An Inconvenient Conversation

I sat down with my mom fairly late at night over the weekend. I pulled up the description of the discussion we were supposed to be having and read it aloud. It was late and we were both tired, so our conversation wasn’t particularly long, but it was interesting nonetheless. We began by running down the list of topics.

“What forms of energy are available?” I asked. She thought for just a moment before she started listing different sources. She mentioned petroleum, coal, solar, using corn and soybeans in cars and different sources. With nothing to add, I asked the next question. “What are the benefits and drawbacks of current energy sources?” She thought again and mentioned that the air is being polluted by coal; drilling oil is polluting water and a whole slew of other problems.

I looked at the next question, but I had one of my own that I wanted to ask instead. “What do you think of the use of corn and soybeans as a form of energy?” I asked. She stopped temporarily before saying, “Well, it’s natural. I don’t really know a lot about the benefits and problems with it though.” I figured this would be her answer, so I decided to tell her a bit about it.

I told her about how, while corn is natural, it is one of the few foods that can never be truly “organic” since it is so susceptible to parasites and other problems. I told her that corn almost always has some form of pesticide being used on it, organic or non-organic, and while corn is good because it can be used in hundreds of different items, it causes many problems as well.

She seemed interested and asked me to elaborate, so I did. I mentioned that the runoff from cornfields has been known to get into streams and pollute water and other fields. She seemed to understand what I was talking about fairly quickly. She added in the fact that since farmers realized that corn was a super food and could be grown in bulk for cheap prices, crops weren’t being rotated. She mentioned to me how it was FDR that really pushed for crop rotation, so the not all of the nutrients would get sucked out of one spot and there would be less chance of landslides.

I decided to tell her about when the class watched “Food Inc.” and about how feeding corn to cattle has been one of the main causes of E. coli poisoning. My mom, being quite the animal activist, thought that it was terrible how people are so concerned about what is best for their pocket book, that they don’t care about what is best for the animals that provide them with nourishment and they don’t care about their own health. I told her about how if farmers fed cows grass for five days after a lifetime of feeding them corn, roughly 80% of the E. coli in their bodies would die immediately.

At this point, we started running out of things to add on to this topic, so we quickly ran down the rest of the list of topics. There was nothing that truly intrigued us, and I had asked my question and said my piece. I looked at the clock and realized that we had been talking for almost a half an hour, not to mention that it was twelve thirty at night and I had to get up in the morning. So we said our goodnights and I headed off to bed.

Back to 1983 for a Day

I woke up on Thanksgiving morning, purposely a bit later than usual so I wouldn’t be pressured into watching the annual parade and dog show that my mom and I get a kick out of. I took my time getting dressed and heading out to the dining room, where my pie-making station awaited me. I had planned to make my “TV free day” on Thanksgiving because I knew that I was going to be busy cooking and converting recipes all day, and I don’t care about football unless it’s on a collegiate level.

I spent the day figuring out how to create a vegan pumpkin pie, (apple pie was easy enough, granted the lattice on top took me forever to do nicely) as my dad and uncle teased me for being “Amish”. There mocking was actually rather funny and I enjoyed spending time with them, (my dad was making his famous homemade bread as my uncle carefully supervised).

All was well until my pies had to bake and suddenly, I had absolutely nothing to do. My mom was at work, my brother was playing my Wii in the back room, and the other two oh-so-supportive ones were watching the football game, even though neither of them likes football. I stood around for a bit, tried tidying up the kitchen a little and started wondering if my teachers had emailed me the information for my letter(s) of recommendation yet.

My dad told me to stop fidgeting and calm down, so I swayed in a doorway for about ten minutes. As I bumped into the jamb repeatedly, I remembered a trick that I used to do when I was younger where I would press my hands against the doorjamb for thirty seconds, then watch them raise up when I stepped away from the door. I did this for almost an hour.

Finally, I was able to pull my first pie out of the over and start on mashed potatoes. I was hard at work again, my boredom quickly being eased. I skinned the potatoes with great enthusiasm as my dad handed me a slice of his freshly baked bread. I put the potatoes on the stove and waited. My dad decided that he wanted to bring some bread and soup, (famous amongst my rowing team) to some people that worked at a local pub that we normally go to on Thursdays. I wanted to go too, so I quickly mashed my potatoes, covered them with a lid, turned off the oven, and he my uncle and I headed down to the pub.

Apparently, my dad had told the waiters about my “project” and they found the whole situation rather amusing themselves. My uncle kept asking questions such as, “Are you allowed to talk about TV?” knowing that movies were one of my favorite subjects. So after drinking my holiday Mexican Coca-Cola, the only way to drink it, we headed home and I finished setting the table.

We ate the dinner, it was quite delicious if I may say so myself, and after that we all passed out from a food coma for the rest of the night. Except for my brother, who continued to play on my Wii until about two thirty in the morning.

How did you communicate?

I barely use my phone anyway, so giving up my cell phone was easy. As for Facebook and other social networking sites, I can honestly say that I check my school email far more often than I check any of those, so finding out a day later about so and so’s new nose ring wasn’t a he loss. My whole family, (two uncles, parents, one brother and I) were all there, and I’m notorious for not keeping in touch with my friends, so it wasn’t much different than a normal day.

How did you get your news?

I read the newspaper, that’s how I typically get my news anyway. Newspaper reporting is a dying industry that I think people will be sorry to see it gone if all the newspapers disappear, so I try to support my local newspaper. That was until they started shoving their uber-conservative views on everyone without giving another side to the story. I need to find a new newspaper…

How did you entertain yourself?

I cooked and baked all day long which is a favorite hobby of mine. I also did the thing in the doorjamb, the one where you watch your hands go in the air after you press them against the jamb for a while. If you haven’t tried it you should, it’s a trip. I also played solitaire when times got really tough.

What was the most difficult gadget you had to give up and why?

The hardest thing for me to give up wasn’t even really a gadget. I had a hard time giving up my email. I’m fine with giving up my computer for a day because I don’t have any video games or anything like that on it anyway, but my email was something that I really wanted to check. I had been waiting for some responses to college related questions for a few days and the second I got my answer I was going to submit my applications, so not being able to work on my applications was extremely stressful for me.

What about the least difficult sacrifice?

Probably my cell phone. I barely use it anyway and most people know that about me so if they wanted to get a hold of me, so they probably wouldn’t call me unless they knew I wasn’t going to be at my house. Then I usually answer it.

Were there any surprises for you?

Not really, I already knew that I work better when I have background noise, so having my dad and uncle there was helpful. When I didn’t have anything to do I pretty much expected to get bored. So no, there weren’t any real surprises. I’m pretty much Amish anyway, you should see my stove, (not a complaint at all).

Food articles

Cheap Food: Workers Pay the Price

"Cheap Food" talked about America's want to produce incredibly low-priced food and how the farmers pay for that want. Many of the farm workers die from heat stress because they are undocumented and aren't guaranteed any form of benefits or even basic necessities, (such as water). It talks about how sever heat related deaths happen a year but many of them go unrecorded since the companies that own the farms don't want to be found out for having undocumented workers, or anyone in general, die on their watch.

Fields of Poison: California Farm workers and Pesticides

"Fields of Poison" looked into the effects of pesticide poisoning and how often farmers especially were poisoned by pesticides. It went on to discuss how California is one of the few states to be gathering information on pesticide poisoning because it is one of the few states that have farmers that are wiling to give up the little they have and advocate for themselves. It also talked about how many safety regulations don't apply to farmers and how they don't have adequate protection from all of the chemicals they work with.

The Scope of the World Food Crisis

"The Scope of the World Food Crisis" discussed the issue of starvation and why some countries can no longer afford to grow their own food, (similar subject to "The Financial Crisis and World Hunger"). It talked about how rising oil prices make it difficult for farmers to afford some of the same materials they once used. It also discussed how the majority of farms in the world are owned by the same four or so companies.

The Financial Crisis and World Hunger

"The Financial Crisis and World Hunger" was mainly about prices on certain foods and how people in impoverished countries especially cannot afford to even grow their own food anymore. It talked a lot about micro-loans, which are basically tiny loans, (sometimes only a couple of dollars) which are basically used in order to start a small business. Micro-loans were started by Muhammad Yunus, (who later went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize).

If I had to look into one of these topics in particular, I would probably look more into "Fields of Poison". I am a pretty big advocate for organic food so reading about the effects of pesticides, not only on the body but on people in general, would probably be rather interesting to me. I don't necessarily think that this article ranks above all of the others, I think all of these issues are important, especially the ones about starvation. My reason for picking it is the fact that it is the shortest article by a long shot. There is so little research on pesticide poisoning that the article barely covered three pages and half of one of those pages was covered by a giant graph, so it's probably closer to two pages. I think that more research needs to be done about pesticide poisoning so it will no longer be a topic that is completely brushed under the rug by big food companies.

Study guide: Question 12

Identify patterns of global water use. Describe the patterns of global water use shown in the bar graph in the water power point.

How has America's water use changed over time?

• Used more water
• Used less water
• Used the same amount of water
• No distinguishable pattern

Which continent uses the most water?

• North America
• Europe
• Asia
• South America

Describe the current role of aquaculture in providing seafood.

What is aquaculture?

• Aquatic ecosystems
• The harvesting of fish, crustaceans and other sea animals
• The scientific name for fish
• Al of the above

What is aquaculture's role in providing seafood?

• It is the term for harvesting seafood
• It is the process used to clean seafood
• It creates pollution problems which kills fish
• All of the above

Describe ways that countries are working together to solve the problem of acid precipitation.

What is acid precipitation?

• Rain with a higher level of acid than normal
• Runoff from landfills
• battery acid
• All of the above

How is America doing to stop acid precipitation?

• Controlling automobile emissions
• Using products to remove sulfur from power plants
• Enacting the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990
• All of the above