While doing the contemplative practice for Lesson 8, I really got thinking more about water and the demand for it around the world. I never thought much about what it would be like to not have water because I grew up with a seemingly endless amount of it. It has been unnerving to me to think about how many people… Read more »
Writing my research paper helped me to discover even further how important plants are to the environment and to each individual ecosystem. I never really gave much thought on how plants function differently when they are in their natural habitat versus when they are not. When plants are put into ecosystems that they are not from, they will either fail… Read more »
In Lessons eight and nine we looked at water and food, both of which are vital aspects of living. More specifically we saw how different parts of the world have adapted to their climates so that they can accommodate their needs. Many countries have found ways to fix their deficits, such as Israel who went from being one of the… Read more »
In the past three weeks, we have looked at how big of a role economics plays in the food trade. From sugar becoming more than just a luxury good to being a staple in households to planting crops for a drug enterprise because it is the only way to keep families fed. Sugar being a staple is counter-intuitive because it… Read more »
The Hungry Planet paper helped me to look closer at different countries and how they eat. It helped to show me how much different eating habits are across cultures, while also showing how similar others are. Families in Australia eat similar foods to the United States, where countries who do little importing eat very basic, raw type foods. It made… Read more »
The contemplative practice that I found to be most inspiring was the one about cocoa beans and chocolate. In this practice, we thought about where the beans come from and the process that is used to get the beans to facilities to make the sweet snack that we consume often. Thinking about the work it takes to get to grow… Read more »
In lesson two we looked at living and mechanical systems and learned what the differences were. The living systems are biological and mechanical systems are machine based, created by humans. They are both a way of creating energy or outputs that help to keep the environment(s) going. Systems theory helps to put in perspective of how important it is to… Read more »
The idea of eating healthy is not really about the latest fads, but it is about the foods that we choose to eat. In Week One looked at the past up to the present at different diets and how our health has changed over the years. In Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food, one of his arguments is that… Read more »