Monday, October 11, 2010

Eye Opener: CSPI

The eating green tour had lots of good facts.  I focused on reading more about the animals.  The cattle has a small lifespan.  They are being be as much "special" grain which causes them health problems & the cattle is producing more fat & so when we eat that meat, we also are intaking that excess fat.  They're brought to the slaughter house where millions are killed each year.  In general, the overall cleanliness of these animals & how they're taken care of is very dirty, wasteful, and causing more problems than we think.


I enjoyed the eating green calculator.  I went off of my last weeks eating habits (which weren't too good or healthy.)  I was pretty disgusted in how much manure was produced by the animals I eat.  I definitely was not expecting that information to be included.  But talking about waste/garbage, manure is a whole other factor of waste we have not really considered how to dispose of.  I think how much chicken/meat I eat a year might have been more effective of the burden it's causing...


Uh-oh!  I need help with my eating green score.  Whether it's my overall nutrition, environment, or animal wellfare that needs work i'm not sure.  I just didn't score so well.  I think again we can just relate it back to making sure we are used locally grown foods from local farmers & just being more aware of who and where the food we're eating is coming from.

6 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed doing this activity. They really are "Eye Openers." They provide us with really valuable information that we didn't realize before. I was also really disgusted with the amount of manure produced. It certainly makes me not want to eat animal products.

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  2. I thought this activity was really interesting and fun. Taking the tour of our food supply really made me aware of just what the animals go through and what terrible treatment they get. It makes me sad especially since the food they are fed is giving them health problems which in return are passed on to us.

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  3. The amount of waste is pretty ridiculous, I agree. People don't ever think about details like these, and I think if they were more aware they would definitely cut down their animal product intake.

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  4. I feel that same too! What you said about manure is something that needs to be looked at. That makes me question, what are the harms of manure? I believe in India dried cow manure is used as great source of fertilizers.

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  5. Mary: I think manure is okay when it is used indirectly (like fertilizer), but the run off into lakes and such is bad. Just a thought, though, I'm not sure.

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  6. I think its just horrible the way they basically force these animals to eat a high fat diet and antibiotics that contribute to their large size and short lives. It is ruining what nature and wildlife is all about. They really need to find out a more effective way to handle the manure because it is a huge health hazard. I never knew how dangerous it really was until I've started learning about its impact in this class and from other students

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