Industrial V.S. Pastoral Essay Example for Free

Industrial V.S. Pastoral Essay No other book has ever made me want to be a farmer more (or at all) than The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. No other book has placed such a dark cloud of doom and gloom over such a seemingly simple topic such as food production. I’m of course not talking about two identical models. One model is of industrial agriculture contrasted by pastoral agriculture. In his research Michael Pollan visited farms of both styles, got to know the onsite operations, followed the food to its ultimate destination, and finally ate a meal created with the very ingredients he spent a week investigating. Michael describes the farm owned by George Naylor, which is of the industrial model, as being fairly easy in terms of manual labor but extremely difficult in the detective work. Detective work usually isn’t something that gets brought up often when talking about farms; here it is referring to the journalistic tracking that Michael Pollan had to do with Mr. Naylor’s staple crop corn. The difficulty in following a bushel of corn from the Naylor farm is his corn, along with the majority of corn grown in the U. S. will eventually wind up in practically everything we eat and use. He does a fabulous job of painting a picture of this river of corn and how it ebbs and flows throughout our lives eroding any dietary connection we once might have had to nature. Nature is after all a system based on diversity and here we see an entire nation built on and fueled by a single plant. The carbon in our flesh has even been tested and the findings were we are, after water, predominately corn. I was starting to think that there were too many chapters in this book about corn! It just kept going and going but once I realized how much it is entwined in our lives and how perhaps this is the only account of someone illuminating that truth it started to seem necessary. As those carbon tests showed we are what we eat, Pollan shows in his book we are what we eat eats. Just as diversity is the spice of life in an ecosystem so too is it necessary for the physical health of animals. We humans know that very well and apply it readily to our own diets but what happens when we don’t allow nature to run its course in the meals of our meals? The nutritional content suffers immensely; to the point where our entire notion of healthy foods is skewed. An example used by Pollan is our idea of the nutritional content in red meat and fish. It is considered self-evident that an excess of red meat will cause all sorts of health problems. Likewise it is pretty well known that most fish, especially salmon, is rich in the good omega 3 fats and should be a staple of our diets. Omega 3 fats are produced in the leaves of plants while omega 6 fats are produced in the seeds of plants. If a cow was grass fed he would produce a healthier steak than the fillet of a farm raised salmon. This is because that salmon is most likely raised on corn. One would think that the flip side of this coin would be an organic farm. Well that same person would probably be very shocked to read what Michael Pollan had to say about organic. People might even feel duped by places like Whole Foods. As it is described in the book organic should realistically be read â€Å"industrial organic† for the farms and slaughterhouses are hardly different at all. In fact, instead of steering it onto a whole new track the organic rules and regulations only make it that much harder to run a traditional industrial operation. What the author shows as the antithesis to industrial is pastoral. In this section he visits the polyface farm of Joel Salatin which is reminiscent of a farm you might find in the movie Babe. It is actually a huge relief to read about because up to this point in the book you are starting to question if this kind of farm even exists. In this parallel universe monoculture is a filthy word and the practices found in industrial food production are nothing short of reprehensible. This model mimics nature therefore it is complex and interdependent; each and every plant and animal are so entwined in each other’s existence it really begs the question ‘what came first the chicken or the egg? ’ But that is the whole point of polyface farming. Only through diversity (and remaining in the local market) can sustainable agriculture be achieved. Or put another way, all of our environmental/agricultural problems start from attempting to create a monoculture ecosystem. Ruminants graze the grass chewing about ? of the blade while simultaneously dropping cow pies. The bottom part of the grass that cows do not eat is favored by the chickens that follow in the hoof prints before them. Around this time the cow patties start to grow ripe with larvae which become extra protein for the chickens. While the chickens scratch around the cow dung they consequently spread the manure for the farmer. This is only a small piece of the pie in terms of the interactions between all species that live and work on polyface. This is also one of the cycles of nature that if left to its own devises extinguishes the farmers need for pesticides and other harmful chemicals. Salatin could be seen as the conductor while all the other organisms of the farm are the musicians and the instruments; he sees how nature works and makes sure all the conditions are perfect and helps nature along. With his many inventions and quirky optimistic attitude one can’t help but picture a cartoon character. Several times throughout the reading I was reminded of the industrial revolution; and not just because the industrial food chain was born out of it. I found it interesting how the industrial food chain resembled the industrial revolution in conditions only. It was bleak, mechanical, and the conditions the animals are kept in are just horrible and unsanitary. The mass wave of human innovation and change that came out of the industrial revolution is absent from that food system but are absolutely present at polyface. Obviously this is just one farm so the analogy might be weak but I feel the conditions of this one farm, if recreated and multiplied, could produce some amazing ideas and inspire positive change.

Dave Barrys Complete Guide To Guys :: essays research papers

Wait, are you telling me that Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys addresses women's issues? If "women's issues" include understanding why guys spit, scratch themselves, and give each other noogies, well then this book certainly addresses them! As for addressing the whole bit about a patriarchal world history, the subjugation of women, and accused responsibility for the Fall of Man, well, you might as well forget it. Dave Barry might not make you feel better about the stature of women in today's world or the future of the human species, but hopefully you can say this: you're not a guy. Dave Barry's book reminds me a lot of an episode of Seinfield: it's all about nothing. It tells the reader what guys are thinking(nothing) and what their "deal" is(nothing). While it does pretty much, well, nothing to help understand women or help women understand, the one thing it does do is hold true to the manufacturer's guarantee: you WILL laugh. You will not only laugh, but you will laugh hard. You will laugh hysterically, obnoxiously hard. You will want to share Dave Barry's insight on the male species with everyone you know and every stranger you meet, particularly so if they are women. Barry's book speaks little about the real reasons as to why males do the things they do and more about the fact that they are just scumbags and idiots. According to Barry, people "make being male sound like a very important activity, as opposed to what it primarily consists of, namely, possessing a set of minor and frequently unreliable organs"(xi). You will become convinced that the title should not be "Complete Guide to Guys," but "More Reasons Why Women Are The Better Sex." In fact, Barry himself seems to support the latter idea through his discussion of "the Punch Reflex," "the Noogie Gene," scientific reasons as to why guys act like jerks, the hidden truth of the Space Shuttle program, and standards. Yes, guys are just mindless idiots who like things that go, "Brrrrrrmmmmmmmmm!" I suppose he would know, though: he is a guy. It is a well-known fact that our world history is dominated by a tyrannical patriarchy in which the majority of women have been forgotten. Somehow, according to Barry, it is the men who have been forgotten. "Guys have played an important role in history, but this role has not been given the attention it deserves, because nobody wrote it down"(9).

The process of digestion

Wart also learned from his experiences as a snake that snakes weren't deaf at all, they can still hear using one/ two ear(s). Wart then met a serpent named T. Natural, a patient and gentle serpent who taught Wart about snakes, history, and legends. T first told Wart about his education being neglected as a snake and how he can't distinguish a T. Natural. Wart was then told about the reptile's history, including the two families Totalitarians manias and the Curator's incisors.The Atlanta family had very huge descendants, while the Cerate family was about 17 feet long, but razor sharp teeth that were giant. The serpent T told Wart about these two families and how they constantly battled and flee from each other. T then told Wart about how the python lost its venom. The python released his venom in fury after he saw that he transported humans to the 7th heaven. The poison then fell onto trees, water snakes, frogs, and cobras. In order to prevent chaos, the leader Aunt E told the venomou s animals to use their poison in self defense.The frog and water snake did not agree, so they lost their poison due to water. Wart learned many things from his experience as a snake talking to other snakes. Annotations: 1. In chapter 15, why was Sir Sector so upset that the King sent hunters to kill boars in the forest? Sir Sector argued that he wanted to instead hunt down the boars with his own team and hounds and supply the king. This is unreasonable because the hounds or hunters can be killed in a boar hunt, so Sir Sector should be grateful that he King is sending his own men and dogs to hunt.I think the only reason Sir Sector is angry is because he has to supply and nourish the hunters and their dogs until the goal Is achieved. 2. On the bottom of page 194, what Is the song that is being sung? I don't know how to Interpret this as a song except for the rhyming such as puddle and fuddle. There are many slash marks and weird words such as, â€Å"E could ‘rent alp It,' e AD to. This is too confusing and I have no idea to what it may be. 3. On page 185,

Taking a Look at the Communication Process - 1390 Words

The Communication Process The term ‘communication’ originates from the Latin word communicare, which means to share or impart. Communication is a crucial part of everyone’s daily routine. Communication is a process that engages at least two peoples: sender and receiver and continuously takes places in every field including education field, medical field, tourism field, business field and so forth. Communication plays an important role in establishing ideas, needs and concerns later to start a common understanding among sender and receiver. Few studies are done on the topic of communication and prove that almost 70 to 80% of every individual’s time is spent on communication. According to MTD Training (2010), communication is defined as an â€Å"art and process of creating and sharing ideas† (p. 9). There are four stages to ensure communication process flows effectively: sender expresses the message, message transmits through the medium, the recipient interprets the message and recipient returns feedback to the sender (Finkelstein, 2002) (see Figure 1 in Appendix). The first stage in communication process is where the sender expresses the message. Sender is referred to the person who starts a communication. Communication process starts with sender and ends with receiver or recipient in the communication process model, and â€Å"if both fulfill their roles, the communication will be successful† (Williams, Krizan, Logan, Merrier, 2011, p.11). Few researches have showed that senderShow MoreRelatedTaking a Closer Look at the Communication Process995 Words   |  4 PagesInteraction play an important role in continuing our everyday lives with another people. Communication is exchanged of ideas or information. 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