Final Essay

What makes our life meaningful? And what is happiness? The questions we have been trying to find the answers to or at least understand through out this whole unit. At the beginning of this school year I thought I had an idea of what made my life meaningful, but I soon found out that there were many other aspects that affected the way we saw our lives, and lived our lives. We are directly affected by everything around us, whether we believe this or not. 
 
  " In order for me to know what in my life is truly meaningful or not i ask myself what is very important to me ?" This is how I evaluated the things that make my life meaningful, I still feel this way now, but I also understand how to further look into the answer to the question. In order for me to know what is affecting my life and making it better, I need to see what holds great importance to me. Initially, the answer to this question would be those that surround me. Family and friends, just like almost every other person in the class had most likely said. I thought that people affected you more than anything else. If someone shows you there love and care, you feel better, knowing that those around me care, makes me want to keep living. What would life be without interaction with people? Nothing but a dull boring experience. We couldn't tell any one our deepest secrets, our funny stories, our feelings towards anything, we would confide in no one but ourselves, and honestly that to me is a very boring life, leading to a meaningless life. A meaningful life means enjoying it, even though we all have different ideas of what "enjoying" something is. Its living simply, with those who care and feeling good about ourself. Not having all theses negative thoughts such as jealousy , and being able to simply sit down and remembering all you have done with a smile. 
 
  Many different units were discussed throughout the year. Each relating back to the other in some way. We talked about what many people believed to be meaningful. We interviewed the elderly, as well as strangers in the streets. We got many answers as to what specifically made there lives meaningful. Many people, as expected said family and friends, but some also said, their jobs and things such as having knowledge of the fact that the things they did were for a reason. The interviews just go to show us that a meaningful life differs. 
 
  Even though they differ, the sources we get them from are the same. What I found most interesting was the fact that we think we know what makes our lives meaningful, and we think our ideas are genuine, when honestly we are all pretty much brainwashed by corporate media to believe what they put out. The major messages we get from corporate cultures have to do with more outer than internal things. Money, power, popularity, looks,and fame are only a couple of things that are put out to make our lives "meaningful." Corporate culture tells us that good looks is one of the main things that makes us or break us. Even though most people won't say " a meaningful life means popularity" they will say a meaningful life is having power, being over those around us and having money which ultimily will make someone "better" than the others. I don't agree with this making our lives meaningful, but I do think that these things are taught to us as a "necessity" more than anything. We pretty much NEED money and power, to become someone because becoming someone will make us live better. 
 
  Personally I think I have what I need to say that I do live a meaningful life. I wouldn't change anything of it right now. My life does have its up and downs, but whose doesn't? Maybe people see my life and think its not that great and its not meaningful, but everyones meaning of "meaning" is different, and mine is exactly what I have now. I don't know if as I get older, and my priorities get bigger I will have a change of heart, but for now having in mind all these new ideas of how the answer to " what makes a life meaningful ?" is more than just what I initially thought, I know that the way I'm living, the way I feel, and the people that surround me, really do help me keep going. 

Collapse assignment two

  

  What's the first thing that comes into may peoples head when one says the word "collapse"? At the beginning of the unit this is what my classmates said : due to weather, due to disease, economy,government,destruction of the earth, and biological. Even though there are different ideas as to how a collapse will happen, the only thing that most people agree on is that a collapse WILL happen. The collapse could mean the end of the world as we know it (Teotwaioki) or it could be a serious of events, things getting worse and worse and leading to other things. Society is very aware of the fact of a collapse, we see this in movies such as "The Day After Tomorrow" or "I Am Legend." In these movies people struggle to rise above the collapse, showing us that even though we are aware of what will come, we are still afraid of it, wanting to overcome it, and fighting to over come it. 
 
  Just as those in the Eastern Islands, we waste valuable resources. We are very dependable on oil. Oil is pretty much in everything we use, so what will happen next? It will be wasted. Society is based on two things: constant growth and oil. Specifically it is based on the constant growth of oil. We watched in class that as oil went up ,so did our population. People thought that having more and more fossil fuels meant making it possible for them to have more people, so our population grew. During the 1960's there were 3 billion ppl and by 1974 there were 4 billion ppl, things were getting out of control. Since our human populations growth curve and the oil curve are the same, if one goes down so will the other.so what then? Do we have enough of anything else to make it? What about if this isn't what our collapse will look like? And if an oil peak indeed occurs, can we go back up and how hard will it possibly be? 
 

Collapse assignment one

While reading about the Eastern Islands I saw some things that were similar between their history and us. One of the things that stuck out the most was the fact that they wanted to be the greatest and they wanted power. Such as the situation with the statues. They cut down huge trees, at large amounts, and other natural resources,in order for their statues to be the biggest and greatest. By doing so though they wasted many valuable resources, that in the end would only lead to greater problems.This is just like us, we will fight and do whatever we are able to in order to look the best and make people think we are the best. America is sooo power hungry and will do everything and anything in order to be the best. The difference thought is the way things are being done. In the Eastern Islands there statues would b made with no advanced tools such as thoses we have now, and even like this we are pretty much going down the same path. Ruining the 
soil that is very much needed. 
 
  Another similarity was the fact that even back then there was a class system. We know that this occurs everywhere in the world. There's the upper class now a days , they live with luxuries , things they don't really need, but most importantly to anyone power, the power to have things there way. This was also the case in the Eastern Islands were the upper class had better homes and were able to see the work that was going on on the plantations. While the lower classes must always do the hard work and not have any power. The Eastern Island workers had the less appealing homes, ones with were no where near as great as those in the upper class, and ones in which they had to walk to the land. As in almost every culture,those with money keep having money, while the other have to keep working and might never see as much money. 
 
  Seeing these similarities show us that were not much different then those from the Eastern Islands. I guess we can say that we might even follow there foot steps. If we keep going the way we are now, who can deny that history will indeed repeat itself and we will have a similar collapse of our own. 

"Food Big Paper"

 Food is very important, not only here but in every part of the world We eat so much, and at many times in the day. Food is presented everywhere , from billboards to commercials, in the streets, at home, everywhere. 
  In class we started off with the fact that supermarkets and media have a way of making us want the unhealthy food over the healthy. We went to a supermarket to see how this was a fact, and once we were there we saw how everything healthy was blandly colored and out of reach, while on the other hand the unhealthy was low and brightly colored. The unhealthy food filled up many isles and these were stacked up. While there was less of the healthy. It doesn't seem right that in a place were it is said that many kids are obese, these products are in their reach, and what might help kids is out of it. 
  When a family, such as mine, goes to a supermarket for there groceries we confront the idea of what we need to buy, want to buy, and shouldn't buy at all. How do we even choose? Families, such as mine, probably have one person who wants to keep us all in track with our food, for example my mom. I go grocery shopping with her , and sometimes my sister tags along. When we get there my mom always starts of in the isle with vegetables and fruits. She buys soooo much of all of this such as , carrots, brocoli, spinach, cucumber, lettuce, and many others.While the fruits consist of, apples, strawberries, cherries, bananas, mangos, peaches, plums, things of this sort, I do have to admit that sometimes she gets too much that at the end we end up stuffing our selves so it won't be wasted. Once this is done she gets meat, fish, chicken and then we go on to buying yogurt, milk, cheese, juices. Towards the end my mom allows me to buy a couple of things that would not be considered healthy. Such as bags of chips and candy, which I try not to eat all at once and save it up. 
  My mom always stacks up on the meat we buy. She buys a lot so that it will last us for a while, and she won't be having to go back and forth every week. 
  We learned in class that we are all animals right? If this is so why do we treat non-human animals so poorly? Is it the right thing to do? Or is it overall wrong? 
  Most of us might have a slight idea of what goes on in animal farms, others might not know, some might not even care. Before I didn't know how bad the situations were. I supposed that animals were just forced to move around, but that no major harm was done, I was very wrong. In class we saw many videos that showed me just how bad these farm animals, such as chicken, pigs and cows were being treated. 
  One video in particular sticks out in my head. It is where we see a pig farm. The pigs are being moves into a very tight and small space, in which they can barely move. From there these pigs are pulled from one leg by some sort of machine and hung upside down, now if we are all animals, imagine your whole weight being held from one leg, I would cry out in pain just as these pigs do. From there, the pigs are killed, then this HUGE machine clips into the lower stomach of the pigs and slides down to until around their necks, opening them up in half with there guts and intestines spilling out. Once this is done people are actually sitting there waiting 4 these pics in order to cut of all the meat on the inside, then to cut up the pigs into small pieces in order to be sold. How do we decide if this is right or wrong? Is it just as bad as for example, cows being filled with hormones in order to produce more milk so farmers can milk them daily? The cows are hung up in machines while they are hurting do to the amount of milk that they are storing, is this just as bad? 
  Either or ,in my opinion, is cruel. It should not be done. If it is need to be done, why in a manner that is soo cruel towards the animals? Why must we always want to get the job done as quickly as possible, even if it causes the pain in anything else? I 
  Even thought I believe that these animals do not deserve this treatment, I also think about what else can be done? In class we discussed how many will probably believe " there's no alternative" because honestly if there is one, why haven't we relied on it yet? Why haven't we changed our ways yet? I can't say that after knowing all this information I will stop eating any kind of meat completely, because I don't believe that just me stopping will make a great change, but I will keep in mind what is going on, and maybe one day I can take some measures into finding out what has happened to the food I'm about to eat. They only way that this will be stopped is if we realize that we truly are all animals, and that non -human animals also feel, as well as seeing that things really have no need to be rushed. 
  Overall I know that our society will never stop eating meat, they will probably never stop being so cruel towards farm animals either, but we all should b aware that this is going on, we should all keep in mind that these animals are being treated unfairly, just so we can have them at our dinner table. 

food journal # 8: industrial food

  Many of us might not know how bad the things we eat are treated, whether it be with plants or animals, or we might just not care for this information. We are never actually told how bad the living conditions of animals are in farms. Our whole lives and even in t.v and movies, we see farms as such happy places were every animal is treated fairly, with enough food and space. That is not the case. We might have some idea of how these animals are treated, just as my self, I had an idea of how they were treated in the farms, but after watching a couple of videos I was shocked. As we see in the video the Meatrix, the farm animals, such as pigs are cramped up into a small spaces, in which they are not even able to move. There are also cases with cows in which they are given hormones to produce more milk so it get can pumped daily. It seems like there is no one who is truly trying to change this situation , or doing anything to help it. I don't understand how the people who actually do this to the animals can go on with it. Not even da government has done anything to try and stop this from happening. It probably has 2 do with the fact that society believes us to be separate from animals, as though we are not the same. Maybe changing this view would help make a change, but still people would say " there's nothing else we can do." 

  We are also never told about the farmers. There are less farmers and more "mechanical machines" being used. "The loss of farmers mean the loss of farm communities and culture, along with the businesses those communities supported." This also means that many chemicals are being spread across the crops. Such as we watched in the class, with Sun flowers . While the number of farmers is increasing, the prices at supermarkets are increasing. Even thought this is so, money that is being brought in isn't going into the farmers, but instead "to corporate middlemen who squeeze farmers both when selling them seed and when purchasing their crops for processing." 

Omnivores Dilemma Extra Credit Part 1

Chapter 1:

At the beginning of this chapter, supermarkets are compared from back then, until now, briefly. We move on to the questions "what should I eat? " being related to "what am I eating?" and " where did it come from?" These are things we don't necessarily think about when we are out grocery shopping or even just buying ourselves something quick to eat. From there we go on to read about what everything really is, were it all "started" you can say. Corn, is the "the great edifice of variety and choice" in an American supermarket. We learn that corn is what feeds what we eat such as chickens and steer and pigs and turkey,even the salmon. So pretty much everything we eat is corn. It is as though we are having "corn over corn"
Now what about if there was no more corn? What other resource can we use that will make pretty much everything that we eat? I for one did not know that corn was in pretty much everything that we consume, even in our drinks. I'm guessing that most people don't know this either. Some people read the back label, but i doubt they really focus on the fact that everything has some sort of corn in it. If they did,would that even change the way we see things, or our eating habits? i don't believe so.

Chapter 2:

Farming has changed over time. It went from going out and plowing, to either one or two farmers driving trucks and producing more crops. Due to this change, the soil is worsening, causing it to damage to a point of no repair, because of this farmers need even more land. As stated in chapter one, corn is one of the main plants grown, since everything we eat has corn.
The farmers fertilize their lands, which is only affecting the world in a negative way.
" The ultimate fate of the nitrates that George Naylor spreads on his cornfield in Iowa is to slow down the Mississippi,into the Gulf of Mexico,where their deadly fertility poisons the marine ecosystem.....By fertilizing the world, we alter the plants composition of species and shrink biodiversity."
We know that farmers nowadays want to be able to do all their work the fastest way possible, even if this means that it will cause a negative reaction. Fertilization is not a good thing, even though it might make a fast or easier way of farming, are the risks actually worth it? What if we go back to how farming was done back then? will we be able to adjust back to that after so many years with the new technology? I think farmers would think its is not in their best interest to change the way things are being done.

Chapter 3:

Corn gets piled onto the ground, and if necessary just railed down. America is being compared with Mexico and the way the corn is pick. Showing that we do things in a fast manner, trying to get the job done in the fastest way possible. We got back to the idea of corn being in all our products. These products taste less like the actual corn. For us it seems to be quantity over quality with more than just corn. We can see this in the farmers, trying to get the most possible crops, instead of the best tasting. In our daily lives this is a problem as well. We want to have so much of something for the wrong reasons.
What is we started changing the way we think, the fact that quantity comes before quality? Would the change of QUALITY over quantity, affect the amount available of lest say,corn? How would we get affected by this if at all?

Food journal #7

Flan:

First we make the caramel, here's how:
We need:
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of water
1 spoonful of vanilla
We put all the ingredients into a pot with the stove on high. You stir all the ingredients until it has a brown color, once this color is achieved you go on to pour the caramel onto a blow
The flan is prepared next, and this go on top of the caramel.
We need:
14 oz (400 grams) condensed milk
28 oz (800 mL) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon water
In a large bowl, mix the eggs, condensed milk, milk, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Add this onto the caramel.
Bake at 400ºF (205ºC) for 40 minutes. You will know it is ready when a knife is put into the flan and it comes out clean. We let cool for 5 minutes and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
With a knife cut up flan and serve in dessert cups, you can add whipped cream on the top with a cherry. If you would like u can also make cherry gelatin and add it on top of the flan with condensed milk and then add the whipped cream.
Here's a picture of what your outcome will look like: