Saturday, August 27, 2011
Sophomore year, 1st semester flashcards
My flashcards are available on StudyDroid here:
http://www.studydroid.com/index.php?page=search&search=muddyboots2&x=19&y=16
If you own an Android phone (Droids and many other phones) you can download the StudyDroid app and put these flashcards on your phone. If you do not own an Android phone you can use the web interface to study them.
No guarantee the info is correct. Information provided under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-Alike license.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
What's to eat?
So, I'm into my Sophomore year, first semester, and we had Exotics class for the first time with Eileen yesterday. She's very much into ecology and the interconnectedness of politics, the environment, and animals.
This lead to an interesting discussion yesterday between my classmates and I about trying to eat with some consciousness about supporting or not supporting the various places that our meat comes from. Or, the alternative, becoming vegetarian.
This was on my mind before I even entered school. I saw Food, Inc. and other documentaries and I read books on corporate farming and, as a result, have been trying to source my meat from smaller farms or going "semi-veg" where you try to eat vegetarian a few days a week to make some sort of an impact without feeling completely deprived.
So, last year in large animal class we went over the raising of beef cattle, dairy cows, pigs, and chickens and, while I was afraid it'd turn my "semi veg" into a "full veg", it did not. It did, however, further my resolve to try to purchase from non-corporate farms. We got to see small farms in our labs and it was obvious that the farmers really cared for their animals, so it definitely strengthened my resolve that I wanted to continue to support smaller farming operations.
But, in a fit of documentary watching based on some recommendations by Eileen, I just watched "End of the Line" about overfishing and how big of an issue it is. All over the world the populations of many of our primary food fish are dropping at an alarming rate and, while limits are put in place globally, many times they are higher than what the scientists recommend for sustainability (and to be clear, that's sustaining an already extremely low population), so the number scientists recommend for allowing the species to recover their numbers was MUCH higher. And, even though they agreed upon the setting the fishing limit higher than the scientists recommended, many countries exceed the limits anyway.
Fish used to be my "go to" food. In restaurants where the meat sources are unknown I'd order fish. I mean, they swam free in the ocean, got caught, and ended up on my table, right? Chances are that was a better life than the cattle, pig, or chicken had? Well, yes, but no. If they were wild, they were likely caught with troll lines that arbitrarily catch everything in their path. The coral, plants, and other fish that get caught are killed and their bodies are simply tossed overboard. Only the profitable fish are kept. Uncool. And I learned that farmed fish are no better. They use trolling lines to catch fish to feed to the farmed fish. Great!
I'm left with a feeling of frustration that I should have to work so hard to not support the global trend of abusing our protein sources so we can get more (profit) out of less (humanity/responsibility). I know the average person doesn't want to think about a pork chop as once having been a pig, but it's those blinders that are standing in the way of us fixing this mess.
Corporations don't want to abuse animals, they just want to make a profit. And the meat-consuming customer doesn't want to support the abuse of the animals they eat, they just want to buy hamburger for $3/lb so they can afford to put gas in their car to get to work for another week. But it's that drive to lower prices that has driven the farming industry to do some pretty horrible things. But, how would the consumer know? After all, the packaging on their meat products show peaceful farm scenes and the average person has no reason to look into it any further.
I think this is where our government comes in. More and more the laws are changing so that dogs and cats are no longer just considered property in the eyes of the law, but they are considered as living things which should not be abused and should be given some level of basic care and comfort. Where are these laws for our food animals? I hope they are coming.
And with fish too. The average consumer is too busy working and raising a family to know what species to buy and which not to. Or whether to buy farmed or wild and how they were caught. And worse yet, i think we'd all agree that endangered species should not be on any menu, but in "End of the Line" they showed that they often are. As they said in the documentary, if a restaurant put tiger or gorilla on their menu you'd hear about it on the news, they'd be shut down or at least protested against. We just aren't as aware of fish. We assume it's regulated but it appears (from this one documentary, mind you) that it is not.
That's it. I have no answers. I'm just using this blog as a vent for my frustration although I will throw a plug in here for Certified Humane. I have yet to find any meat in stores that's Certified Humane, but I have found eggs in stores like Whole Foods and Caputo's in Naperville, IL if you are interested in supporting them. They have their requirements for eggs, beef, dairy, poultry, etc all up online so you can read through them. Their standards seem to jive with what we learned in large animal class Freshman year. I very much support their efforts in giving consumers who are aware of the problems of factory farming a clear way to judge whether or not their animal products were raised and handled humanely.
That's it. I'm stepping down from the soapbox now. More to come as the semester advances I'm sure.
This lead to an interesting discussion yesterday between my classmates and I about trying to eat with some consciousness about supporting or not supporting the various places that our meat comes from. Or, the alternative, becoming vegetarian.
This was on my mind before I even entered school. I saw Food, Inc. and other documentaries and I read books on corporate farming and, as a result, have been trying to source my meat from smaller farms or going "semi-veg" where you try to eat vegetarian a few days a week to make some sort of an impact without feeling completely deprived.
So, last year in large animal class we went over the raising of beef cattle, dairy cows, pigs, and chickens and, while I was afraid it'd turn my "semi veg" into a "full veg", it did not. It did, however, further my resolve to try to purchase from non-corporate farms. We got to see small farms in our labs and it was obvious that the farmers really cared for their animals, so it definitely strengthened my resolve that I wanted to continue to support smaller farming operations.
But, in a fit of documentary watching based on some recommendations by Eileen, I just watched "End of the Line" about overfishing and how big of an issue it is. All over the world the populations of many of our primary food fish are dropping at an alarming rate and, while limits are put in place globally, many times they are higher than what the scientists recommend for sustainability (and to be clear, that's sustaining an already extremely low population), so the number scientists recommend for allowing the species to recover their numbers was MUCH higher. And, even though they agreed upon the setting the fishing limit higher than the scientists recommended, many countries exceed the limits anyway.
Fish used to be my "go to" food. In restaurants where the meat sources are unknown I'd order fish. I mean, they swam free in the ocean, got caught, and ended up on my table, right? Chances are that was a better life than the cattle, pig, or chicken had? Well, yes, but no. If they were wild, they were likely caught with troll lines that arbitrarily catch everything in their path. The coral, plants, and other fish that get caught are killed and their bodies are simply tossed overboard. Only the profitable fish are kept. Uncool. And I learned that farmed fish are no better. They use trolling lines to catch fish to feed to the farmed fish. Great!
I'm left with a feeling of frustration that I should have to work so hard to not support the global trend of abusing our protein sources so we can get more (profit) out of less (humanity/responsibility). I know the average person doesn't want to think about a pork chop as once having been a pig, but it's those blinders that are standing in the way of us fixing this mess.
Corporations don't want to abuse animals, they just want to make a profit. And the meat-consuming customer doesn't want to support the abuse of the animals they eat, they just want to buy hamburger for $3/lb so they can afford to put gas in their car to get to work for another week. But it's that drive to lower prices that has driven the farming industry to do some pretty horrible things. But, how would the consumer know? After all, the packaging on their meat products show peaceful farm scenes and the average person has no reason to look into it any further.
I think this is where our government comes in. More and more the laws are changing so that dogs and cats are no longer just considered property in the eyes of the law, but they are considered as living things which should not be abused and should be given some level of basic care and comfort. Where are these laws for our food animals? I hope they are coming.
And with fish too. The average consumer is too busy working and raising a family to know what species to buy and which not to. Or whether to buy farmed or wild and how they were caught. And worse yet, i think we'd all agree that endangered species should not be on any menu, but in "End of the Line" they showed that they often are. As they said in the documentary, if a restaurant put tiger or gorilla on their menu you'd hear about it on the news, they'd be shut down or at least protested against. We just aren't as aware of fish. We assume it's regulated but it appears (from this one documentary, mind you) that it is not.
That's it. I have no answers. I'm just using this blog as a vent for my frustration although I will throw a plug in here for Certified Humane. I have yet to find any meat in stores that's Certified Humane, but I have found eggs in stores like Whole Foods and Caputo's in Naperville, IL if you are interested in supporting them. They have their requirements for eggs, beef, dairy, poultry, etc all up online so you can read through them. Their standards seem to jive with what we learned in large animal class Freshman year. I very much support their efforts in giving consumers who are aware of the problems of factory farming a clear way to judge whether or not their animal products were raised and handled humanely.
That's it. I'm stepping down from the soapbox now. More to come as the semester advances I'm sure.
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