Food food food

I found the presentation on foods to be very informative. I learned many new things about organic food and co-op’s that helped me to understand the importance of organic produce. Before the presentation I kind of just had the opinion that organic produce was way too expensive and not really worth the extra money. I did have the right idea about the price, since it is much more expensive. I do have my eyes open now though, I feel like organic produce is a great thing. The presentation did mention that it takes much more land to grow organically. It is for this reason that I believe it would be difficult to make a complete switch to organic foods. Pesticides and chemicals used to enhance growth are unhealthy as of right now. This leads me to believe that a switch to organic food would be worth my while. However, with global populations continuing to expand, I feel like it would be very hard to make a switch to entirely organic goods. They are definitely healthier, but they also require much more land (as previously stated). The land required for this type of agriculture will eventually need to be shared with the ever expanding populations of the world. This issue leads me to question what we will do in the future. I feel like there will come a time when researchers will need to find alternative sources for increasing yields and decreasing the amount of land required. In the case of fruits and vegetables, maybe scientists will find/develop fertilizers and chemicals (that are effective in increasing plant health) that will not be harmful to humans. In my opinion, agricultural science is an intriguing field of study that, in the decades to come, will have a significant role in the survival of our species on this planet.

The Grizz

The film Grizzly Man is one of my all time favorite documentaries. The main focus of the documentary is on the grizzly man (a.k.a Timothy Treadwell). This is somewhat saddening to me due to the fact that, according to friends, family, and video footage, Timothy's one goal in life was to save the bears (or to illustrate, through film, what he saw in bears). Timothy truly believed that behind the ferocious exterior of the bear, was a kind, caring companion. He was willing to do anything and everything he could to protect and save the animals he cared so deeply for. But was it the right thing to do? One could easily argue both ways. One could argue along the lines of, "Timothy did a marvelous thing by living with, and protecting the bears." Another argument, however, could be that Treadwell was doing harm to the bears by habituating them to the presence of humans. In his footage he also spoke of attempting to help the salmon swim upstream. I do not think that Treadwell fully understood how his actions could have been affecting the environment. He also speaks of his view of the so-called circle of life. Treadwell showed his lack of understanding of how the ecosystem actually worked by cursing at predators for taking prey. Predation was, is, and will continue to be a natural cause of death and possibly natures way of population control. Furthermore, what Treadwell failed to realize was that the animals that he loved most were predatory species. Both bears and foxes are predatory species. I feel like this illustrates his failure to understand the real way of life in the wild. I am not saying that he was not a great survivor and an experienced outdoor enthusiast. I am simply saying that Timothy Treadwell had a bias towards the animals which were closest to him. I do believe that his footage, along with Herzog's work have provided viewers with a rare glimpse of the beauty and the danger of Alaska's pristine wilderness.