ARCHIVE - Visualizing Ecology - Week 6: Omnivore&#039;s Dilemma, pp. 1-184 http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/taxonomy/term/21/0 en ARCHIVE - Aileen Milliman - Week 6 http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/aileen-milliman-week-6 <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“There are some forty-five thousand items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn.” (p.19).</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> The sheer amount of corn used in American products reflects the industrial monoculture that has devoured the Plains. I guess “variety” means different things to different people. Such a dependence on one crop, usually grown to have few genetic variations, makes the extensive use of harmful chemicals almost unavoidable. If a disease untreatable by current technology developed in the Plains, what would come of those 11,250 corn-containing items in the average American supermarket? The environmental implications of using a single crop for so many products are enormous. In order to grow enough corn on a limited amount of land, high-density industrial farming is essential to maintain such a staggering output. The presence of this single crop in areas not natural to it can disrupt ecosystems by displacing native plants. </p><p><a href="http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/aileen-milliman-week-6">read more</a></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/aileen-milliman-week-6#comment Week 6: Omnivore's Dilemma, pp. 1-184 Mon, 12 Feb 2007 01:28:59 -0800 milail09 352 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter ARCHIVE - David Kruger week 6 http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/david-kruger-week-6 <p class="MsoNormal">“You find that every bushel of industrial corn requires the equivalent of between a quarter and a third of a gallon of oil to grow it – or around fifty gallons of oil per acre of corn. (Some estimates are much higher.) Put another way, it takes more than a calorie of fossil fuel energy to produce a calorie of food,” – (pg 46)</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>            </span>Pollan looks at agriculture in the first few chapters of this book by revealing corns’ link to the industry of petroleum and war. He quotes farm activists who say “We’re still eating the leftovers from World War II.” (pg 41) The beef we eat, the soda we drink, and just about anything else comes from corn, and thus comes from petroleum. “More then half of all the synthetic nitrogen made today is applied to corn.” (pg 45) What makes me sick is the idea that the fertilizer my food is grown in spawned from the invention of a toxic death gas used in a World War. There is no doubt in my mind why some one would want to cover up the history of Ammonium Nitrate and its inventor Fritz Haber. His story is not one you would want to hear about in the supermarket grocery store aisle. </p><p><a href="http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/david-kruger-week-6">read more</a></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/david-kruger-week-6#comment Week 6: Omnivore's Dilemma, pp. 1-184 Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:29:16 -0800 krudav10 329 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter