Processed Chicken Propaganda

For my service learning project this semester, I decided to make propaganda posters small enough to post on packages of meat in a grocery store and then do just that, in an effort to expose people to how their food is treated while it’s still alive. I chose to put out messages about chickens because, as Mason and Singer put it, “Chickens [are] kept in unnaturally large flocks, bred to grow too fast, and transported and killed in appalling conditions.” (Singer Mason, May We Eat Meat 3)

I made two separate versions of posters, one that displays the cruel mutilations to living chickens and their living conditions, and another card that shows what mechanically separated chicken looks like before it is pressed into “nuggets.”

I wanted to show at least a few people what their food goes through to become edible, and what I displayed was in the later stages on processing, after the fact that the birds’ biology is unnatural to begin with. “Generations of inbreeding for rapid growth have produced crippled birds prone to heart attacks and a slew of other health problems. They spend their short lives packed together by tens of thousands on manure-soaked floors, breathing dust and ammonia.” (Mason, Brave New Farm 161) This kind of manipulation to produce more food from chickens harms quality of food as well as the environment. Not to mention, these living conditions are sick. It’s disgusting, what these corporations are allowed to do to animals meant for human consumption. The idea that we put animals that have been through this into our bodies is disgusting.

Using propaganda, I want to discourage the purchasing of factory-farm produced meat, but in no way so I mean to discourage consumption of meat. Such a goal is against my personal beliefs, but also a fool’s errand. “None of us, whether we are vegan or omnivore, can entirely avoid foods that play a role in global warming. Singling out meat is misleading and unhelpful, especially since few people are likely to entirely abandon animal-based foods … The 90 percent of Americans who eat meat and dairy are likely to respond the same way.” (Niman) There are simply too many people that simply don’t care where their meat comes from. I myself was raised that way. In fact, I was only vaguely aware that chickens were the same chicken that ended up on my dinner plate as a child. I was never formally taught where my food comes from when I was younger.

After placing the cards on packages of meat, I did some grocery shopping, since I was already there, and came back to the meats about twenty minutes later. All my cards were gone! Some customer or employee must have removed them, which doesn’t really surprise me. People don’t like to be reminded of where meat comes from or what it goes through to get to the consumer.

It’s unlikely that I can affect much of a change in the eating habits of others, but by supporting a larger organization, and voting with my wallet, I believe that I can make a meaningful impact it the way food is viewed and consumed in this country.

Our Daily Bread

I have always wondered how I could give back to my community or simply having the chance to help others and when the opportunity came around for me to go out and volunteer with any program or any organization of my choice the first thought that pooped into my head was "Soup Kitchen". I come from a family that likes to donate; whether its clothes, toys, appiliances, etc. We are always trying to help those that are less fortunate. If we know someone that hasnt eaten or doessn't have enough money to buy a meal or cook one, we either give them money or invite them over for dinner or sometimes just make them a plate. I have always wanted to go volunteer at a soup kitchen, mainly from television shows, when the person volunteers there they come back changed or enlightened. So I decided that I was going to volunteer at Our Daily Bread by the way of St. Andrews Church. The staff were so welcoming and really glad to have me there. The head chef, named Chef Liz runs a very tight but friendly kitchen. She makes sure everything is clean and the food is done ontime for when the guest arrive for their lunch. Since the serving staff was already full, I had to wash dishes. They serve food from 11am-1pm everyday. It doesnt matter who comes or the reasoning on why a person is coming as long as you have your organization card you are welcome to a free hot delicious meal. The organization card is free, no hidden fees, absolutely free. Chef Liz gets about 4 to 500 volunteers all the time. So many people want to volunteer there that you have to sign up online before you can come in. Only about 10 people can be in the kitchen, that includes servers, washers and dryers, food handlers, and cooks. All the food that is prepared there have all been donated. Walmart has been the leading provider for most of the food. The fruits and vegetables were donated by local farms. Nothing is wasted at the soup kitchen. The vegetables and fruits that were cut but not needed are sent to a pig pen for the pigs to eat. Its a cycle,"the giver keeps giving." I talked to one of the volunteers, who actually comes to eat there frequently. He told me that at the beginning of the month its only about 150 people that come to eat, but towards the end of the month that number jumps to over 150. He says by that time money has, became tight and the people there sometimes are no longer able to feed their family or themselves. I found that quite interesting and it made sense. Starting off the month pretty fine until, you start getting hit with bills, yeah I could see how that works. Another volunteer told me during the summer it gets really crowded due to the fact children start to come. That also makes since, because during the summer kids are out of school and they need somewhere to go to eat. What is so neat about this place is that they prepare so much food that if the guests want seconds then they can get it after everybody has been through the line atleast once. If there is more food left over after that the volunteers can take the food home to their famillies. Remember no food is wasted. The volunteers even get to try the food before it's served to the guests. I saw all kinds of people at the soup kitchen, which makes me think it's not a specific race, gender, age that needs help, its the whole world. We need more organzitations like Our Daily Bread that wants to make sure that our community no our world doesnt have to go hungry. Its too many resources that we have to let someone not eat. All we need is a few good people that doesnt mind giving a few hours out their day to help the ones that are unable to maintain the lifestyle that we are living. I agree with Murdoch flagging Hardin's Lifeboat thesis as misleading. We (Americans) can help the world hunger problems without punishing ourselves, we have unlimited resources for food. I left the soup kitchen feeling great inside, not because I feel like I did anything special, but to see how grateful and appreacitaive the guests were to have a place where they can come to for a free hot meal and fellowship was simply amzaing. Now I see why the people on televison shows feel the way the do when they leave the soup kitchen.

Side Quest: Diane Wilson

Diane Wilson came to speak about her fight against chemical plants in her hometown. Diane was a shrimper off the Texas Coast, her hometown had a population of only about 15000. A company moved in to town and and built a chemical plant. A local newspaper had a article that came out stating what chemicals were coming from the plant. Diane was bothered about this, because it was actually destroying her business. She contacted City Hall to ask about the plant. The people in City Hall said she was stupid and accused her of being evangelist. Diane started a petition wanting to remove the plant from her hometown. Diane even organized protests, but City Hall never responded or took any action against the plant. Her family, city, state, and everybody was against her. They said a woman didn't have a right to speak out. Diane went on a hunger strike since nobody would listen to her. She took heat for her hunger strike as well. Diane has been arrested numerous of times behind her fight. Diane has kept speaking out against her fight against the chemical plant. The town had once had 100 boats now they are down to 3. From our readings we have learned that most of these plants invade small, poor, and minority towns. These towns don't have enough people to stand up and fight for their city to be saved from these kind of pollutions. Many jobs, people, and areas are effected by these plants. According to Higgins' Race,Pollution, and Mastery Nature. Also being female doesnt help the cause. We live in a society were women are looked at as less than of a male. That a woman is supposed to be seen and not heard. Diane went against all those stereotypes had a voice that needed to be heard in order to keep people safe. I feel that if Diane was a man then she would have gotten attention from City Hall or even had more followers on her path to shut down the chemical plants. Diane has not given up her fight and she will continue to speak out on all things that are in just "Civil disobedience causes change to happen"-Diane Wilson

Electronic Waste Dumps

Millions of electronics are thrown away each year. They go to a waste dump in China. The goods that are thrown away causes pollution, because they contain toxic chemicals such as mercury and lead. Many western countries export the electronic goods to other countries such as China to save money and avoid pollution restriction in their own country. Its dangerous to work in the electronic waste dumps, because the workers are dismantling the no longer needed goods without protection for their hands and face. Making them more available to contract diseases. Many workers are contracting skin disease and lead poisoning. When burning the metal the smoke flows over the villages and causing women, children, and elderly people to come in close contact with the toxins and they too have became sick. Their metal is also found in the river, where the village people to go to get water. The river contains metal poison. To get fresh water the the people Quanzo have to travel 53 kilometers. Workers who make computer chips are easily assessable to brain cancer, blood cancer, kidney cancer, and miscarriages. Why do people work there, you might ask? Well simply, because they need the money. The pay is not very high either; for a full time position the pay is equivalent to two U.S. dollars. Most of the workers are ex farmers. Most of these dumps are in rural areas and workers are of the minority. According to one study done by the EPA reported that “although socioeconomic status appeared to play an important role in the location of commercial hazardous waste facilities, race still proved to be more significant” (UCC 1987, p. xiii)(Figueroa pg 3). The theme behind this is that companies produce electronics to last consumers about a year and half and then something bigger, smaller, or better comes out and consumers always want the new thing. We call these new items "Designed for the Dump". Which means we make things that are to be thrown away quickly. Today's electronics are hard to upgrade, easy to break, and impractical to repair. We dispose of twenty-five million e-waste a year. Companies are to blame for this, they make a product using high level toxins that will only last you for a certain time and the consumers throw they products away when the need for them is gone. Causing people in other countries to suffer from toxic poisoning. Companies gain the most for shipping electronics overseas due to externalizing cost.Instead of companies paying for better facilities the workers pay with their health.Instead of paying designers to use fewer toxins villagers pay by losing their clean drinking water. The companies make their profit while everyone else pays.If we demand "product take back" then big companies would know exactly how it feels to have toxic materials laying around. They would probably call their manufacturers and say "Quit designing for the dump." Product take back is when the companies take back their product; either making longer lasting products or when something is broke they can send the piece that needs fixing instead of taking the whole product back. Many take back laws are emerging around the country. We as consumers can make these "take back laws" strengthen and stronger by protesting against the companies to stop sending the e-waste to countries that are harmful and or make the products using fewer chemicals. The distributive dimension is evident in least-resistance strategies, whereby government officials determine the location of toxic facilities, compensation, and remediation procedures according to the racial, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic character of communities. (Figoeroa 3)

Local Community Protests Toxic Coal Power Plant

The piece about which I am writing was written by eNews Park Forest, which reports on news that concerns the environment, and is run by journalists with a passion for nature. Most of the site's readers share this passion, and the piece is trying to communicate that there are grassroots organization in Chicago that share that passion.

Local Chicagoans stood on the grounds of the toxic coal-burning Crawford power plant yesterday to protest the plant and try to get it shut down. The Crawford plant, along with the Fisk plant, account for around 45,000 tons of pollutants floating in the air around Chicago. These citizens have taken to protesting as a means of effecting change in their local communities, and trying to communicate to the people involved in the upcoming Clean Power Ordinance hearing, which could force the plant to shut down and change its methods.

If they are successful, the protestor’s will not lead to spreading the environmental burdens the plant brings, but actually lessening the burden, which everyone benefits from, though the protestors are likely less affected than most by these burdens. “The most defensible accounts of fairness and climate change suggest that the rich countries should bear the brunt, and perhaps even the entirety, of the costs. What, then, has the world done?” (Gardiner Ethics 590) The Crawford plant’s protestors seem to have an answer to the question of whose responsibility it is to bear the costs (spending the time and money) of fixing environmentally unfriendly practices: themselves.

 This kind of action shows that some of the people of Chicago’s south side truly care about the quality of their local environment and want to see things change for the better. I think this kind of protesting is a great way to raise awareness and show people that there are groups that want the plant shut down or reformed, but one must follow up these actions by appearing at the hearing and making your voice heard by the people who actually write the laws that make the changes you want.

It's a little late, but...

Modern Thought

                The humans in Avatar have a very mechanistic worldview, and they exploit the resources of Pandora to make money, not out of any altruistic sense of compassion for their fellow man. This mechanistic worldview is shown almost immediately in the film during Jake Sully’s flight to the human base on Pandora where there are shots of a huge piece of industrial equipment that appears to have some agricultural purpose. Also displayed are many smokestacks around the base, polluting the virgin world. It’s likely that the majority of humans on Pandora have this viewpoint and goal of progress because of the incredible expense involved in interstellar travel, even in the suture setting of Avatar, though it is probably not a stance echoed by the rest of humanity. Pandora’s scientists appear to simply want to observe how Pandora works as scholarly pursuits.

Parker Selfridge, as executive of the human presence of Pandora, displays a lack of deontological ethics and an exclusive view of humanism when he talks about trying to bring medicine, education, and roads to the Na’vi, in that he implies that all these attempts at good deeds are only to convince the natives to move the home tree because it rests atop a large deposit of a valuable mineral, rather than helping the Na’vi just to help them. He also engages Grace Augustine numerous times about the inner workings of the creatures of Pandora and uses dualisms to justify his behavior to himself (calling them fly-bitten savages, blue monkey, etc.) One memorable exchange occurs when Grace is attempting to explain to Parker the bonds in the trees, which are analogous to neurons of the human brain and can even contain memories, though this is at best Reductionism, because the neural network of trees on Pandora can account for many more feats than simply retaining memories, such as listening to and answering prayers, and moving a consciousness (such as Jake’s) from one body and into another. When Selfridge explains that “killing the indigenous looks bad,” this line implies that most of humanity on Earth still shares “A homocentric ethic (grounded in the social good) [that underlies] ecological movements whose primary goal is social justice for all people” (Merchant 64)

                The Na’vi, and Neytiri in particular, have a view that their world cannot be broken into parts, that everything is connected and there is a universal network of energy that flows between all living things. This is echoed by the fact that the individual Na’vi can form a biological link with other animals on Pandora and share some thoughts and nervous sensations. This notion is at odds with the human paradigms of anthropocentrism and atomism, because the Na’vi do not make much distinction between themselves and the animals, because they can literally share experiences with one another. These bonds are part of their master narrative, and their deity Eywa is the result of all this pairing between separate organisms. Though within the Na’vi’s master narrative there are accounts of a few individuals: the Riders of Last Shadow, a few Na’vi that have tamed the large flying beast that preys on the banshees of Pandora.

AVATAR MIDTERM

In the movie Avatar, the aliens(humans) landed on the planet Pandora, invading the lands of the Na'vi. The humans were looking for a rock called Unobtainium in order to improve upon humankind's existence. However their search for Unobtainium was devastating the lands of the native Na'vi and threatened their very existence. The rock was located under a tree that housed all the Na'vi population and the human invaders were determined to uproot it in order to obtain the rock which is in the soil. The team of scientist came up with these Avatars that acted and talked and walked like the Na'vi using the brain waves that were synced into the Avatar body. The point was to get the Na'vi to trust Jake which is the main character. In hopes to that Jake could talk the Na'vi in relocating or conform to the aliens. In the process Jake falls in love wit Neytiri which is the princess of Omaticaya and Jake falls in love with the land as well. Jake then "betrays" the humans the humans by helping the Na'vi keep their land from the humans. In the movie the word "see" comes up a lot. The meaning behind "see" is to understand and be knowledgeable of the land and to view things from their viewpoint. Humans felt that their superiority gave them the right to deem a lesser species (the Na'vi). This is an example of a master narrative. The humans wanted more and more in order to ensure that their existence continued. They felt that humankind needed more certain traits and saw that the Na'vi did not posses the traits, therefore they deemed them savages. (Anthropocentrism) Self narrative falls in to play when Jake and Grace along with their team differed from the humans because they saw value in the Na'vi's culture where the others only saw primative existence. The dualisms I found were between the colonel and Grace. The colonel holds rank over the scientsit, Grace and he is considered a male dominate and views Grace's sympathy and need to understand the Nav'i as more silly female whims that he had no time for. Deriving them to be frivilous. The humans saw the Na'vi as savages becausw they did not want to accept their "advanced" ways. The Na'vi saw their "advanced" ways as evil and destructive. Solidarity was shown when Grace and her team of scientist including Jake felt for the natives and didnt want the humans to destroy their land. Also the woman that flew one of the helicopters had a change of heart. When she she seen how they were lettig of missles to destroy the land she turned around and said "I didnt sign up for this." After that she began helping Jake and Grace with saving the land and the Na'vi. World traveler concept shows in this particular view of it with Jake being able to play both sides as being human and also taking form of his Avatar body. Coming into his Avatar body he didnt have any concept of how the Na'vi felt about their land. Neytiri took him under her wing and basically transformed him into one of the natives by teaching him the way of life. Colonialism in this matter was not reached fully, because the humans were not able to take control over the land. They did, however offered them roads, schools, hospitals, and so on, butthe Na'vi refused. I see partial colonialism in the force of trying to invade Pandora by destroying and killing the Na'vi and animals. Truncated narratives shows the same concept as the Europeans coming to the Americas and forcing the Indians off the land. So the Europeans can settle and start civilization. Just as the humans tried to do on Pandora against the Na'vi. Jake only seen half of the problem with what was going on with the Na'vi. He didnt grasp the full concept that Pandora was more than just a place to live, it was their way of life. He started this expierement helping the humans move the Na'vi off the land, but once he fell in love and learned that forest gave out much more than a place to live, but it was also spiritual. They communicated with the forest and all the things that lived in it.
"Inevitably, in the translation of ethical perspectives between cultures with
differential power, something will be lost, what Ofelia Schutte calls "a residue
of meaning" that is so important that it may be "'a principle of cross-cultural
incommensurability'"(Gaard 19).

Living with Wolves

In this particular video, the people of Bozeman speak about the wolf hunting issue in their state of Montana. Some of the townspeople objected the idea of wolf hunting. While others embraced the idea of wolf hunting. Joan Montagne a wolf hunting supporter said "They will learn just like the bison. They will quickly learn that someone holding the stick, the hunter is someone to avoid. I'm in favor of hunting." Her idea of this is displaying the concept of a master narrative. The hunter is the dominant force over the wolves. Since he is holding the gun which gives pure dominance over the wolf society. Another wolf supporter, Mike Prester commented "I've been coming here since 1987 and enjoyed a large population of elk and developed an elk hunt. I've seen my elk hunt being disrupted tremendously." After reading Leopold's Thinking Like a Mountain, I feel as though we shouldn't hunt for wolves. According to Leopold if we kill all the wolves that lived on the mountain then the deer will overpopulate the mountain. The deer will eat all of the vegetation and plants that the mountain has to offer and by doing that the mountain would eventually die. Die in the sense of its beauty and view. Leopold " I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in a mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer." In other words hunting wolves will eventually destroy the system. Everything is like a domino effect or has a chain reaction. For example if we start chopping down all of the trees and plants then we will no longer have clean oxygen to breathe. In conclusion, the symbiosis is in this case the elks need the wolves to some of them to help balance out the population so neither one would have the greater population. Like Dean Fraley argues (opposed of wolf hunting) "If man would have left it alone a long time ago instead of got it out of balance we wouldn't have this huge problem."

Bomb Sniffing Plants?

Grow Your Own Security: Prof Breeds Bomb-Spotting Plants

Colorado State University Biologist Produces Plant Sentinels that Detect Environmental Contaminants, Explosives 

This morning, via a press release, Professor June Medford and her team in the Department of Biology at Colorado State University spoke about her project that uses genetically modified plants to change color when exposed to pollutants or trace amounts of explosives. These plants use a computer-designed protein that changes the plants' natural signaling process to turn white when specific substances are detected.

 

“The idea to make detector plants comes directly from nature,” said Medford. “Plants can’t run or hide from threats, so they’ve developed sophisticated systems to detect and respond to their environment. We’ve ‘taught’ plants how to detect things we’re interested in and respond in a way anyone can see, to tell us there is something nasty around.”

But is this still nature? Most people's first image when thinking of the idea of nature is plants, but when we start genetically modifying plants to suit our needs (as we've done for many years already,) can they still be considered natural? Are these color-changing sentinels "what ought to be?"

While the science of these plants and how they work may be interesting, the ethical implications are even more profound. Will we breed different plants to detect different pollutants in the home? How is this any different than training digs or pigs to sniff drugs? What else does this change in the plants' DNA? Perhaps plants like this will lead to more of a gardenscape inside airports or offices, perhaps there will even be plants inside airplanes.

Medford and her team were recently given an $8 million grant by the government for defense research, in order to develop the plants further. The current response times are a few hours, but Medford wants to get the response time down to minutes.

Image credit goes to Colorado State University News

New Blog

This is the inaugural post on this blog for my Environmental Issues class. I've still got a lot to learn about this blog (like how to add others as contributors,) but it's kind of exciting. The purpose of this blog is to find articles on the web about environmental issues and discuss them using our weekly readings as a framework for looking at contemporary events in the news.