Reflection weeks 5&6

Hey Everyone!

I can’t believe it’s already the sixth week of school!!! Time is flying!
Weeks five and six focused on food. I learned a lot about food and where it comes from.

During week five, I wrote my first review, on “Feeding the World”; which was very informative. I learned that our world is getting overpopulated and slowly running out food to feed us all. The article also stated the UN has a low/medium scenario that predicts fertility; averaging 1.9 children per woman for all regions by 2025, and even with the low/medium scenario Africa’s population would continue to rise approaching 2 billion people in 150 years. We also watched a video called “Diet for a New America” that mostly talked about the amount of meat products consumed by Americans; which was a tremendous amount compared to other countries worldwide. One thing that struck me the most in this film was that 80% of our grains are to animals and 12 pounds of grains equals only one pound of beef. If only we would stop eating so much meat then, we could save all the food used to feed animals. During week five I also did an eye opener called “Score Your Diet”; which revealed to me that I was harming the environment and my health greatly by the foods I consume.

Week 6 was very interesting; the most fascinating part about it was the documentary we watched called “Future of Food”. This video was very touching; I was very surprise to hear how many farmers are suffering greatly because the government wants to regulate Genetically Modified foods. I was also very shocked by the amount of food being GM in the United States right now. Most experts don’t recommend GM foods, but yet there aren’t even labeled on food products. So most people don’t really know when they’re actually eating it. Now I am wondering how much food I eat that’s genetically engineered. In week I also had to do an eye opener on reading 10, called “Scientists Say a Quest for Clean Energy Must Begin Now”. It basically talked about the Kyoto Protocol; which I didn’t really know what it was until I read this article. The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement on global warming reached by the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. The major industrial nations pledged to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases between 2008 and 2012. Unfortunately the US hasn’t signed it yet.

I learned a lot of new things about food during weeks five and six; I was startled by a lot facts. I’m hoping there would be better measure taken about food in the future worldwide, and that I myself would make better choices regarding the foods I eat.