Berry, Wendell. "The Pleasures of Eating - Wendell Berry | Center for Ecoliteracy." Education for Sustainability | Center for Ecoliteracy. 1990. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/pleasures-eating>.

Essay by Wendell Berry about what consumers can do to eat sustainably.http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/pleasures-eating

Berry, Wendell. "In Distrust of Movements." The Irresistible Fleet of Bicycles. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/essays/essay-in-distrust-of-movements-by-wendell-berry/>.
Another Berry essay about escaping the need to create a movement.
http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/essays/essay-in-distrust-of-movements-by-wendell-berry/

Wes Jackson is a friend of Wendell Berry and he began The Land Institute that encourages sustainable farming through mimic of nature's natural ecosystems.
Jackson, Wes. New Roots for Agriculture. San Francisco: Friends of the Earth, 1980. Print.


I'm making pretty good progress on Omnivore's Dilemma. Which is good because I have so many other books I want to read that I have no idea how I am going to read them all. The more I think about it the more I would like to be able to create a website where you click on the food in question and a complete history, from farm to table, is given. I'm not entirely sure if this has already been done. I just searched google really quick and didn't see anything like it. My other problem is that I have no idea how to make a website. Also, if I did make a website, I would want it to look nice...not like a third grader made it. This week, or maybe next since we have individual conferences, I might ask one of our lovely graphic design students. They would be able to tell me how impossible my idea is. I put several books on hold at the library. But, mostly I want to really focus on Omnivore's Dilemma and hopefully finish it before next weekend, so I can start a new book. If I go through with the website idea (or really it could be a blog because blogs are free) I will need to talk to a lot of people regarding exactly where the food has been. I feel like the beginning and end will be easy to find. But the middle will be trickier. I'm still wrestling with adding the treatment of animals in slaughter houses and feedlots into my study. I'm very passionate about the animals. But, I really want this to be a science based project instead of psychology. But, there may be room in the history of the food we eat to also give a glimpse into what the animals have to go through.
Michael Pollan says that anyone who eats meat should be able to experience the killing of an animal with their own hands at least once in their life. They should know what it feels like to end other animal's life to provide sustenance for yourself. I would never be able to kill an animal myself. I got queasy when he wrote about killing chickens...I guess that's why I'm a vegetarian. But, I respect the person that is able to hunt for themselves.

The Omnivore's Dilemma Part I

As i started reading I begin thinking about what my final product might look like. I know it's not quite time to decide. But, here are two of the ideas I came up with.

I could map out where exactly food comes from. I could take several different foods and trace them back to their origin. This could be done on an actual physical chart. Or, ideally, it could be a website. However I have no idea how to make a website.

Another idea I had was to not eat anything with corn in it for a number of days or weeks and document my experiences.

Anyway, here are my notes from the first part of Omnivore's Dilemma. I planned to get a little farther in my reading than I did today. But, alas, I fell asleep.

NOTES:

• Even though the French eat large quantities of fast food they are still skinnier than Americans (3)
• Over abundance of food in America complicates the process of deciding what to eat. (4)
• Researchers have argued that the "open endedness" of the humans diet may contribute to both our civility and savagery. (6)
• What we eat can represent our connection with the rest of the world. "Our eating turns nature into culture" (10)
• "A chicken nugget piles corn upon corn" (18)
• There are forty-five thousand items in the supermarket. And 17,000 new items each year (20)
• Most plants create 3 carbon atoms. Corn produces 4 giving it an ecological advantage. (21)
• Few plants can create as much organic matter as corn. (22)
• If isotope ratios are examined in humans. North Americans contain the most corn. (23)
• Corn has a much higher yield than wheat. (25)
• Nearly all of the corn farmers grow corn simply for livestock feed. (34)
• "By the 1980s, the diversified family farm was history in Iowa, and corn was king" (39)
• Corn has become a "welfare queen" in Iowa because of the mass subsidizing by the government. (41)
• "The free market has never worked in agriculture and it never will. The economics of the family farm are very different than a firm" (54)
• Corn impoverishes farmers and destroys the land while the government spends 5 billion a year subsidizing cheap corn. (54)
• Although some corn farmers choose to not use GMOs all grade 2 corn ends up in the same place. (58)
• 3 of every 5 kernels end up in the factory farm (64)
• "Corn the plant has colonized some 125,000 square miles of the American continent, an area twice the size of New York State." (65)
• "The urbanization of America's population would never have happened if not for government subsidized corn.
• Cows raised on corn grow much faster than those raised on grass. (71)
• Corn fed meat is less healthy for us. (73)
• Feedlots are allowed to feed cows "feather meal and chicken litter" (76)
• Most health problems in cattle can be attributed to their diet. (77)
• Corn produces large quantities of gas in the cow's stomach. Which can lead to bloating that may cause death. (77)
• Corn diets may also give the cows acidosis. Which is like heartburn and can also cause the cow to die. (78)
• The acidic quality of corn eats away at the cow's stomach and allows for the growth of bacteria. (78)
• Cow manure is put into shit lagoons. It can't be used for crops because of its acidity. (79)
• 40% of cattle carry e. coli in their stomachs
• If the cattle are fed grass a few days prior to slaughter the amount of e. coli in a cow's stomach is reduced by 80% (82)
• Wet meal corn is turned into things like soda or cereal. (86)
• Breakfast cereal: 4 cents worth of corn= 4 dollars worth of product. (93)
• Adult onset diabetes changed it's name to type II diabetes because it is now increasingly seem in children. (102)
• Today's children may be the first generation to have a lower life expectancy than their parents (102)
• "Since the Nixon administration, farmers in the United States have managed to produce 500 additional calories per person everyday" (103)
• "530 million bushels of the annual corn harvest--turning it into 17.5 billion pounds of high fructose corn syrup." (103)
• Soft drinks contain the most high fructose corn syrup. (104)
• "People presented with large portions will each 30% more than they need" (106)
• "A dollar can buy 1,200 calories of potato chips and cookies; spent on whole food like carrots, the same dollar buys only 250 calories" (108)
• 19% of American meals are eaten in the car (110)
• TBHQ is an antioxidant that is derived from petroleum found in chicken nuggets and other processed food. It is a form of butane and a carcinogen. FDA allows for no more than .02% in our food. 1 gram of TBHQ  can cause, "nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation and collapse" 5 grams can kill a human. (113-114)
• "That perhaps is what the industrial food chain does best: obscure the histories of the foods it produces by processing them to such an extent that they appear as pure products of culture rather than nature--things made from plants and animals. (115) 

The Botany of Desire

The Botany of Desire was interesting but not very useful. However I did learn a few things that may be relevant to my cause. Apples, apples, apples! I finished reading Animal Liberation this morning...Notes from that coming soon. It's too dark in my living room to type them right now. I don't feel like turning on the lamp. My biggest worry right now is that I don't know what direction I want to go with my topic. As I said before I just finished reading Animal Liberation. Basically, it is an animal psychology book that explores animal suffering and intelligence. It has a chapter on animals in the meat industry which is very informative. I just don't know how to tie in the actual process with the animal's experience and include vegetables in there somewhere. I was thinking maybe something like:

I. In the Lab

    a. Plants

        i. GMOs

    b. Animals

        

II. On the Farm

    a. Plants    

       i. Saving Seed

       ii. Pesticides

    b. Animals

       i. Chicken Coops

       ii. Pig Farm

       iii. Feedlot

    

III. In your grocery store

     a. How to eat responsibly.

That needs some work. But it feels good to write something down. I definitely have the most information for "On the farm" So I either need to find more info on the other topics OR just focus on "On the Farm" I do really want to present solutions. I haven't given up on the idea or storytelling yet. I just haven't figured out how to make that happen. I feel like it will probably come to me once the research falls into place. 

Food Inc. Notes

The way we eat has changed more in the last fifty years than in the last 1000.
The image of the family farm is still present even though the family farm has nearly disappeared.
Food is full of gmos and the supermarket no longer has seasons.
4 companies control 80% of the market.
The meat industry no longer produces chicken. They produce meat. "Raising" has turned into "Growing"
The chicken farmer in the movie is allergic to all antibiotics because she has been over exposed to the drug.
Grower has no choice in the way they raise their chickens because many have taken out loans from the company and they have signed contracts.
So much of our food is corn based!
30% of the land base is corn.
Farm bill codifies rules of farmers.
Corn is subsidized by government.
90% food contains corn or soybean ingredient.
Corn is main ingredient in feed for animals.
Corn allows ecoli to grow faster in cows.
1972 FDA conducted 50000 inspections
2006 FDA conducted only 9164
There used to be 1000s of slaughterhouses now there are only 13.
Kevin's law would give FDA permission to shut down plants that produce contaminated meat-still has not passed.
Engineered foods are subsidized by the government while healthy foods are not.
Type 2 diabetes used to only effect adults. Now it is increasingly seen in children.
1 in 3 children will contract diabetes. Among minorities it will be 1 in 2.
Employees on hog farms get infections from the environment.
Meat packing is one of the most dangerous jobs.
Smithfield hog farms hires illegal immigrants and turns them into immigration before pay day.
New Alchemy institute
Stoneyfield sold out to Walmart. Good or Bad? Promoting big business. But, at least they don't use pesticides.
Mansanto developed Round-up.
1996 2% Round up ready seed.
2008 90% soybeans are Round up ready.
Farmers can be sued for saving their seeds under infringement of patent.
Even seeds that are not Mansanto are easily cross contaminated by the GMO Mansanto seeds.
FDA does not have to label products with GMOs.
It is illegal to publish a photo of a feedlot.
It is illegal in some states to publicly say anything bad about the meat industry.
RBST, chemical they can cause brain cancer, is illegal in every country except U.S.
The average meal travels 1500 miles from farm to supermarket.
takepart.com/foodinc


Right now I feel like I need to narrow my topic. Watching this movie made me realize that there are so many facets to the food industry. Should I focus on the crops or the animals or the chemicals or the farmers? Really I'd like to do it all. I just don't know if it's possible. We shall see.

Something Smells Fishy

Marion Nestle's food blog. Interesting and informative read. She has some books out too. I might give them a look.
http://www.foodpolitics.com/

A coalition against GM salmon. GM Salmon grow twice as fast as regular salmon. They can escape from their open ocean farms and outperform the native salmon.
"Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences notes that a release of just sixty GE salmon into a wild population of 60,000 would lead to the extinction of the wild population in less than 40 generations."
http://truefoodnow.org/2010/08/27/coalition-demands-fda-deny-approval-of-controversial-genetically-engineered-fish/

An article on Farmed Salmon and the dangers it poses to the Native Species.
"It takes about 2.4 pounds of wild fish to produce one pound of farmed salmon, according to Rosamond L. Naylor, an agricultural economist at Stanford's Center for Environmental Science and Policy."
"In Norway, parasites have so devastated wild fish that the government poisoned all aquatic life in dozens of rivers and streams in an effort to re-boot the ecological system."
"Collecting more than 700 baby pink salmon around farms, she found that 78% were covered with a fatal load of sea lice, which burrow into fish and feed on skin, mucous and blood. Juvenile salmon she netted farther from the farms were largely lice-free."
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-salmon9dec09,0,7675555,full.story


More about Farmed fish. Very detailed description on fish slaughter and brings up evidence that fish are intelligent and can feel pain. (Do not read while eating)
"The scientific literature is quite clear. Anatomically, physiologically and biologically, the pain system in fish is virtually the same as in birds and mammals."
"fish can also suffer from fear and anticipation of physical pain."
"Contaminants from ocean-based aquafarms (fish excrement, uneaten chemical-laden food, and swarms of parasites) spread to the surrounding ocean, and the rampant disease inside the cages is passed on to ocean fish in the area, in some cases increasing the incidence of sea lice 1,000-fold."
"Deformities and stress-related injuries are also a regular occurrence; on some farms, as many as 40 percent of the fish are blind"
http://fishinghurts.com/FishFeelPain.asp


Article discussing the rampant outbreak of sea lice in Salmon
"Sea lice can lower the fitness of salmon - and in some cases be lethal - as they create open lesions on the surface of the fish that compromises its ability to maintain its salt-water balance"
"Sea lice production from the farm we studied was four orders of magnitude - 30,000 times - higher than natural. These lice then spread out around the farm."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4391711.stm


Some info. on bycatch. See Criterion III. Still could use more.
"Bycatch, the unintentional take of non-targeted fishes and invertebrates, is a major concern in shrimp fisheries. The trawl method has great potential for unselective fishing. The UN FAO estimates that 35% of the world's incidental catch occurs in shrimp trawl fisheries [Alverson et al. 1994; Steiner 1996]—about 10 million metric tons per year."
"Worldwide, bycatch ratios for shrimp trawl fisheries range from about 3:1 to 15:1"
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_WarmwaterShrimpReport.pdf


I still want to find more information on the effects of bycatch to prove that fish farming is just as bad as catching wild fish. I'll conclude with some "Eating Animals" quotes. "Modern industrial Fishing lines can be as long as 75 miles--the same distance as from sea level to space."
"For every ten tuna, sharks, and other large predatory fish that were in oceans fifty to one hundred years ago only one is left"
145 different species of fish are killed in tuna nets.
"Imagine being served a plate of sushi. But this plate also holds all of the animals that were killed for your serving of sushi. The plate might have to be five feet across"

Storytelling

These are some links that Chris suggested

Michael Pollan's website. A whole mess of helpful articles
http://michaelpollan.com/


Jonathan Safron Foer talks about his relationship with meat and his choice to raise his kids vegetarian.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11foer-t.html

Talks about some choices one can make to be more conscious about where food is produced.
http://www.farmforward.com/farming-forward/food-choices


Shows the consumer how to be more sustainable. http://www.sustainabletable.org/home.php


I especially like the Jonathan Safron Foer article. I wish to find a way into storytelling combined with the research. I just don't want people to lose interest. I was talking to my friend James the other day and he actually has taken a class on food production. He will be an invaluable resource. Already he has suggested the work of Peter Singer. He's an animal rights activist and Pollan actually got a lot of his information from Singer's research. I went to half price books yesterday to try and find some of his work. But, it was to no avail. It's a university press so I could probably find it at the U bookstore. I'll make that adventure next week if I still can't find it. I could just get it from the library. BUT I love desecrating my books with various notes.

Here are some links to info. about Peter Singer and his work.
http://www.princeton.edu/~psinger/

This one has some excerpts from his book Animal Liberation.
http://www.ivu.org/people/writers/psinger.html

While I do want to point out what is wrong with the food industry I also want to give possible solutions. Find a way to make things a little bit better. I want my research to make people want to change the way they eat. Even if it's only a little bit. That means that my research needs to be scientific and interesting at the same time. Eeeep!  I was thinking that maybe if I connect some of my own experiences and friend's experiences to the research it may be easier to connect to.

Day Uno!

This is my first blog post ever. Hurrahhurrah! I thought I'd start small today and just do a bit of internet research. I'm just going to focus on chickens for now. But, perhaps tomorrow I will explore the slaughterings of some other animal. Already in this process I fear that the gruesome truth may just be too gruesome. I feel like if I just terrify people by telling them horror stories eventually they won't want to listen anymore. I suppose I will cross that bridge when I come to it. For now I will just post some links!

Very informative link about dangerous bacteria in chicken

http://usapeec.org/p_documents/newsandinfo_050612111938.pdf

Another article about Salmonella and Campylobacter found in chicken

http://cspinet.org/reports/polt.html

Chicken is one of the most dangerous items in the American kitchen

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,981629,00.html

What it's like inside the slaughter house

http://catalog.cornish.edu:2051/pqdweb?did=38850156&sid=11&Fmt=3&clientId=36162&RQT=309&VName=PQD

American's are eating more chicken than ever and factories can't keep up

http://catalog.cornish.edu:2051/pqdweb?did=207660641&sid=13&Fmt=4&clientId=36162&RQT=309&VName=PQD

I'm finding that many of the articles are talking about free-range and organic chicken and how great it is that everyone is becoming more environmentally conscious. But, no one...so far...discusses the fact that the FDA has no regulation over what is organic. And to be free-range a chicken only needs to have access to the outdoors. That does not mean the chicken can actually get outside. There just needs to be a window in the chicken coop. 

There's a lot of great info out there. Maybe too much? I need to make an outline asap. That will hopefully happen tomorrow. I have yet to get to the library to read Michael Pollen's book. But I have requested it online. I look forward to reading it!