Final 1 & 2

Kenneth Leung

June 7, 2007

Final Essay Question 1

Introduction:

Throughout this semester we looked at a human need for food. We looked at what we used to ship food from one farm to another and the methods we used to treat our animals such as pigs, cows and chickens. We went through the times where we saw food and animals as our help and as another being that lived alongside of us, to the today’s’ world where food is just a mean of fuel to keep us alive and fatten us. Based on our semester of work we can predict that in the near future food will continue to be more industrialized and we will rely more heavily on oil, until the peak oil theory puts this all to the end, where everything will crash and come to a halt.

Body Paragraph:

Before 1990, the Cuban oil crisis, Cuba like the United States economy flourished and relied heavily on oil fueled vehicles such as tractors, cars and trucks. The city infrastructure was similar to those of the United States, such as New York City. There were many vacant lots used to store cars, garbage and broken down appliances not wanted by anyone; most of the times these lots are infested with roaches, rats, and snakes. Similar to the United States, Cuba had thousands of pesticide factories and over 9,000 tractors that ran on oil. Other similarities were that the Cuban government did not foresee the shortage of oil that devastated their economy; in result they continued their lives as it was. Once they came to the realization that there was a shortage of oil it was already too late. In one year Cuban oil reservoirs stood at 14 - 13 million tons, in one year that number fell down to a mere 4 tons. Because of this the average Cuban citizen loss 20 lbs. by 1994, infancy mortality rate increased more than 10 percent, and the import and export of nova cane, tobacco, rice and citrus came to a stop. The Cuban lifestyle quickly changed and suffered for 4 years. Soon they turned to perma-culture, and gave food away in rations so everyone has food to eat. The empty lots were not used to gardens for fruits, and vegetables. In result the city of Havana had enough food to feed the population of Havana, which is 1million. In 6 long years the Cuban environment finally rebounded from their slump.

Conclusion:

Based on the parallels between the United States and the Cuban oil crisis, we can predict that Americans will go to a slump due to the shortage of oil. This will happen until we either stop or lessen our extravagant uses of oil, and develop perma – culture, and build gardens around our city vacant lots, and Detroit has a lot of vacant lots. By doing this we can localize food and shorten the oil used to transport food from point A to point B

Kenneth Leung

June 7, 2007

Final Essay Question 2

Introduction:

Food is only one aspect of a linear nightmare in our culture. To most people in the modern era where our work is our lives food is used as a need to fuel our bodies so we could continue our work and become successful. Therefore, the true linear nightmare that we live isn’t because of food but the busy lifestyles that we live. By comparing our present life to life before agriculture and pesticides we can better improve our lives if we were to revert to a slower life style we maybe able to escape this nightmare that we call life.

Body Paragraph:

Everyday we wake up and work so the people around us can benefit such as family, we do this religiously and soon become bored and annoyed. Once these people are annoyed they end up going into deep depression and soon commit suicide. All because they didn’t like the lives they lived in. Before agriculture we, humans, were hunter and gatherers, we fought for our food and worked hard from it directly. Sure our lives were primitive and much shorter, but a hunter and gatherer never woke up one day bored. Unlike today human population was not at a bloom but was consistent every single time, this was because it takes each baby 4 years before they could leave their mothers and follow the other males. And there was a large enough surplus of food for everyone in the village. Only when we began to plow land to cultivate food did kings become kings and ate more and peasants became peasants and starved. Today there are many foods that we could benefit from such as mushrooms and nuts that naturally grow alongside the wilderness and we are unaware of this. In many 3^rd world countries there are millions starving while we Americans have enough food to feed the majority of the worlds population.

Conclusion:

Because of the way we bring ourselves about is why there are millions suffering from this world. The industrial food system is what it is because we made it that way. We conquered the lands, mountains, the skies and even others. But in the end it is the world who will be the victor. In order to conquer the world we must live with the earth and the other species that inhabit it. Because it is already proven that the way we’re living will lead us to catastrophic consequences.