Journal #3 The Future of Food

In class this week we watched the eye opening video The Future of Food. The video was an investigation on genetically engineered foods and how they have made there way into food stores in the U.S. The main point of the video was to make people realize what we have been eating without being told. The problem is we cant visibly tell whether the food we are eating has been genetically engineered or not. Personally I learnt a lot from the video it informed me of a lot of things that are going on in our country even beyond just food.

The main company in question in this video is the Monsanto Company. The company itself creates genetically engineered seeds that are "Roundup Ready", meaning they won't die when pesticides are used to protect the crops to prevent pests from destroying them. The issue is that theses seeds are patented meaning that the government has allowed them to patent a living thing. The problem here is that the plants spread through cross pollination affecting farmers crops. Farmers that have never used seeds from Monsanto Company are being sued by the company because they have "their" plants on there land. Farmers are unable to control the crops from spreading because of the environment and other factors that allow plants to spread.

We are not being told what we are eating because farmers who use genetically engineered foods are not required to put it on the foods label. In my opinion we have the right to know what we are eating. There should be labels on foods telling whether or not it is genetically engineered or has genetically engineered foods in it.

The video below gives a great overview of what the problem with genetically engineered food is.



Another video I found shows some key points in how genetically engineered foods can lead to health problems.



My favorite snack an granny smith apple. It originated it Australia but is grown in New Zealand, USA, parts of South America, British Columbia Canada and the United Kingdom. After some research it has come to my attention that a lot of theses apples can be found to be genetically engineered. Apples are grown in different areas so it come have been anywhere from New York to the United Kingdom. I was unable to find the exact amount of water needed to produce one apple as each tree yields a different number of apples.

Journal #2 Nature Walk

In class today we went on an on-campus nature walk through the perseveres. While getting a little wet I was able to see and learn about the many different ecosystems that exist naturally in Florida. The first placed we stopped was at an oak hammock. Below is a picture of an oak hammock.

Oak hammocks were used by the Native Americans as a camp site to protect them from raining weather. A oak hammock contains oak trees that provide protection from the rain.

While walking through the ankle deep water we encountered many cypress trees. Cypress trees are the most common trees in Florida's wetlands. Cypress trees have highly flood tolerant and can live in water for long periods of time. Theses trees played an important role in history as they were once used to make canoes and homes by the Native Americans. Below is a picture of a Cypress knee. It is unknown exactly what the knees do but it is predicted that they provide air to the submerged roots.


Although it was dark outside and was not able to experience the walk as much as I could have, I still enjoyed the walk. I would like to someday take the walk during daylight if possible.

I found a lot of interesting info on Florida's wet lands at these two sites:

http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/4h/other_resources/contest/highlighted_ecosystem/swplants.htm

http://sofia.usgs.gov/virtual_tour/kids/ecosys.html

Journal #1 Intro to University Colloquium

Today was the first day of University Colloquium. During class we discussed what the course was about and what we where going to be doing during this semester. I am mostly looking forward to all the field trips. I love the environment and wildlife. I hope to see some wildlife while going on the off campus trips. This is class seems like it will be like biology of south west florida, and I really enjoyed that class. Although there seems to be a lot of writing for the class I don't think Ill mind it because I will be writing about things that I am passionate about. There are many issues with our culture and the way we neglect our environment and I look forward to learning more about theses issues to see what I can do personally to make this word a better place. Wildlife is a beautiful thing and I hate seeing and hearing about all the negative things that are going on with our environment.