Food is important to humans living as biological organisms and humans living in certain cultures. In many cultures, food brings together the family. Also, as biological organisms, it helps to keep us alive. Without food you would not be able to live nor keep alive animals that people may use for food. Using resources such as animals as food could also help to keep things from overpopulating. Selling food also helps with economy. Food brings together people because of traditions & cultures such as holidays too. Lifestyles of people are different depending on the types of food they want to eat, or what they have available. Depending on the place, food comes about in different way: animals, farming, harvesting, etc. Food is very important to people.
My favorite food is pasta. The nutrients that pasta includes wheat that’s high in protein and gluten. Wheat has carbohydrates, one of the most important things for the body & fiber, as well as vitamins. The functions that these nutrients supply are more fiber and greater nutrients. When you don’t get enough nutrients in your diet it is called malnutrition. *850 million people living in households are considered to be food insecure. “The reliable availability of a sufficient quantity and quality of nutritious food for a population” is the definition of food security, so food insecurity is the opposite.(www-personal.umich.edu/~alandear/glossary/f.html)
*(http://www.worldfoodprize.org/assets/YouthInstitute/06proceedings/AnthonyWayneHS.pdf)
APPLES.
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Environmental Science Journal # 1
Environmental science is very important to everyday life. In the past few weeks of school a lot has been learned. I’ve learned a significant amount of information regarding my ecological footprint and how I can reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses that are emitted from my household as well as on my part in my environment. I’ve also taken in a lot of information about the amount of people on Earth that are food insecure and how many people perish from food insecurity. Water pollution, air pollution, global warming, and the emission of greenhouse gasses effect my environment and other people’s environments significantly in this day and age, and I’ve learned, by looking into it, that it needs to be reduced and controlled. By doing my part in the community at the Buffone Garden has also helped me to realize that there are alternatives to industrial agriculture. Our class got a lot done when we visited the Buffone Garden with no means of machinery or anything that emitted greenhouse gasses. At the garden there was also compost bins and some of the plants had seeds that could easily be replanted to grow the same plant again. The way the Buffone Garden is run by the Worcester community greatly inspires me to do more for my community and for my personal wellbeing. Not only by helping the community am I helping myself, but I am also concerned about the future generations that are bound to come and exist as we do.
Ecological footprints greatly impact how the environments stability varies and how people live today. In my household we use an excessive amount of energy and fuel. According to the website quiz we took, it would take about 7.3 planets to support my lifestyle if everyone on the earth lived like me. This greatly impacted me and motivated me to reduce the amount of energy we use in my home. Ways of reducing the use of electricity are by using solar panels. Solar panels collect the sun’s energy and are an alternative source for the energy electricity uses up. According to an online source, “Today, humanity’s Ecological footprint is over 23% larger than what the planet can generate” (1). The planet takes the beating when we overuse things we see as only everyday items. By learning about my ecological footprint, I now see why people are trying so hard to make a difference and not take energy and emissions for granted.
Food insecurity affects many people that are living on the earth as we know it. About eight million people around the world are food insecure, and every year 5 million children die due to food related illnesses. Starvation and malnutrition affect people everywhere. There are about 9.5 deaths per minute all due to food insecurity, starvation, and malnutrition. “… malnutrition has a far more powerful impact on child mortality than is generally believed” (2). Mortality rates are so high for children that every fifth person in the developing world is food insecure. If we keep living like this then rates of mortality will increase. Food insecurity affects me although I don’t experience it first hand. I am motivated to help others to get food by working in gardens and even keeping the world around me clean.
Water pollution, air pollution, and global warming are one of the biggest problems our world has today. Water pollution affects more than just animals that live in the water. Pesticides and fertilizers run off farms and areas where they were put down into bodies of water. This affects plant growth, increasing the number of plants and preventing sunlight from reaching the bottom of the body of water. When sunlight does not hit the bottom of the body of water it prevents animals that live in that body of water from staying alive as well as reproducing. Fertilizer and pesticide run off also affects the water we use today. Not much of the earth is fresh water, so we need to save as much as we can. Since there is so much water pollution, water is becoming less potable, and no one can drink it or use it. Air pollution is another big problem with our world today. The world is a big place, and traveling is one of the things people do on a daily basis. Cars emit a lot of greenhouse gasses, weakening the ozone layer. Carpools help to lower the greenhouse gas emissions; therefore I have worked into my own life a carpool system to keep the world around me less prone to cancers from the sun. Global warming is a term that seems to be tossed around like nothing when talked about, when it is a very serious concept. Global warming is causing ices to melt and water levels to rise, as well as causing animals that use the ice caps to drown. The ozone layer is also weakening. This allows more of the sun’s rays to seep through to the earth’s surface. Sun cancer rates are becoming higher as more greenhouse gasses are emitted. According to an online source, “As northern countries warm, disease carrying insects migrate north, bringing plague and disease with them.” (3) More diseases are the last thing the world needs when it comes to the amount of deaths we already have due to other things, such as food insecurity, malnutrition and starvation. Global warming also causes hurricanes which could potentially ruin peoples’ homes. Droughts also prevent people from farming and these are caused by global warming. Global warming all around needs to be taken care of and dealt with, and on my part I plan to help with decreasing emissions that could potentially melt the earth. After learning about global warming and different types of pollution, I realized there are ways that they can be fixed and prevented and I plan to try my best to do so.
The Buffone Garden is a place where the community comes together and works on growing and planting vegetables and fruits. The people that work on this garden volunteer and donate the food that is produced. Tomatoes, broccoli, corn, squash, beans, sunflowers, peppers, lettuce, cabbage, eggplants, and other vegetables and fruits were grown in the garden. All of these foods can be planted in soils and irrigated without machinery. People of the community around the Buffone Garden help to keep it running. No industrial agriculture is involved, increasingly helping with Worcester’s Ecological footprint. I enjoyed working in the garden and wouldn’t mind doing it again. Some of the plants in the garden could even have their seeds replanted to grow more of the same plant. Also, there are compost bins on site to help to keep soil for when there needs to be more seeds planted. Some of the compost contains different kinds of seeds and when replanted, they grow into more food. The food produced from this garden is all done by hand and is donated or given out to the people that help to support and run the garden. There are also insects that live in the Buffone garden. Bees and ladybugs help the plants, but grasshoppers eat the crops and are better off somewhere else. Bees help to pollinate the plants and keep them growing. In the garden there are also methods used that have growing vegetables and fruits supporting each other. The three sisters’ method taught me that corn, squash, and beans could all support each other in the growing process. The Buffone Garden taught me so much about everything that is around us and how it can be used to our advantage for something good, such as providing fresh fruits and vegetables for the community.
Environmental science so far has helped me to realize what an impact everything I do affects everything and everyone around me. The little time we’ve spent discussing only the things just a reach away in the community has showed me how everything is just passed by in the world. I am willing to help out my community more, so that what affects other people in the world now won’t when other generations develop and come about. Also, I’d like to make the world a better place for me to live in. A cleaner earth is the way to go and environmental science is just the first step of the way.
ENDNOTES:
(1) 2003. Global Footprint Network. (http://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=footprint_overview)
(2) Garcia, Marito. October 1994. Malnutrition and Food Insecurity Projections, 2020.
(http://www.ifpri.org/2020/BRIEFS/NUMBER06.HTM)
(3) 2008. Environmental Graffiti.
(http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/sciencetech/5-deadliest-effects-of-global-warming/276)
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Environmental Science Journal # 2
Environmental science is very important to everyday life. The Coopers Hilltop Dairy farm produces milk for the world to drink and use. People everyday purchase dairy products. Yogurt, milk, ice cream, cream cheese, etc. are all from dairy products. After visiting the farm it came to be that many of the products everyday people eat and purchase are from cows. Although people often ignore the fact about where dairy products come from, it is still a big part of life. Without dairy products we would lack in our everyday diets and need other ways to make up for it. Coopers Hilltop Dairy Farm helps to keep the milk production going.
In milk, there are many different types of nutrients. There is calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin B, Vitamin D, protein, potassium, phosphorus, riboflavin, and niacin. About 99% of the body is supported by calcium therefore cows are very important to giving us life and supporting people. Calcium combines with phosphorus to form bones which helps people to stay strong. (1) All of these nutrients combined help us to stay alive and support our bodies, making cows extremely important. How cows are raised also impacts our lives.
There are about 50-60 cows that are milked each day, morning and night, at Coopers Hilltop Dairy farm. These cows are milked using electric milkers that connect to the utter. After being connected to the utter, milk streams through the tube into a pipe which sends the milk to be put through the pasteurizing process. Pasteurizing is when the milk is heated up to 143 degrees Fahrenheit. The milk is put into a large pot surrounded by a thick wall filled with hot water that warms the milk and strips it of all unwanted bacteria. A paddle inside of the large pot stirs the milk so that it is heated evenly. After milk is pasteurized it is sent through a very small tube which is surrounded by cold. As the milk streams through the small tube it is made very cold and ready to bottle. All of these machines have shown that although a farm can be very sustainable, it still has its industrial sides. In industrial farms, animals are usually in close quarters. Animals are also given medicines to keep them alive and healthy. (2) Coopers Hilltop Dairy farm is much more of a sustainable farm.
Cows have a diet of mostly corn and grass. At the farm there were two silos holding hay and corn. The cows eat these foods and it helps them to produce milk. When cows are strictly grass fed they produce less milk. When cows have corn in their diet they produce more. The average cow produces 8 gallons of milk a day. There are 35 acres of corn for the cows at Coopers Hilltop Dairy farm. The ideal amount of rain preferred by the farm owners is about one inch per week.
Milk coming straight from the cow usually contains about four percent or more fat content. This is all based on the kind of cow though, figures may vary. (3) Saturated fats raise cholesterol and people usually do not want that. That is one of the main concerns with milk. At Coopers Hilltop Dairy farm there are also different ways of transferring the milk. Milk is stored in a freezer where trucks can pick up and drop off products. Trucks pick up milk to transfer to places where milk cannot be produced. At the farm, there was orange juice all the way from Florida.
Some cows are living outside at the farm. There were electrical fences keeping them from getting out. They are usually put out there to give birth. Cows are being produced a lot on farms all in the hopes of making a better cow. If a female cow happens to be weak they mate her with a built cow to help makeup for what she lacks. It works the same with everything else in a cow’s life as well. It is all in the hopes of making a stronger more able to produce cow. The better the baby cow, the more effective it will be when bearing milk on a farm. If cows are not produced to be better than before then they will continue to be weak and not produce well.
Cows have two stomachs. One stomach is for the regular processes, the other is the fermentation tank where grass is digested with bacteria. This helps to produce milk from the cow. Cows also regurgitate their foods to help them to swallow because they only have bottom teeth. They will chew their food then swallow, regurgitate it, and repeat the process. Cows are much different from people, and help us very much with our lives and keeping us strong. Cows also help the economy. The store at the farm sells all different types of products, not only from the farm. These products make money for the farm and others who contribute. Farms also allow people to have jobs and support themselves. Coopers Hilltop Dairy farm is an important lesson learned. The farm shows that while not being too industrialized it can still produce what it needs.
ENDNOTES:
(1) Virginia Cooperative Extension.
(http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/nutrition/348-071/348-071.html)
(2) 2008. Sustainable Table.
(http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/factoryfarming/)
(3) 2000-2008 iVillage Inc. Your Total Health.
(http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/the-fat-content-milk-numbers-game.html)
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Environmental Science Journal # 4
Kursten Butler
Recently our Environmental Science class took a trip to a nearby buffalo farm, The Alta Vista Buffalo Farm, located in Rutland, Massachusetts. It is located in the Nashua River Watershed. The Alta Vista Buffalo Farm was once the New England forest up until 1724 when the buffalo farm was created. The farm specialized in dairy and livestock until 1965. The farm was a home to many different livestock, but the overwhelming love of the owners of the farm for bison made them force their effort into raising only buffalo in 1993. (See figure 1)
In the 1990’s, Americans started to worry more about the fat content of their food. They needed to find an alternative source of red meat, so they decided to eat bison. There is less fat and cholesterol in bison then in beef. Bison meat is high in protein and iron. It is also very healthy and nutritious. Because many people grew to like bison meat, the farm opened a retail store in 1994. (1)
Bison are the largest and mammals to be found up to this day since the Ice Age. Bison aren’t slow and awkward like people think. Bison can outrun many animals and have the agility of a deer. When buffalo live through winter conditions they can use their heads to move snow around. They can also eat the snow as a source of water. Bison grow rather quickly, weighing around 450 pounds by their first birthday. They mature in about 5-6 years weighing 1,000 pounds or more. (2)
Buffalo live together, otherwise known as symbiosis. Mutualism is when both species benefit from the relationship. (3) The buffalo at the particular farm we visited were all grass fed. This means it is all grass fed meat. All grass fed meat is lower in calories, lower in saturated fat, and higher in the better types of fats you need (omega3 – fatty acids). Selenium is also in grass fed meat, helping to reduce risk of cancer. (4)
On the Alta Vista Bison Farm, there were about 30 visible buffalo. On the farm in a whole there are an estimated 60 – 70 buffalo wandering around their fenced in areas. The 30 that were visible were herded together. Many mammals, such as these buffalo, herd together to protect themselves. They also herd together when traveling long distances. The buffalo also want to defend the territory in which they feed. Another word for herding is aggregate. (See figure 2) (5)
The landscape of the farm was very hilly, making it easy for any water to run off of. There were also many trees around where the buffalo where. The buffalo can journey into the woods but are still blocked off by their electric fencing. As observed, there seemed to be different places for the buffalo to be. The owner’s of the farm must rotate the buffalo from place to place to keep the grass and land fertile. (See figure 3)
There are a large number of buffalo in the US, an estimated 90,000, in which 85% of are owned by private entities. Because meat of buffalo is so low in fat, it is wanted much more now by the people than ever. Buffalo also have other by-products such as their skulls, bones, and skins. These are all very valuable items. Buffalo are also marketed for recreational hunting. Buffalo constantly remain in a herd year round unlike other animals that herd and switch gender in off seasons. Buffalo can adapt to cold better than cattle. Buffalos’ immune systems are much more resilient then those of cattle. Buffalo also consume around 1.5 to 2 percent of their own body weight in feed a day. Breeding of buffalo is said to start in June. The baby will be born in April if the mother is impregnated in June. Buffalo calves weigh around 45 to 55 pounds at birth. (6)
ENDNOTES:
(1) Alta Vista Bison Farm. 2002.
http://www.altavistabison.com/
(2) The Buffalo Guys.
http://www.thebuffaloguys.com/all_about_buffalo.asp
(3) Dip. Marine Studies. May 2000.
http://www.poliza.de/starship/sciencenew/symbiosis.htm
(4) Wild Idea Buffalo Company.
http://www.wildideabuffalo.com/whygrassfed.html
(5) Scienceray. 2007.
http://www.scienceray.com/Biology/Zoology/Why-Do-Animals-Aggregate.244637
(6) NDSU.
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/alt-ag/buffalo.htm
