Blog #3 (QQC)

"Beets in the Hood"

Quote: "Forget organic and locally grown food--in America's poorest urban neighborhoods, it's hard to find any affordable fruits and vegetables at all."

Questions: Why is organic food usually more expensive in poor neighborhoods? Why not make it more affordable for everyone especially poor people? Why doesn't more people do what Allen did? Why don't they take his secret? What were some challenges Allen faced when starting the farm?

Comment: I think it is unfair that poor neighborhoods like West Oakland has no supermarkets and instead has about 60 liquor stores. Poor people should have access to organic food in order to be healthier. Organic food shouldn't be a luxury but a required food in poor communities. I think there should be more people like Will Allen, who take initiative and do something great that benefits everyone. It is also amazing how he was able to make it affordable for even the poor people and still make a lot of profit.

"Michael Pollan fixes Dinner"

Quote: "Al Gore didn't talk about it at all; 25 to 33 percent of all climate change gases can be traced to the food system...I was also surprised that those diseases that we take for granted as what will kill us--heart disease, cancer, diabetes--were virtually unknown 150 years ago, before we began eating this way."

Questions: Which are those gases? How exactly is the food system implicated in climate change? Why don't we ever hear about this? How does the food system produce diseases?

Comment: We hear about global warming everywhere and about the greenhouse gases and how we are polluting the Earth but we never really hear how our food system is connected to climate change and how 25 to 33 percent of all climate change gases can be traced to our food system. Also, how all these diseases are showing up because of the way we eat. I think we should all be aware of how we are harming are planet and try to eat "mostly plants" as Michael Pollan would say. That is why there should be more people like Allen that make fruits and vegetables available and affordable for poor people.

"Veg-O-Might"

Quote: "'If you think of a vegan,' he says, 'you think of someone who is skinny and frail, who has issues. A tree hugger. Smells funny. I'm putting the breath of life back into people. I'm out to save lives.'"

Questions: Has Williams been able to make an impact on others? Are there more vegan bodybuilders out there now? What are the benefits of being vegan? Any consequences? 

Comment: I think it is great how Williams decided to be an example for others and use his fame as a way to promote being vegan. I think people should reduce the amounts of meat they eat, because some just over eat meat. For example, in the article it was saying how most bodybuilders when they are bulking up consume between 1.5 to 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day and most of their protein comes from all the meat they eat, which is a ridiculous amount. That doesn't only affect their health and body but it also affects our environment because the more the meat being consumed, the more animals that will have to be killed and processed. 

"This Little Piggy Goes Home"

Quote: "In 2007, just 14 plants killed 18.5 million cattle, more than half the country's total; that's a per-slaughterhouse average of 2.5 heads per minute, 24-7." 

Questions: Do we really need all that cattle to be killed? Where does all that meat go other than to supermarkets? How much time does it take for that meat to reach the supermarket after they have killed the cattle? Is any meat actually "fresh"? 

Comment: In my opinion, that is way too much cattle being killed. I don't think people should or even need to eat so much meat everyday, like bodybuilders, they should also try to reduce the amounts of meat they eat per day. If we all made an effort to eat less meat everyday we would reduce our impact on animal life and how much animals are being killed. We would also reduce are impact on the environment.