Since we are talking about agriculture in the U.S. and Canada tonight, I thought I would post Stephen Colbert's testimony in front of Congress on migrant workers. Enjoy!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Food, Inc.
As I was putting together today's lecture materials on the U.S. and Canada, I was reminded of a documentary that I watched about a year ago: Food, Inc. Part of my lecture was about the development of agriculture in the U.S. and Canada and as I was putting that part of the lecture together, I was seriously contemplating showing that documentary to the class (unfortunately, it would eat up way too much class time). So, for those of you who may read my blog, I highly encourage you watch it. Here is a synopsis from a movie reviewer:
"The current method of raw food production is largely a response to the growth of the fast food industry since the 1950s. The production of food overall has more drastically changed since that time than the several thousand years prior. Controlled primarily by a handful of multinational corporations, the global food production business - with an emphasis on the business - has as its unwritten goals production of large quantities of food at low direct inputs (most often subsidized) resulting in enormous profits, which in turn results in greater control of the global supply of food sources within these few companies. Health and safety (of the food itself, of the animals produced themselves, of the workers on the assembly lines, and of the consumers actually eating the food) are often overlooked by the companies, and are often overlooked by government in an effort to provide cheap food regardless of these negative consequences..."
Interested? Here is a trailer. I hope you watch it. It's definitely worth it! You will view the things you eat a little bit differently afterwards.
"The current method of raw food production is largely a response to the growth of the fast food industry since the 1950s. The production of food overall has more drastically changed since that time than the several thousand years prior. Controlled primarily by a handful of multinational corporations, the global food production business - with an emphasis on the business - has as its unwritten goals production of large quantities of food at low direct inputs (most often subsidized) resulting in enormous profits, which in turn results in greater control of the global supply of food sources within these few companies. Health and safety (of the food itself, of the animals produced themselves, of the workers on the assembly lines, and of the consumers actually eating the food) are often overlooked by the companies, and are often overlooked by government in an effort to provide cheap food regardless of these negative consequences..."
Interested? Here is a trailer. I hope you watch it. It's definitely worth it! You will view the things you eat a little bit differently afterwards.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Mandatory Evacuation of Ocracoke Island!
Ah, I loooooooooooove hurricanes. Hurricane Earl is heading to North Carolina, near my old stomping ground. I remember how excited I would get about tropical storms and hurricanes, though I never witnessed a hurricane first hand the years I lived on the Outer Banks, just lots of tropical storms, which were pretty exciting too. I remember my boss letting me leave work to go watch the surf from tropical storm Gustav - just awesome!
Overwash fans are the coolest. Here is one from Hurricane Isabel in 2003 on Ocracoke Island. I visited there shortly after the storm and was just in awe of the overwash fans and dune breaches. Hurricane Earl is now threatening Ocracoke Island. It'll be interesting to see the impact that it has.
For those of you unfamiliar with Ocracoke Island, it is part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. It is a natural barrier island with some of the most beautiful beaches on the East Coast. To reach Ocracoke, you must leave from the town of Hatteras by ferry and cross Hatteras Inlet. To learn more about Ocracoke, visit http://www.ocracokevillage.com/.
Overwash fans are the coolest. Here is one from Hurricane Isabel in 2003 on Ocracoke Island. I visited there shortly after the storm and was just in awe of the overwash fans and dune breaches. Hurricane Earl is now threatening Ocracoke Island. It'll be interesting to see the impact that it has.
For those of you unfamiliar with Ocracoke Island, it is part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. It is a natural barrier island with some of the most beautiful beaches on the East Coast. To reach Ocracoke, you must leave from the town of Hatteras by ferry and cross Hatteras Inlet. To learn more about Ocracoke, visit http://www.ocracokevillage.com/.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Beer!
As a homebrewer and beer lover, I came across this site that will be quite useful, http://beermapping.com/. This is the website for the Beer Mapping project. By using this site, you can find brewpubs all over the world. You can search by country or by city. This is a must for any traveler! Check it out!
Friday, August 20, 2010
"Without geography, you're nowhere." -Author Unknown
This semester we are going to embark on a journey. This journey will take us all over the world to learn about landscapes, cultures, history, economics, and politics. You might be asking yourself, “Didn’t I sign up for a world geography class; I don’t remember signing up for a history class, a government class, or an economics class.” Our geographic journey will have us exploring all the regions of the world and examining their cultures, populations, history, and physical settings. Understanding geography and the history of locations can help us better understand what is happening in today’s world affairs.
To that end, my hope is to expose you to ways of learning about the world and what is happening in countries that we might now hear much about in our mainstream news. Through your blog, I encourage you to research other regions of the world that interest you and blog about what you are learning and your reactions to what is happening around the globe. Also, read your fellow classmates blogs and comment on what they have to say. Let’s get a conversation started about the geographic issues that interest YOU!
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