exploration 12

Hannah Loper
English 1110.03
Mike Lohre
                                                            exploration 12
In the film we watched called Fresh showed us how organic foods are healthier and better for our bodies, rather than the cheap food. In the film it interviewed many organic famers and showed how there produce is made. there was a part in the film where they were talking large crates of chicks and just throwing them down carelessly. this amazed  me because those farmers are making their living off those animals and they dont even care about them, and pretty much just sees them as a dollar bill. Some american famers feed their cows with the remains of other dead cows so that they get beefier and get heavier faster. this is unsanitary to me and very disturbing, that should not be aloud. this film was extremly educational and i really learned alot from it.

Exploration 12

Fresh gave us a glimpse behind the curtains of our nations industrialized agricultural sector and presented many reasons on why it's dangerous.  The damage to the environment is a very important factor to me when I consider conventional agriculture.  I feel that as a farmer you should know the land and how to care for it.  "Part of our responsibility as stewards of the Earth is to respect the design of nature". It's ignorant to think as the land as just property, especially when livelihood depends on it.  I'm interested to see if there is any legislature that is against this system of farming. No doubt that there would be heavy opposition to it on account of how much influence industry has with our leaders.

Exploration 12

One of my favorite quotes from the documentary Fresh is "American fear only one thing, inconvenience." I believe the most important is how they feed each other their own kind because they are dead. I believe I need to know more of why they feed each other their own kind. I know it saves on food but how could they kill animals to sell to us and feed the leftovers to themselves. The documentary just opened my eyes to what they have done and how they save on food. But is it really helping to feed each other their own kind and with all the virtues? I know they don't inject the shots needed for the animal care so is it really health for them to sell the animals for meat? All these questions have me wondering about the type of animals I need and is it really healthy for my parents and I to eat them. I found Will Allen greenhouse very effectively. All the plants he grows, he eats them and recycles the water within each other.

Exploration 12

Fresh reminds me of watching Super Size Me, obviously in the direct opposite direction but it takes someone to do something dramatic as killing off all of your pigs and starting over, or ordering McDonalds every day to show that the path were on is the wrong one. Fresh was extremely inspirational showing that the one man stopped raising cattle the wrong way and actually saved $14,000, which is remarkable  Even if this man did not make as much money as before when he was pumping them with steroids i would bet that he came out making the same amount of money as before but now in a healthy humane way. I really enjoyed seeing the one man rotate the cattle and chickens, I have never seen this before and doing so every thing gained from it. The cattle had fresh grass, the chickens were eating healthy in the grass just like a free roaming chicken would, and the farmer is prospering greatly off of healthy livestock. I believe it was this man that said "Find something that works and continue to use it." I completely agree with this quote because he has found that something and he looks and seems happy with his farm. I would classify this man as a true farmer that is in for the animals heath more than just the money.

Exploration 12

The idea that the farm industry has turned into making money instead of feeding quality food to people is ridiculous. Corporate farms care more about making profit than the well-being of the people who eat their products. The film showed that we need to down size our farms and have free-range live stock. Not live-stock that is crammed together 10,000 deep and disease filled. The film made me think about the types of meat and other farm products I choose to eat. I would like to know more about how much a free-range farms makes versus a commercial farm. One of the quotes that stuck out the most while watching the film was "American's fear only one thing: inconvenience." Which is utterly true.

It seems that often times what is most profitable to company, may not be what is most profitable to society. This is a idea that is prevalent in the documentary Fresh. Spraying pesticides over tons of crops may preserve and grow more produce, but it is also unnatural and unhealthy for the consumers. The easy way out is not always the best way. Not only this but foods that are grown naturally without the use of pesticides and other chemicals to support growth taste better. If for no other reason that would be enough. I once had the pleasure of eating some organically grown snap peas, and I can honestly say that is one of the few times I actually really enjoyed vegetables rather than just forcing them down my throat to escape flack from my mother.
As far as the treatment of animals go, I do think there has to be some standard. However, I also think that this isn't as important. I mean is throwing chickens on the ground going to harm the produce of raw chicken? I doubt it. Besides the fact remains that farmers are in effect, breeding these creatures to kill. What's the point of being extremely kind and gentle to a creature you're going to chop off the head of with an axe and eat for dinner? If there's some actual physical evidence for why the product would be better with more humane treatment of animals I figure why not? But the fact remains that animals are not humans so why should be treat them like they are? There's probably a happy medium somewhere between torturing baby cows and sending your dog to a hotel with room service and a 60" LCD television for them to watch that we as a society should be aiming for.

 “Every decision we make at the supermarket – what we grow, what we eat – is creating a different future for the land, the farmers, for the diversity of our crops, for the health of our bodies and communities.”

This quote was interesting to me because it explains how much control we have over the future of our agriculture and the effect it has on society.

Exploration 12

Watching this film, there are many ideas that seem to be important in it. One idea that stands out to me is using only grown on farm material instead of buying corporate material which has all those bad unhealthy stuff in it. I think this is important because it gives the food they make more of a freshness instead of a weak un-fresh food. Who really wants to eat something that ate another animal. I would like to know more on how farmers get away with doing the wrong thing and think that is okay to treat not only the animals on the farm this way but also the people who end up eating it weeks later after buy it from a store. Said at the start of the film "all our economy cares about is more cheap stuff" in a sense this is true but it's not the correct thing to be doing.