Ignorance is bliss…?
We as humans have a bigger impact on the environmental than most perceive. How many people actually think about the things they throw away; the resources that they take up; the countless amounts of pollution that we all cause. I believe that most people ignore the fact that our world is deteriorating because in all honestly most of the harsh life threatening effects will not happen until most of us are dead. The harsh climates, the ravenous mountains of trash; did you know that the average person creates 1,600 pounds of trash? Now how do you think this affects the other living creatures around us, around the world? We cannot just ignore this because we do not see it. Our job is a simple one; it is to take care of the world that takes care of all of us. That is just mutual respect; it is simply the humane thing to do.
Issues, issues, issues! ... Funny sounding word by the way
Humans affect the bio diversity of living things in a great fashion. By the quality of our work as stewards we are the ones who decide how our world is, as well as how everything interacts with one another. As an example of how great human intervention is with the rest of the inhabitants of the world is the fact of genetic modification being widely used as a way to alter the imperfections of the natural ways of the world. Whether people notice it or not genetic modification is apparent in many of the foods we eat. Most of the produce that we buy has been genetically altered to become more appealing to the human palate while having a trade off of nutrients for size and quantity. This is so prominent that almost all of the food we eat has been affected by genetic modification one way or another. The agricultural business heavily relies on GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) to keep up with the trends of the consumers. As consumers we want things big and large, and so massively abundant that we do not have to worry about consuming to our somewhat greedy fill. Nobody wants to eat a cow if it is the last cow of the world and no one has any more cows left to eat. I guess we are just nice like that… in a twisted sort of way. Genetic modification has the ability to alter the size of the produce or the live stock it so chooses to, it also can improve on breeding the animal or plant at a faster rate to keep up with demands. Now this sounds like there is nothing wrong with it. Who doesn’t want a stockpile of meat at a very reasonable price? Genetic modification introduces plants and animals into ecosystems that could lead to very devastating effects to the already existing species. There is also a possibility of “super weeds” being a truth as plants become resistant to herbicides which is due to the genetic modification giving them these “super abilities”. Humans are not meant to alter the way nature is, it is not our jobs as stewards. Our job is to take care of the world and not mess with it. Let’s ponder on this for a second: if you were instructed to take care of someone’s house during their absence; would it make much sense to remodel without the owner’s permission just to satisfy the keeper’s needs? Who are we, as humans, to have the right to do such a thing? Do we really want gigantic man eating pumpkins that badly?
Conclusion… That’s a funny word as well
I believe that humans should just live the way nature intended, by living off reasonably sized products. Jokes aside, because we are just stewards of the world, I think that we should reduce our intervention, even one step at a time, because we all agree on the fact that it is not an easy thing to do to support only organic products as well as actions. The price of organic food is considerably higher as it takes much more work to produce as well as having less quantity then genetically modified food. How about everyone reading this blog taking a moment and purchasing an organic carrot and enjoying it with natural flavorings such dirt… or maybe not, salad dressing is fine too I guess.
- Genetically modified food = 
Websites used:
http://www.wisegeek.com/how-much-garbage-does-a-person-create-in-one-year.htm
http://www.africabio.com/pdf/Genetic%20Modification%20and%20Biodiversity.pdf
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-genetic-engineering.html
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUPh95-dmYUNVNlwUD7waigcAeR5q4Y_um9e5ETkcwE5ccAxHhgZHTb9iQyTAZlm1eNegwQ0_jbHO9o12AVdCxzbaDmVK9lirp_cFQSqXQAUdb1d29Hhd5NT5qYZ_pixFfRu8EYYzCmMk/s400/Simpsons-Halloween-Spoof-Charlie-Brown.jpeg
Blogs commented on:
http://xianhe-blog.blogspot.com/2009/09/are-we-invasive-species.html?showComment=1254245631171#c5142612375996696042
http://yurisbioblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/human-impacts-on-biodiversity.html#comment-form
Ya, it's really disturbing the fact that everything that we eat has already been genetically altered. But what are we going to do? There are some stores that such as Longos(i think that's how you spell it) that sells naturally grown fruits and vegetables but the price differs. I see Longos almost empty each day and No Frills or any other stores full of customers. So we're really given a choice and everyone decided to take the cheap way out.
ReplyDeleteHoly cow. I don't know what to think of that kiwi /orange thing! It's cute, to be honest...but extremely disturbing at the same time! Are we not good enough just eating kiwi?! Who cares if it comes in an orange peel? If you want orange flavoured kiwi, just go squeeze some orange juice on it. What is wrong with us humans? Less is more. We think we're so cool because we can do all this high-tech stuff, but its just killing the environment. Shoot man, I wonder how much chemicals and stuff I have in my body right now.
ReplyDeleteAnd I totally agree. We never seem to think of the repercussions of how much we waste.
Good points!
It's pretty gross how many changes go into the fruits, veggies and meat that we eat every day. My family buys organic food on occasion and it tastes just fine, so I don't see why we're going through so much trouble to make our food taste so good. We shouldn't be wrecking the natural way of things for our selfish need. Instead, we should all go to cooking school and figure out how to naturally season our meals.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the reason that most of us don't care about the environment, is that the huge changes will happen after we die. Do we really have to wait for huge repercussions to make huge changes as human beings? I defintely think we should act now to save the future of this planet.
good blog! :)
Gelica
ps, cute onions, but are you sure they aren't genetically modified? I'm pretty sure that onions don't have eyes...
I agree with many of your points in this blog. Many people don't realize what an impact their having on the environment. They hear about deforestation, genetic modification, and pesticide use and think..."Well I'm not doing any of those things, and this orange doesn't look genetically modified or like a pesticide's been used on it. *bite* tastes great too, so how have I done something wrong?" Appearance versus reality is something many companies use to cover up the shame of what they do. They make their packaging and produce look fine, and most of the time better than products made in a safe and sustainable way. They disguise as the better product and give you a cheaper price when actually they're worse for you, and the environment is paying the price for the harmful way the product was obtained. I think we should do more research on the products we buy. For example, many of the fruits my family buys are from Foodland Ontario which grows organic crops that are not genetically modified. For a small bit of your time, you could be doing the environment a big favor by research before buying. Good blog, I found it very interesting, and I liked the humor too :P
ReplyDelete“How many people actually think about the things they throw away; the resources that they take up; the countless amounts of pollution that we all cause.”
ReplyDeleteI also question how many people actually think of their actions and the effects. For example, look at the school’s recycling bins. There are some people who actually correctly use it. However, sometimes you can see random unrecyclable items that should be placed in the garbage bin.
There are positive and negative factors of genetic modification. To make something look better and bigger allows the seller to earn more money. But to actually look at the food we eat and know it is genetically modified is quite disturbing. I wonder what we are truly eating.
Our job is not to alter something but to preserve it. We are given to ability to create and to create some sort of human intervention.
-Jenny
By the way, great use of pictures. I find the onion facial expressions are amusing.
This is very disturbing. If i think about it, its true. People don't care about the bad things we are doing now because when they take a large effect on the world we'll all be dead. But we need to try to get past that and give what you said, "mutual respect".
ReplyDeleteThough genetically modified foods doesn't seem like it can harm the environment it does take a toll. Thinking about eating that kiwi orange thing, or my beef from KBBQ being grown "enhanced" or genetically modified.
Even if food hasn't been genetically modified, preservatives and other things have been added to preserve,keep the flavour, or enhance the flavour of a food product. It just scares me how far we've gotten to changing everything around us, al the way to the things that we eat.
good post!
-Selin-Denise ACAR
DONT READ THE LAST COMMENT BY ME! READ THIS ONE!(just because theres no editing or deleting comments...)
ReplyDeleteThis is very disturbing. If i think about it, its true. People don't care about the bad things we are doing to the ecosystems now because when they take a large effect on the world we'll all be dead. But we need to try to get past that and give the world what you said, "mutual respect".
ITs sad to hear that genetically modified foods don't seem like they can harm the environment,but are... slowly. Thinking about eating that kiwi orange thing, or my beef from KBBQ being grown "enhanced" or genetically modified is not pleasant. Also the possibility of superweeds.
It just scares me how far we've gotten to changing everything around us, all the way to the things that we eat, just for our own satisfaction.
good post!
-Selin-Denise ACAR
p.s. theres new Simposon's halloween episodes!
Genetic modification is just another way that humans manipulate nature for their own advantages.
ReplyDeleteAs if Jesus didn't give us enough food and resources we had to fix our own.
Although genetic modification does increase the diversity of plants it also leaves much to be desired in organic plants for those who only see the obvious benefits. Many people don't know it but if it's on your plate, it's most likely genetically modified in some way.
The super weed thing scares me. Herbicides and pesticides used in crops seep into the ground or nearby bodies of water and taint it. After, everything that uses that water becomes modified in some way. The thing about using chemicals on weeds is that the more they use the more their species also becomes immune to that type of chemical making it harder and harder to kill them off for good over time.
It's just scary to think that using biodiversity they're able to retaliate in their own sort of way.
p.s. Any word will start to sound funny if you say it enough times.
It honestly makes me really sad that organic foods and products are highly priced. Like really, we have to pay more to eat foods that would be better for our health?
ReplyDeleteBut I'm still very happy to see more and more organic products in the stores. For example, Shoppers Drug Mart sells a lot of different organic foods, from cookies to tortilla chips to household cleaners. It's really good that people are starting to go for organic and 'green' items. I hope the time comes when there are more organic products as opposed to genetically modified ones.