ARCHIVE - Visualizing Ecology - Week 6: Omnivore&#039;s Dilemma, pp. 1-184 http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/taxonomy/term/20/0 en ARCHIVE - Ari Sigglin http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/ari-sigglin-3 “According to the Handbook of Food Additives, dimethylpolysiloxene is a suspected carcinogen and an established mutagen, tumorigen, and reproductive effector; it’s also flammable.” - 113<br /> <br /> I did a Google search of dimethylpolysiloxene. On the McDonalds website, it’s listed in seven entrees as an “anti-foaming agent.”<br /> (http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.categories.ingredients.index.html) <br /> I suppose I’d rather get cancer and burst into flames than having my Chicken Selects foam up or effervesce for whatever reason. However, looking up dimethylpolysiloxene on Wikipedia, it redirects you to Polydimethylsiloxane. I’m not clear whether they’re the same thing, though Polydimethylsiloxane is “non-toxic and non-flammable.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydimethylsiloxane) Upon further reading, Polydimethylsiloxane is found in Silly Putty, cosmetics, and was once a filler fluid in breast implants. I’m guessing a toned-down version of Polydimethylsiloxane is allowable in my Chicken Selects, McNuggets, Fish Fillet, what have you. It’s a strange juxtaposition of contradicting materials though. For one, Wikipedia claims that PDMS is non-toxic (if indeed PDMS is the same thing as the dimethylpolysiloxene that Pollan mentions), but for some reason was discontinued as a breast implant fluid filler due to “safety concerns.” But again, it’s used in knuckle replacement implants. It’s also non-flammable, which definitely does not match Pollan’s accusations. Wiki does mention the use of PDMS as a food additive, as the “anti-foaming agent” relieves bloating and it used in Gas-X (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-foaming_agent). <p><a href="http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/ari-sigglin-3">read more</a></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/ari-sigglin-3#comment Week 6: Omnivore's Dilemma, pp. 1-184 Tue, 13 Feb 2007 10:14:13 -0800 sigari25 364 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter ARCHIVE - shaun libman http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/shaun-libman-2 <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“…what the Treasury is really subsidizing are the buyers of all that cheap corn. “Agriculture’s always going to be organized by the government; the question is, organized for whose benefit? Now it’s for Cargill and Coca-Cola. It’s certainly not for the farmer.”<span>   </span>-Michael Pollan</font></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I find what Pollen focuses on in The Omnivore’s Dilemma is the psychology, the human dilemma, trying to distinguish what is right and what is wrong. I find this to be the most engaging place to discuss our food industry from. When looking at why farmers are producing crops that loose them money it is pertinent that one looks at it sensitively from a variety of perspectives. To say that it’s plainly the government manipulating the farmers is narrow-minded. It is the product its self, the corn in this case and it’s the farmers and there needs. The farmers are people who brag about getting the biggest yield of corn and this as important to the story as anything ells. </font></p><p><a href="http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/shaun-libman-2">read more</a></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/shaun-libman-2#comment Week 6: Omnivore's Dilemma, pp. 1-184 Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:09:04 -0800 libsha19 359 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter ARCHIVE - Mitch Gines http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/mitch-gines-4 <p>Okay, so Steve wasn&#39;t kidding when he said this was all abotu corn.  Kudos to all who took him seriously.   With that out of the way, I&#39;m going to go off on a bunch of tangents that should actually be coherent and connect in some way.</p><p> First of all, let us thank the &quot;miracle&quot; that is corn syrup.  Trust me.  That stuff IS practically everywhere!  You know how often I&#39;ve read that ingredient in all our foods?  I never really think about it that much, but I was always aware of the abundance of corn syrup that exists in today&#39;s food.  I guess, it&#39;s because I&#39;ve come to accept is as simple fact.</p><p><a href="http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/mitch-gines-4">read more</a></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/mitch-gines-4#comment Week 6: Omnivore's Dilemma, pp. 1-184 Sun, 11 Feb 2007 20:43:29 -0800 ginmel01 335 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter ARCHIVE - Cody Cohan http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/cody-cohan-3 <p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>“So that’s us: processed corn, walking.” Page 23<br /> <span>            </span><br /> <br /> <span>            </span>I had no idea how much corn was inside of me. Corn, corn, corn, and more corn is all I see. As soon as I finished the first section of this book, I decided to go to the greenery and actually see what had corn in it. Just based of my basic knowledge of what corn can be used for, I suspect at least half of the food served there is spliced with corn in some way, shape or form. It’s quite interesting that corn could be so significant in our lives without ever really making that fact known. If Americans eat more corn then the people of the corn, who does that, make us? Pollan has an interesting take on domestication as well. He goes so far as to say that corn has domesticated us. Just what does domestication mean though? The ability to make other organisms adjust to your needs is how must would describe it and if you were a plant, wouldn’t your only need be to spread and grow? We have quite obviously adjusted our lifestyles to work with corn, but I don’t necessarily think that makes us domesticated. Pollan breaks down the omnivore’s dilemma into three sections that focus on different type of food. This are distinguished by how they where grown. Industrial farming is the most alarming and dominant force in agriculture, followed by organic farming with hunter/gather methods following it all up. This book really makes me question where my food comes from. It’s quite an important question now days as he explains in his description of a nutritionist lurking around a grocery store. There really is a lot of extra shit in our food and I, for one, have no idea what most of it really is. Of course this is due to our highly evolved ways of making sure we always have a meal. Preserving, curing and salting are just a handful of ways that we have learned to prevent nature from taking back the energy that we hoard.</p><p><a href="http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/cody-cohan-3">read more</a></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter/cody-cohan-3#comment Week 6: Omnivore's Dilemma, pp. 1-184 Thu, 08 Feb 2007 18:56:27 -0800 cohcod02 308 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecowinter