A main pattern that I have noticed in the American Way of Life, is that Americans are so used to authority that many people don't go against it and voice their own opinions. They just go with what the person "in charge" says. Americans depend on the government or some other type of authority to run everything from food, health care, birth, and the values that we live our lives by. Listening to authority has been drilled into us since birth, in a way making us think that the higher power’s way is they only way. The general American Way of Life is following the norm, and listening to a higher power, which it seems like our society always does.
Even though we live in America, many Americans were unsure what the American Way of Life was. However when I asked a young black man walking down 23rd street, he said that the American Way of Life was “you have to do whatever it takes to survive, no matter how much authority or education you have, you always have to listen to what ‘they’ tell you”. His view on America was that no matter how much power of money you have, there is still someone you have to answer too. Listening to authority is so normal now, that I think our society does it without really noticing it. The fact that we always have to do what someone tells us to do is somewhat disturbing, it’s like Americans don’t have a mind of their own to object to what they think I right or wrong. From birth we are taught to listen to authority. Whether it’s listening to our parents, our teacher, or eventually our bosses we are always listening to somebody ELSE . It’s not very likely in the American way of life that we defy that authority and go with what we think.
In America, the normal way of birth is frequently portrayed through the media as a chaotic experience. In many cases, we see the doctor dictating everything; it’s very rare that the woman who is going through this extreme amount of pain is ever catered/listened too. Even though the media portrays birth as chaotic, they also make it seem like it’s a smooth process with a happy ending. In the media it is usually chaos when the woman realizes her water has broke, and she is trying to get to the hospital. Once she gets there, it is like she is given priority compared to all the other patients, and rushed to have her baby. With a little pitossin, epidural, and a little pushing, here comes this bundle of joy that the mother has been waiting 9 months to meet. It isn’t very likely that birth in America happens like this.
When it comes to birth, doctors are the people everybody listens too, when sometimes they don’t know what’s best for the baby or the mother. In the movie "The Business of Being Born", the difference between hospital births and a more natural birth is shown. A lot of technology has been added to the birthing process, and a lot of it is for the doctors benefit not necessarily the mother or the baby. Things like vacuums, forceps, and unnecessary machines are used to help make the birthing process quicker. Things like episiotomies and c sections are often thought to benefit the mother, but it really helps the doctor. Scheduling a 15 minute c-section rather than being in labor with your patient for 10-20 hours is better business for them. Many people think these things are done because they are better for the mother and the baby, but it really only helps the doctor.
Many patients depend on doctors because they are the authority figure during child birth, and are supposed to "know" what they are doing. Since they know they have this power, i feel like they abuse, it to get what they want (mainly money). Doctors often make sure a baby is born at a certain time by using various technologies and techniques, so it can fit into their schedule. These techniques and technologies are not necessarily good for the mother or the baby, but more convenient for the doctor. We see this a lot when it comes to c-sections. Doctors would rather schedule a c section for their patients, and get more births done throughout the day, instead of going through the regular process. i think that many Americans have been taught to follow authority for a major part of their lives, that they don't know when and how to stand up for what's right. Even the American Way of Birth is controlled by listening to authority (the doctors) and following the norm, when it isn't always best for the mother or the child.
Health care is also a major part of the American Way of Life. Not everyone in America has health care, and it is also a cause for poverty in America. In the movie "Sicko' (Micheal Moore), America's health care system is compared and contrasted to the health care systems in Cuba, Canada, and France. He talks about how in America, health insurance companies try to get as much money out of it's clients as possible, and how it is very different in other countries. In America, the doctors are paid more when they deny a patient care because they are saving insurance companies money when it comes to coverage. However, in other countries like France the doctors get paid MORE the more they convince their patients to get the care that they need. For example, if a doctor in France convinces their patient to stop smoking, then they are getting paid more because their patient is healthier. In America, people are taught that they have to listen to the higher authority (health insurance companies), and that's the only way. In turn, the people with power by abusing it and not caring about the benefit of the people.
The movie also showed how an American woman had to pretend like she was married to a Canadian man, just so she could get the medicines her and her young daughter needed. It seems like Americans will go through anything to get get what they need, because authority isn't always looking out for them.
While looking at me and my moms health care situation, i noticed that what i thought was good/reasonable health care isn't that at all. My mom has health coverage through her job (for the both of us), and it seems like she is covered for just about anything. However when you look at the price she is paying compared to coverage, it doesn't seem reasonable. Almost 200 dollars is being taken out of her check weekly for our health coverage, and we still have to pay pretty high co-pays. When i recently went to the doctor i had to pay my regular $18 Co-pay, plus an extra $28 for a throat culture. Having to pay almost $50 at a doctors visit seems outrageous to me. Why do we pay all of this money for coverage, but still have to pay these high co-pays? when i voiced my opinion to my mom she seemed like she agreed with me, but said " there isn't much we can do about it". This has me thinking that because we've been following authority for so long, that we just accept it, even if it may be wrong. I have noticed this pattern not just in health care, but in the American Way of Life in general. We fear those who have power, so we just fall back and let them lead (even if they are abusing their power. This has become the norm for many Americans.
The American Way of Food has really become Industrialized food. Everywhere you look food is processed so it can be made and accessed quickly. As seen in the movie "Vroom Farming for Kids", the farming industry is mostly industrialized, everything is done by man operated machines. Everything from tending to the crops, to picking the crops, to taking them to the processing plant is done by fossil fuel operated machines. In the movie huge tractors, trucks, and bulldozers were all used to help transport the crop (I think corn and cabbage) in some way. These machines help do a lot of work in a little bit of time. The machines are eliminating most of the man power from the picking the crops, which results in a lot of profit. It is definitely cheaper to buy gallons of gas for about $2.00 a gallon, instead of paying 20 to 25 workers minimum wage to do the work for you. The food corporations take the easy way out by relying on the fossil fuel operated machines. It seems like they don't care about what's being done to the food, just as long as the work is being done and it is either saving or making them money. They don't care if it is harming the people that are eating it, or if it's harming the environment, they are only thinking about their benefit.
Industrialization was also seen in the movie "Our Daily Bread", how various fruits and even animals go through industrialization. Everything is grown in a controlled setting and is done by machines. “Our Daily Bread” shows specifically how pigs are fed and then killed and prepared to be shipped off. Instead of a couple of men feeding the pigs, huge machines are used to throw the food at them. They are then killed by going in one end of the machine alive, and being spit out the other dead. The pigs are cut open by machines, organs taken out by machines, faces cut off by machines, EVERYTHING that goes on in the factory depends on some type of machine. Even though these machines are being operated by man power, it is still saving corporations money. The jobs are getting done faster with potentially less power and money; it would take for maybe 20 people to do the job. American corporations result to industrializing the production of food to help increase profits, and to also save money.
It seems like Industrialized food is the way to go now a days. Corporations have made it that almost everything we eat is made/goes through a factory This is not always healthy for the people eating it. There are some people who have gone against the norm, and only eat organic,or things grown from certain farms. Most people however, eat these foods. People are following the norm that these corporations put out there, and believing in their authority when it is potentially harming us.
In the American Way of birth, food, health care, and overall values, society listens to authority figures for everything. Even when these people or companies with the power abuse it, and take advantage of us, we listen to them anyway. We listen to them anyway when we know it's not for our benefit, and can eventually harm us. Sometimes when we know it's wrong, we still don't stand up for what we believe in. We have this mentality like "there's nothing we can do about it", so I'm just going to keep doing what i have been doing and follow the authority figure. Based off of the different units we have covered throughout the year, I have noticed that the American Way of Life is basically listening to the authority figure, since it has become the norm amongst our society.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Collapse Assignment 2-
Based off of the things we looked at in class, and my own research, I've noticed that a society's collapse can be from many things or from one thing. For example in Easter Island, they collapsed because they overused their source of trees. Cutting down trees wasn't they only reason why they collapsed, but it lead (like a domino effect) to other things happening causing them to collapse. I kind of see the same thing happening when in America when it comes to oil. America depends so much on oil , like the people on Easter Island depended on their trees. Depending on how you look at it, oil runs our lives in America.
Before this unit I knew that oil was a big thing in America, and that it caused many problems in America also, but I never realized how much we depend on it in our everyday lives. We depend on oil for everything,from our clothes, the water we drink, our technology, and even the food we eat. We use so much in America alone, I don't think that people realize that it's going to be here for ever. Since oil is used in our everyday lives, I think people take it for granted because they things it's always going to be available for us. However i think it's time that they start thinking about what happens when the amount of oil is so low, that there isn't much we can do with it. Since we have reached our peak oil in 2006, our amount of oil has gone down hill. It's really time for America, or even the lazy Americans to start thinking of an alternative.
I think that when it comes to a crisis in America, Americans wait for someone with power (or who they think knows what they are doing) to think of an alternative solution. In most cases Americans wait on the government to making the life altering change to make the country better, or in turn protect them from harm. When it comes to oil I think that we need to think of an alternative before it is too late. Oil can definitely be a reason that America's society collapses, and it's better if we do something about it now, rather than when it's too late.
Before this unit I knew that oil was a big thing in America, and that it caused many problems in America also, but I never realized how much we depend on it in our everyday lives. We depend on oil for everything,from our clothes, the water we drink, our technology, and even the food we eat. We use so much in America alone, I don't think that people realize that it's going to be here for ever. Since oil is used in our everyday lives, I think people take it for granted because they things it's always going to be available for us. However i think it's time that they start thinking about what happens when the amount of oil is so low, that there isn't much we can do with it. Since we have reached our peak oil in 2006, our amount of oil has gone down hill. It's really time for America, or even the lazy Americans to start thinking of an alternative.
I think that when it comes to a crisis in America, Americans wait for someone with power (or who they think knows what they are doing) to think of an alternative solution. In most cases Americans wait on the government to making the life altering change to make the country better, or in turn protect them from harm. When it comes to oil I think that we need to think of an alternative before it is too late. Oil can definitely be a reason that America's society collapses, and it's better if we do something about it now, rather than when it's too late.
Collapse Assignment 1- Easter Island
Easter Island, was a remote island that was succesful without industrialization and very little domestication. Thye were able to build hundreds of great stone statues without very many resources, however hese statues also lead to their downfall. It seemed like the peoples sole purpose of life was to build these statues, everything they did potentially went into building these statues. I found the fact that they could survive on so little the most interesting. The main animal they had access to were chickens, and they had very little crops and water supply. since, they had little water, they drank a lot of juice form the sugar cane that they grew.
After reading this chapter, I could see the similarities between America and the people of Easter Island. Easter Island collapsed mainly because of enviromental problems and social/political problems. They used up a lot of their resources to help them make these huge statues, not thinking about what would happen if they were to run out of resources. I see this in America when it comes to things like oil. We use oil for almost everything in our society, but very rarely do we think about how it's polluting our air, or what's going to happen when our oil supply is at it's lowest. The people of Easter Island were also competing within their clan to see who could make the biggest.most elaborate statues (bigger statue = POWER). This is also similar to America, because we compete with other countries when it comes to resources (such as oil), and various technology. I think that the significance of this chapter was to see what a society could do with such little resources. I also think the significance was to see how many society's rarely think about a possible downfall. They fail to think about an alternative for when their resources run out, or what they can do to prevent thier resources from running out.
After reading this chapter, I could see the similarities between America and the people of Easter Island. Easter Island collapsed mainly because of enviromental problems and social/political problems. They used up a lot of their resources to help them make these huge statues, not thinking about what would happen if they were to run out of resources. I see this in America when it comes to things like oil. We use oil for almost everything in our society, but very rarely do we think about how it's polluting our air, or what's going to happen when our oil supply is at it's lowest. The people of Easter Island were also competing within their clan to see who could make the biggest.most elaborate statues (bigger statue = POWER). This is also similar to America, because we compete with other countries when it comes to resources (such as oil), and various technology. I think that the significance of this chapter was to see what a society could do with such little resources. I also think the significance was to see how many society's rarely think about a possible downfall. They fail to think about an alternative for when their resources run out, or what they can do to prevent thier resources from running out.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Final Paper On Food
The American Way Of Food seems to have changed over the decades. Now Americans look at food based off of how cheap it is, and how quick it is. Alot of this has to do with major corporations doing whatever they can to increase their profits, no matter how what they are doing effects the food or the people eating it. They manipulate us into thinking that the food we are eating is good for us, when in reality practically everything that we consume is industrialized. From farms to the animals we eat, major food corporations will do almost anything to make a dollar.
In the food world, industrialization is used to speed up the process of producing large amounts of food. As seen in the movie "Vroom Farming for Kids", the farming industry is mostly industrialized, everything is done by man operated machines. Everything from tending to the crops, to picking the crops, to taking them to the processing plant is done by fossil fuel operated machines. In the movie huge tractors, trucks, and bulldozers were all used to help transport the crop (I think corn and cabbage) in some way. These machines help do a lot of work in a little bit of time. The machines are eliminating most of the man power from the picking the crops, which results in a lot of profit. It is definitely cheaper to buy gallons of gas for about $2.00 a gallon, instead of paying 20 to 25 workers minimum wage to do the work for you. The food corporations take the easy way out by relying on the fossil fuel operated machines. It seems like they don't care about what's being done to the food, just as long as the work is being done and it is either saving or making them money.
Industrialization was also seen in the movie "Our Daily Bread", how various fruits and even animals go through industrialization. Everything is grown in a controlled setting and is done by machines. “Our Daily Bread” shows specifically how pigs are fed and then killed and prepared to be shipped off. Instead of a couple of men feeding the pigs, huge machines are used to throw the food at them. They are then killed by going in one end of the machine alive, and being spit out the other dead. The pigs are cut open by machines, organs taken out by machines, faces cut off by machines, EVERYTHING that goes on in the factory depends on some type of machine. Even though these machines are being operated by man power, it is still saving corporations money. The jobs are getting done faster with potentially less power and money; it would take for maybe 20 people to do the job. American corporations result to industrializing the production of food to help increase profits, and to also save money.
Animal cruelty not only happens in the movie “Our Daily Bread”, but also in the animated video “Meatrix”. “Meatrix”, kind of based off of the movie “The Matrix”, is about a pig who doesn’t know about the mistreatment and cruelty that really happens on farms. When he is given these glasses by a hip cow named Moofius, he sees how cruel his life really is. Moofius lets him know that many farmers don’t raise their animals with care; it’s very rare to see a nice ‘ideal’ farm. As seen in both videos animals that are raised on industrialized farms are kept in confined places, and are not given everything they need. They are not only killed when they are fed and injected with chemicals so they are ‘plump’ enough, but slaughtered. All of this helps contribute to the profits of the corporations’ in charge of these farms and factories.
When I went on the extra credit trip with Wildman Steve, I felt like I was experiencing something that a lot of people in America will never experience. During the trip, we picked various herbs and plants that we could use in our everyday lives. I learned a lot about plants and berries that can be found in central park. For example I got a lot of “poor man’s pepper”, which can be used as a seasoning in almost anything. This example also showed me how much I (and many other people) depend on industrialized food. After watching a couple of movies, and seeing how our food is really treated, I’m starting to realize that a lot of what we eat is potentially bad for us. We can live off of things found in central park for FREE, which is healthier for us than the industrial foods that we already eat. People should really consider eating natural, healthier foods, instead of the foods that the money hungry corporations provide.
Grocery stores (which are owned and operated by corporations) push certain foods based off of taste and age groups. It seems as if grocery stores are using mind games to get consumers to buy certain products. When we took a trip to the grocery store, I noticed a lot of these things. In the fruit/vegetable aisle, everything was clean, shiny, and perfectly organized to show how healthy these fruits/vegetables are supposed to be for you. However, in the middle of the aisle with the perfectly presented fruits/vegetables, was a perfectly organized setup of beer. I felt that the corporation did this to make consumers think that beer is just as important/healthy as fruits and vegetables which we need in our everyday diet. I also noticed that things were targeted to different age groups. For example, the unhealthy and sugary cereals were at a kid’s eye level, while the seemingly healthier cereals were at an adult’s eye level. Based off of my observations I can tell that food corporations use various marketing techniques to manipulate consumers into buying certain (unhealthy) foods, so they can get more money.
Micheal Pollan on the Colbert show (Comedy Central) was basically an argument between the typical American (Colbert), and an American who is totally against food corporations (Pollan). Pollan kept suggesting that a home cooked meal was in fact “a healthy meal”, while Colbert disagreed. It seemed like Colbert thought that Americans want their food to be prepared for us so we are not wasting our time preparing our meals. The media is trying to convince people that they don’t even have enough time to make their own meals. It also persuading Americans that fast food is in turn good because it is cheap and accessible. The media manipulating consumers to believe that fast food/industrialized food is good for them, helps the food corporations gain more profit.
Industrialization, media manipulation, and animal cruelty are all present in the American Way of Food. By looking at the movies “Vroom!”, "Unser Taglich Brot (Our Daily Bread)”, “Cows with Guns”, “Meatrix”; and my experience with Wildman Steve have shown me how cruel that industrialization process is. Corporations have industrialized almost everything when it comes to food to help them save money, and gain profits. Through industrialization, food processing, animal cruelty, and animal cruelty, food corporations will do just about anything to our food as long as it makes them profit.
In the food world, industrialization is used to speed up the process of producing large amounts of food. As seen in the movie "Vroom Farming for Kids", the farming industry is mostly industrialized, everything is done by man operated machines. Everything from tending to the crops, to picking the crops, to taking them to the processing plant is done by fossil fuel operated machines. In the movie huge tractors, trucks, and bulldozers were all used to help transport the crop (I think corn and cabbage) in some way. These machines help do a lot of work in a little bit of time. The machines are eliminating most of the man power from the picking the crops, which results in a lot of profit. It is definitely cheaper to buy gallons of gas for about $2.00 a gallon, instead of paying 20 to 25 workers minimum wage to do the work for you. The food corporations take the easy way out by relying on the fossil fuel operated machines. It seems like they don't care about what's being done to the food, just as long as the work is being done and it is either saving or making them money.
Industrialization was also seen in the movie "Our Daily Bread", how various fruits and even animals go through industrialization. Everything is grown in a controlled setting and is done by machines. “Our Daily Bread” shows specifically how pigs are fed and then killed and prepared to be shipped off. Instead of a couple of men feeding the pigs, huge machines are used to throw the food at them. They are then killed by going in one end of the machine alive, and being spit out the other dead. The pigs are cut open by machines, organs taken out by machines, faces cut off by machines, EVERYTHING that goes on in the factory depends on some type of machine. Even though these machines are being operated by man power, it is still saving corporations money. The jobs are getting done faster with potentially less power and money; it would take for maybe 20 people to do the job. American corporations result to industrializing the production of food to help increase profits, and to also save money.
Animal cruelty not only happens in the movie “Our Daily Bread”, but also in the animated video “Meatrix”. “Meatrix”, kind of based off of the movie “The Matrix”, is about a pig who doesn’t know about the mistreatment and cruelty that really happens on farms. When he is given these glasses by a hip cow named Moofius, he sees how cruel his life really is. Moofius lets him know that many farmers don’t raise their animals with care; it’s very rare to see a nice ‘ideal’ farm. As seen in both videos animals that are raised on industrialized farms are kept in confined places, and are not given everything they need. They are not only killed when they are fed and injected with chemicals so they are ‘plump’ enough, but slaughtered. All of this helps contribute to the profits of the corporations’ in charge of these farms and factories.
When I went on the extra credit trip with Wildman Steve, I felt like I was experiencing something that a lot of people in America will never experience. During the trip, we picked various herbs and plants that we could use in our everyday lives. I learned a lot about plants and berries that can be found in central park. For example I got a lot of “poor man’s pepper”, which can be used as a seasoning in almost anything. This example also showed me how much I (and many other people) depend on industrialized food. After watching a couple of movies, and seeing how our food is really treated, I’m starting to realize that a lot of what we eat is potentially bad for us. We can live off of things found in central park for FREE, which is healthier for us than the industrial foods that we already eat. People should really consider eating natural, healthier foods, instead of the foods that the money hungry corporations provide.
Grocery stores (which are owned and operated by corporations) push certain foods based off of taste and age groups. It seems as if grocery stores are using mind games to get consumers to buy certain products. When we took a trip to the grocery store, I noticed a lot of these things. In the fruit/vegetable aisle, everything was clean, shiny, and perfectly organized to show how healthy these fruits/vegetables are supposed to be for you. However, in the middle of the aisle with the perfectly presented fruits/vegetables, was a perfectly organized setup of beer. I felt that the corporation did this to make consumers think that beer is just as important/healthy as fruits and vegetables which we need in our everyday diet. I also noticed that things were targeted to different age groups. For example, the unhealthy and sugary cereals were at a kid’s eye level, while the seemingly healthier cereals were at an adult’s eye level. Based off of my observations I can tell that food corporations use various marketing techniques to manipulate consumers into buying certain (unhealthy) foods, so they can get more money.
Micheal Pollan on the Colbert show (Comedy Central) was basically an argument between the typical American (Colbert), and an American who is totally against food corporations (Pollan). Pollan kept suggesting that a home cooked meal was in fact “a healthy meal”, while Colbert disagreed. It seemed like Colbert thought that Americans want their food to be prepared for us so we are not wasting our time preparing our meals. The media is trying to convince people that they don’t even have enough time to make their own meals. It also persuading Americans that fast food is in turn good because it is cheap and accessible. The media manipulating consumers to believe that fast food/industrialized food is good for them, helps the food corporations gain more profit.
Industrialization, media manipulation, and animal cruelty are all present in the American Way of Food. By looking at the movies “Vroom!”, "Unser Taglich Brot (Our Daily Bread)”, “Cows with Guns”, “Meatrix”; and my experience with Wildman Steve have shown me how cruel that industrialization process is. Corporations have industrialized almost everything when it comes to food to help them save money, and gain profits. Through industrialization, food processing, animal cruelty, and animal cruelty, food corporations will do just about anything to our food as long as it makes them profit.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Wildman Steve Brill- Extra Credit
While on the nature walk with Wildman Steve, I felt like I was experiencing something that many kids or even adults may never be able to experience. I learned alot about various plants and berries that could be found in central park. Even though I couldn't here the name of every plant he showed us/ that I collected I did find some of them useful. I will admit that I was kind of skeptical about some of the plants. While people like Dylan and Alijo were willing to to try anything (even things that Steve said not to eat), i would rather sit back and take their word for what it tasted like. This experience also made me realize how dependent I have become to supermarkets and industrialized food. We have been talking about supermarkets and how in some ways the food that are sold are potentially bad for you, but going on this tour really made it hit home. All the natural alternatives that we can potentially live off of found in central park really opened my eyes. The plant I found most interesting was the poor man's pepper (can't remember actual name), this was surprisingly good. I could see myself using this in the kitchen.
Although i enjoyed this experience, I felt that Wildman Steve was a little self centered. I t seemed like he was always making extra stops to tell us various stories about different magazines he's been in, and the different reporters that have had dinner at his home. The story that I did pay attention to was his story of getting arrested for giving a tour in 1993 i think. I never thought that picking natural resources from a public park would be a crime. This made me think that maybe society would rather stick to the way of industrialized food, instead of trying an alternative. Society knows very little about processed foods and healthy natural foods, but decides to stick with the processed/industrialized foods. I think that if everyone went on this tour (even though hes very bizarre), people could really learn a lot and may want to eat healthier more natural foods. 
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Food Assignemt # 8
Recently in class, we have been watching movies like "Unser Taglich Brot" (Our Daily Bread) and "Vroom! Farming For Kids", and discussing where the food we eat comes from. Also the process the food we eat goes through. By looking at these videos and the series of Meatrix videos, I learned that Americans are usually cruel to the animal and plants that we eat, and also treat thtem unnaturally.
In America, the media is used to convince the people that just because food is fast, cheap, and easy to get to, then it's good for us. In both "Vroom..." and "Unser Taglich Brot", we have seen how almost all food has been industrialized. The movie "Vroom" focused on how farming has been industrialized. Huge mchines were used for everything like watering the crops, fertilizing the crops, picking the crops, and even transporting them from the farm to the factory. These machines are used to minimize the amount of work for a large amount of food. However, replacing the work usually done by people, with fossil fuel machine operated machines is polluting the air and potentially harming the crops. The articale "Industrial Food Is Cheap" is states that about 12 pounds of manure is leaking into rivers and causing water pollution just because the farms aren't being looked after properly. This article mainly talks about how industrial food is not cheaper like everyone thinks it is. Industrial food is actually more expensive because in the long run it can effect Americans with diseases, and to treat these diseases is more expensive thann buying natural food. If we eat organic food(even though it is a little more expensive), it eliminates the use of chemicals, and may decrease the risk of disease among Americans.
The "Meatriz" series also shows how industrialization and animal cruelty have taken over many farms. Animals are not being treated with care, like they think they are. The animals in industrial farms are treated horribly by being kept in confined places, not enough sunlight, and injected with chemicals. Thousands of cows are slaughtered per day which seems kind of extreme. Is it really necessary to slaughter so many cows in one day? Is there an alternative so so many animals aren't being harmed, and that is better fo Americans? I think America can do a lot better when it comes to amking their food better and healthier for their people.
In America, the media is used to convince the people that just because food is fast, cheap, and easy to get to, then it's good for us. In both "Vroom..." and "Unser Taglich Brot", we have seen how almost all food has been industrialized. The movie "Vroom" focused on how farming has been industrialized. Huge mchines were used for everything like watering the crops, fertilizing the crops, picking the crops, and even transporting them from the farm to the factory. These machines are used to minimize the amount of work for a large amount of food. However, replacing the work usually done by people, with fossil fuel machine operated machines is polluting the air and potentially harming the crops. The articale "Industrial Food Is Cheap" is states that about 12 pounds of manure is leaking into rivers and causing water pollution just because the farms aren't being looked after properly. This article mainly talks about how industrial food is not cheaper like everyone thinks it is. Industrial food is actually more expensive because in the long run it can effect Americans with diseases, and to treat these diseases is more expensive thann buying natural food. If we eat organic food(even though it is a little more expensive), it eliminates the use of chemicals, and may decrease the risk of disease among Americans.
The "Meatriz" series also shows how industrialization and animal cruelty have taken over many farms. Animals are not being treated with care, like they think they are. The animals in industrial farms are treated horribly by being kept in confined places, not enough sunlight, and injected with chemicals. Thousands of cows are slaughtered per day which seems kind of extreme. Is it really necessary to slaughter so many cows in one day? Is there an alternative so so many animals aren't being harmed, and that is better fo Americans? I think America can do a lot better when it comes to amking their food better and healthier for their people.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Food Assignment #7- Chicken Alfredo
The dish I decided to make was chicken alfredo, because it's really quick and my friends and family seem to like it alot.
-Season chicken
-Put a little oil in the pan and cook chicken throughly on both sides.
-Boil water
-Put pasta into water. Cook until tender. Drain water off
-Cut up chicken into pot with pasta
-Pour jar of alfredo sauce into pot with chicken and pasta. Mix
I wasn't able to post a picture of the dish but it was served with broccoli and garlic bread. I'm guessing that the dish turned out pretty good because my two friends had 3 plates of it. I also noticed that after they ate it they were in good moods. Even though it's a very filling meal, they were ready to run around and play basketball which I thought was interesting.
-Season chicken
-Put a little oil in the pan and cook chicken throughly on both sides.
-Boil water
-Put pasta into water. Cook until tender. Drain water off
-Cut up chicken into pot with pasta
-Pour jar of alfredo sauce into pot with chicken and pasta. Mix
I wasn't able to post a picture of the dish but it was served with broccoli and garlic bread. I'm guessing that the dish turned out pretty good because my two friends had 3 plates of it. I also noticed that after they ate it they were in good moods. Even though it's a very filling meal, they were ready to run around and play basketball which I thought was interesting.
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