting facts stated some of the ones that caught my eye were:

~ With the amount of meat we Americans eat (individually) in one meal, other countries can feed 4 or 5 people with the same amount!

~There was a part in the documentary were a patient goes in to the hospital to get his blood tested and the doctor noticed fat in his blood sample. The doctor then asked the patient if he ate anything before he came to the hospital and the patient said yes, he had a cheeseburger and a milkshake. The fat that was found in his blood sample was the fat from the foods that he had been eating.

~Finally, the way that we raise some of the meat really made me think. Some people prefer tender, leaner meat. The way that farmers get that is by keeping the cow confined in a small area so that the meat can become more tenderized.

The documentary was very interesting and made me think a lot about how much meat I consume and what kind. For a lot of Americans it is common to have meat as the main course. Through meat we recieve proteins, vitamins, etc. Other countries find other ways to get the same nutrients whether it be through rice or pastas. It got me thinking what I could substitute meat for.

We also had an Eye Opener due this week on CSPI, which stands for Center for Science in the Public Interest. For this assignment I took a tour of the food supply. Here you could see what goes on in areas of the farm and in the public and learn more about them. The places I toured included: The Fertilizer Factory, Factory Farm, Supermarket, Hospital, Animal Feed, Irrigation, Pesticides, Feed Lot, Restaurant, Manure Lagoon, and Slaughter House. This tour tied in well with the documentary we were watching also.

Week 6:

This week we were all individually assigned a chapter from the book and we were to write a review on the chapter. The chapter I read was Chapter 14: Buzz Cut. This article focused mainly on the Great Bear Agreement and how many of the forests in British Columbia are being cut down at an alarming rate. The Great Bear Agreement helps protect the forests, trees, wildlife, etc in British Columbia and also in Canada. This article was pretty interesting and I enjoyed reading it. It was also interesting to read about everyone elses chapters.

My final thoughts.....I really enjoyed these last couple of weeks, the things we have been doing in class have really helped open my eyes up to a lot of things. I have started to think more about what I eat and what I do to help/hurt the environment. Thanks for reading my post:)

Eye Opener: CSPI

For this Eye Opener I choose to Tour the Food Supply. It was really interesting to look at the topics and learn more about each one. The various topics included: The Fertilizer Factory, Factory Farm, Supermarket, Hospital, Animal Feed, Irrigation, Pesticides, Feed Lot, Restaurant, Manure Lagoon, and Slaughter House. I wanted to visit this website because I was interested in it and thought I could learn some cool facts!

Here are some interesting facts that I learned on the Tour of the Food Supply:

Fertilizer Factory:

~The Energy to Manufacture that 22 billion pounds of fertilizer could provide one year's worth of power for about 100,000, ooo Americans.

Thats crazy....think about how much energy they must use?

Factory Farm:

~New born calves are prematurely separated from their mothers and often exhibit abnormal behaviors as adults, such as stampeding and other violent behaviors.

This reminds me of the movie we are currently watching in class how the calves spend the first night with their mothers and if they are male then the next day they are sent somewhere else.

Supermarket:

~Livestock manure is often the source of disease-causing bacteria on fruits and vegetables.
This makes me think twice about washing my fruits and veggies before I eat them!!

Hospital:

~The annual medical and related costs of food bourne illnesses and deaths from pathogens in animal products in the United States are over $7 billion.

I think that in order to prevent this we just have to be more careful about preparation, washing the food and the way we cook our food. Think of how much money we can save if we just do those little things.

Animal Feed:
~Factory farms use animals as garbage disposals because garbage is cheap. Somethings they are fed include: industrial sludge, expired bake goods, discarded oils from restaurants and ground up newspaper.

This is kinda disturbing to me considering eventually eat the meat from the animal, so in some way we are getting fed what they eat.

Irrigation:

~It takes about 18,000 gallons of rain and irrigation water to produce one pound of beef.

Thats a lot of water!!!

Pesticides:

~Pesticides that kill weeds may also kill beneficial insects and plants.

Its sad to think that we may be killing things that help and keep the environment safe.

Feed Lot:

~Huge cattle feedlots foul the air with smelly and harmful gases and pollute water with run-off from manure.

This also reminds me of the video we are currently watching in class. It is similar to the family that lives near a farm and her children were born with birth defects and a possible reason for those defects was the water.

Restaurant:

~Hamburgers, cheese, whole milk, egg yolks, and other fatty meat and dairy products promote heart disease and some types of cancer. The saturated fat and cholesterol in those foods cause about 50,000 to 75,000 fatal heart attacks annually.

That makes me think about how many of those kinds of foods I eat and what type of risks I might be exposed to.

Manure Lagoon:

~The methane released from livestock and their manure is equilvalent in environmental distruction to annual release of carbon dioxide from about 33 million automobiles.

Slaughter House:

~In 2002, about 140 million cattle, pigs and sheep were slaughtered in the US. About a half an animal for every man, woman and child. Another 9 billion chickens and turkeys -30 birds for every American.

Thats a lot of Meat!! You can see how the primary source of protein for Americans is meat and not rice or other foods such as in China.

Im glad that I got to visit this site, it was really interesting and I learned a lot of new facts. Im going to start and reconsider what I eat and how I prepare and cook my food.

Share and Voice: Going GREEN!

Going Green!!

I was recently researching online ways in which I could help out the environment. Even little ideas and things that I could do to contribute to helping out and protecting the environment. I found this great website that list ideas A-Z that could help out the planet. The site listed some cool things that you could do that wouldnt take that much time or effort at all but that would have a significant influence on the environment. The site also gives some ECO-Statistics that are shocking and that help inspire you to do more and Go Green!!! check it out its pretty interesting........Going Green

Eye Opener: Summary of Reading #14: Buzz Cut

A Picture of the Great Bear Rainforest

Summary of the Article:

What would we do if all of our forests were cut down? If they were no longer in existence, how would that effect the environment or the earth for that matter? This article focuses mainly on The Great Bear Rainforest and the forests in British Columbia. The majority of forests in British Columbia and Canada have recently been cut down. The forests located in British Columbia have been treated as endless, now the fact that they are disappearing has caught the eye of the Sierra Club and other enviornmentalists. For example, half of the trees in the Chilcotin region (an area that covers 15 percent of British Columbia) were cut between 1988 and 1996 alone. (Mckinney , 52). Thats scary to think about if all the forests were treated like that what would we have today? In April 2003 (the Great Bear Agreement was first started) The Sierra Club campaigned for several years and finally succeeded. British Columbia Agreed to prohibit logging on 1.5 million acres of the coastal Great Bear rainforest, and to defer logging on an additional 2 million acres. (Mckinney, 53). This agreement has helped slow down the process of deforestation in British Columbia.

How does the Great Bear Agreement effect us in the U.S?
Actually it affects us a great deal. Seventy-five percent of British Columbia's cut comes from the east side of the Coast Mountains, much of it from the Chilcotin, and 90% of that goes to the United States, half as wood chips for paper and half as two-by-fours. The U.S. Department of Labor has also certified that Canadian imports have been a factor in the closing of more than 50 U.S. mills since 1996

View Points:

Sierra Club (Enviornmental Group):

The Environmental groups say that the Great Bear Agreement is "the end of the beginning". If all promises are kept, the environmental groups said warily, "the agreement will create a global model of sustainability for other rare ecosystems around the world". The Sierra Club's Matthus said "This agreement represents a revolution in the way we approach B.C.’s rainforests - it's no longer just about logging, but about conservation, new economic ventures and community involvement,” said Merran Smith, director of BC Coastal Programs for ForestEthics. The group continues to watch and see if the BC government will keep there promises and protect the forests. They seem to be rather hesitant on the agreement, since much still remains to be done before March 31, 2009 when the agreement takes full affect.
Link: Newswire.com

People of the Great Bear Rainforest:

These nations include the: Nuxalk, Heiltsuk, Kwakwaka'wakw, Tsimshian (including the Gitga'at, Kitasoo/Xai'xais, and others), Haisla, and Oweekeno. These people are greatful for the act not only does it protect their environment/home it also protects biodiversity and is ensuring cultural survival. With out the agreement the people who call the Great Bear Rainforest home may not have anywhere to go.
Link: ForestActionNetwork

Share and Voice: ENVIRO Cool Blog Award!!

Hey Everyone,
So I recently recieved the ENVIRO Cool Blog Award from Autumn (Thanks Autumn) for my post about Google Earth! Now it is my turn to continue the trend and pass it on....so the one I choose for the Award goes to.....
SARA J:)

Sara's post was about spring cleaning and it gave different recipes on how to make homemade cleaning supplies! I found this rather interesting. Not only does making your own cleaning supplies help you save money but it also is more friendly towards the environment. Good Post Sara and congrats!

So Sara here are the instructions for passing this award on:
1. Leave a comment below so that I know you "picked up" the award.
2. Create a Share and Voice post that says you've received the award and indicate who the award is from (be sure to hyperlink).
3. Also indicate to whom you are going to pass on the award and why. Be sure to hyperlink the blogger (use main blog URL) and the blog title (use the specific URL for that blog post).
4. Copy and paste these instructions at the bottom of your post.
5. Publish the post.
6. Visit each blogger you've awarded and leave a comment telling them they've won.
7. Continue the process...

Review of Reading 15: Feeding the World

Feeding the World

I thought that this chapter was very interesting and had a lot of interesting points. In 1999 the Earth's population surpassed 6 billion people! With all the things that are happening including Global Warming, its kinda worrisome to think of how we are going to feed everyone. With the supply of people continuing to increase so is the demand of food and crops. This chapter brings about the question: How are we gonna feed and support everyone? The topics in this chapter include, Socitey's Four Transitional Stages, Evidence for Negative Population Growth, Future Food Supply/Demand Balance, Protecting the Environment, and The Challenges Ahead.

Society's Four Transitional Stages:
The first stage this paragraph talks about is a traditional society. In a traditional society there is low population density and low economic and population growth. Also high birthrates tend to match high death rates. The second stage is a developing stage, this is where agritultural production and plant and animal domestication are an outcome of a society's technological advancements. The third stage is a developed society. During this stage economic surplus and increases in capital and per capita income begin as a outcome of increases in agricultural production and productivity. Finally there is the mature society, there is prominent technological change beyond just agriculture.

Evidence for Negative Population Growth:
This section involves statistics that deals with various populations projections around the world. An interesting fact that stood out to me in this section stated that; According to the United Nations, the total fertility reate-number of children a woman may be expected to bear during her lifetime-has fallen in every region of the world since 1950. (Mckinney 56) During the 1950's on average a women would have around 6 children, the number has currently declined to around 2 children in North America. Because of these statistics, the United Nations are seeking evidence and reasons that could result in negative population growth.

Future Food Supply/Demand Balance:
From 1995-2000 both the population and income grew rapidly. If that streak continues to grow at the same rate, the future food supply will fall beneath the overall demand for food. This is a very scary thought, we just finished watching that documentary on Global Warming and how that is affecting the world, but if you combine that with food supply/demand we could have major issues. Not only is the food supply and demand quickly becoming a problem so is population productivity.

Protecting the Environment:
This section talks about how we can protect the environment and how the relationship between income and population will ultimately save the environment. It is stated in this section that; several studies have shown that the interaction between population and income will ultimately save the environment while leaving sufficient land for food production. (Mckinney 57) This is makes sense because higher income+lower population growth=reduction of pressure on the environment and higher income+more money on services, and production of disposal which in turn is less harmful ont he earth.

The Challenges Ahead:
There are many things that will produce positive outcomes. Some of these factors include; Interacting demographic, economic and environmental transitions. The overall prediction of The United Nations' low/medium population projection suggests that food supply growth will continue to outpace food demand growth, resulting in continuing decline in real prices for farmers. (McKinney 58) To avoid the imbalance of food supply/demand I think that we just need to start being more resourceful and take better care of the environment.

My Views on this topic:

I think its a really scary thought that we may run out of food supply in the future. If you think about it food supply is running low all over the world, especially in underdeveloped countries. If we continue to use up resources what will we do or where will we go in the future?

Terms:
Demographics
Agricultural Productivity
Economics
Developed Countries
Developing Countries
Population Growth

When reading this chapter I became really interested in the world food supply (world agriculture) in relationship to Global Warming so I did a little research and I found this pretty cool site check it out!
http://www.cgdev.org/content/general/detail/14404?gclid=CPmQ4MXJ4ZgCFQ_yDAodYnLzbA

Share and Voice

So the other day I was on Google and I learned that there is now something called Google Earth. Google Earth is talks about the ocean and gives really interesting facts and tours beneath the ocean. The site also includes videos where you can see global changes with decades of historic imagery, dive beneath the surface of the ocean and track and share your paths with others. In order to get all of the features you have to download Google Earth 5.o otherwise on the homepage you can watch a video, or click on Google Earth 5.0 Product Tour on the bottom. I thought it was a really neat go check it out!!!

Reflection: Weeks 3-4

Hey Everyone! I cant believe that another two weeks has come and gone.....in weeks 3 and 4 I have become alot more comfortable with bloggging and I have learned a lot about global warming through the video we have been watching.

Week 3:
During week 3 we had a couple of reading from our book due. One was Outlooks: Readings for Environmental Literacy, chapter 1, The Challenges We Face and chapter 27, Seeing Green: Knowing and Saving the Environment on Film. Chapter one was pretty much a summary of the environment some topics mentioned were food, climate & energy, health, etc. It was a good chapter just to get some background knowledge on all those different topics. Chapter 27 talked about environmental films and how everything that is taped/filmed in the environment may not be exactly real. Some include powerful messages that are true about the environment and others contain different visions on what the environment truly is. I thought that both readings were very interesting and I learned that not everything is what it seems even if its something as real as the environment.

Week 4:
During this we we spent our time watching and finishing the film "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore. When we first started watching the documentary I wasnt very interested. But as we got further into the documentary I was shocked by the facts on global warming. I mean I knew that there was a problem relating to global warming but I had really no idea on what scale. It was such an eye opener for me to see just how much we have to do inorder to save the earth. By the end of the documentary I was so much more aware of global warming and what we as a planet can do to stop it from stirring into a much bigger problem.

Overall, I retained a lot of useful information over these past couple of weeks. Especially by watching the documentary! I also am finally starting to pick up this whole blogging thing!!! Who would have thought! sorry to anyone who is having trouble following my blog...somehow I managed to create 2 when I didnt even know how to create1!!

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

My Ecological Footprint:

How many earths would there need to be if everyone lived like me? According to the quiz from redefining progress, if everyone lived the lifestyle I live it would take 5.06 earths!!

My reaction:
I was shocked by the results fromt the quiz. I knew answering the questions that the results may not turn out to positively, but I didnt realize how drastic the results would be. I mean I try to do my part in the environment by recycling, turning off the tv and lights etc. but these results were shocking.

What is the impact of your behavior on the environment?
Obviously, my impact of my behavior on the environment is very negative. If everyone lived like me there would need to be 5.06 earths! My daily routine seems to not be to "healthy" for the enviornment and there is so much more I can do to keep the earth safe and healthy. This quiz has been helpful for me to look at my personal results and how my living affects the environment first hand.

How might you reconsider and/or adjust your behaviors to reduce your ecological footprint?
I plan to take the results that I learned from the quiz and change my behaviors in reguards to the environment. I want to become more environmentally friendly by recycling more, taking shorter showers, turning off lights and the tv when not in use, taking the bus to and from school, carpooling the list could go on and on. Although in the big scheme of things these acts seem small, when you add them all up you can make a huge difference in the environment!!