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Page 1: Ignorance Is Bliss

health and education • 1

IGNORANCEIS BLISS

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IGNORANCEIS BLISS

Corporate Control of the Food Industry

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The corporate food industry is out of control and it is having a devastating impact on the health of American’s as well as the environment.

Many Americans do not want to even

think about or know how their food gets

to them. However, this was an extremely

disturbing realization. If we refuse to

understand our food and the process it

takes to get from the farm to our plate and

still be fine with eating certain products,

maybe that should tell us something.

For years corporations hid the horrors

of the food industry but recently, with

movies like Food Inc., people are starting

to realize that their is something very

wrong with the food industry. With a small

amount of research, it is easy to uncover a

significant number of problems that exist

in corporate agriculture. There are few

corporations that have complete control

over a part of our lives that is impacting

our health and the environment. While we

sit back and do nothing, the food industry

continues to fill our food with hormones,

antibiotics, high fructose corn syrup and

many other cheap unhealthy alternatives.

Until people start to demand change, there

is no reason for corporations to change

their process.

It does not take a great deal of effort to

change personal food choice but this is

what can collectively change the current

problems within the food industry. If

the consumers refuse to purchase certain

products until positive change happens

then corporations will have no choice but

to listen to the consumer.

THE PROBLEMWITH FOOD

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Poor policy combined with corporate greed has put the agricultural industry in a dangerous spot for consumers. So how did we end up here?

HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT?

Government policy has greatly impacted

the way food is produced today. In 1973,

Earl Butz passed the Farm Bill and his

philsophy was “go big or go home”. The

Farm Bill’s policies guaranteed that

farmers would received a minimum price

for corn, regardless of how much they

produced. As a result they produced and

produced. Over time the U.S. reduced

the minimum price and farmers had to

produce more and more to reap the same

revenues. The farmers got poorer and

corn got abundant.

What has this policy done to our food?

Corn has become available for purchase

at prices even lower than the cost to

produce it. It’s so cheap we now feed it

to cattle, instead of raising them on grass.

We now sweeten our soft drinks (and

other food items) with high-fructose corn

syrup instead of sugar. We also include it,

in some hyper-processed form or another,

in a remarkable number of the processed

foods we find in our local grocery.

What’s the problem with this? Beef raised

on corn is different from beef raised on

grass: it has more saturated fat, and less

Omega-3 fatty acids, than it should. High-

fructose corn syrup has been shown to put

50% more weight on rats than sugar. This

may well make our soda, and the other

foods that contain it, much worse for us.

There are many signs that the way we’re

processing food, and putting it in places

where it doesn’t naturally exist, is having

a detrimental impact on our national

well-being. On top of our health, the high

rate of production is also having a huge

impact on crop diversity and the overall

ecosystem and health of our planet.1

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health and education • 7

OBESITY RATE

1926Concern over health hazards of arsenate levels leads to first pesticide regulation

1957high fructose corn

syrup is first introducedto the American public

1958U.S. Congress passes a

Food Additives Amendment requiring manufacturers

to prove safety of new food additives; bill includes the Delaney Clause that bans

approval of any food additive shown to cause cancer in

humans or animals3

1962The United States passed a

law granting plant breeders the rights to patent seeds,

thus preventing others from selling the same variety4

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1990U.S. Congress passes

Nutrition Labeling and Education Act requiring standardized listing of

ingredients and serving sizes on food products3

1990Congress passes the

Organic Food Production Act, authorizing the U.S.

Department of Agriculture to establish a nationwide

definition for organic food2

1988Scientists warn that global warming may

affect the future viability of American farming

1979Large increase

in the number of families now eating

microwave meals

1975“Animal Factories” become

the dominant production method of meat

1971Earl Butz passes

legisltation to create food for everyone

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1994Three packers

controlled the slaughter of over 80% of the

beef in the US4

1994The first weed and insect

resistant biotech crops (soybeans and cotton) are available commercially2

1999Significant portions of

the global food chain are under the control of three

corporate clusters

2010S510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, if passed would take away the public’s

right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes

1994FDA grants the first

approval for food produced through

biotechnology4

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health and education • 11

HEALTH ANDEDUCATIONpage 11

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FOODETHICSpage 29

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LOSS OF BIODIVERSITYpage 49

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CORPORATECONTROLpage 63

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THEENVIRONMENTpage 81

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HEALTH ANDEDUCATION

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There is a serious lack of knowledge when it comes to what we are eating. Between making the right food choices and what is really healthy, how can one begin to decipher the truth behind the corporate food industry? Well, it takes a serious understanding of how our food is produced, where it comes from and the impact certain foods can have on our overall health.

UNHEALTHYAMERICA

Where do we even start when there are

such a large number of problems? How

is the food industry personally effecting

human health and how can we begin to

re-envision a solution?

There are a few problems that need to be

addressed when it comes to food and our

health. First, if the only foods available are

processed and lack nutritional value then

being able to eat cannot promote health.

If there are fresh vegetables but they are

too expensive to purchase it becomes

difficult to feed yourself well or achieve

real wellness. This is a huge problem for

many Americans who do not have the

luxury to spend a large amount of money

on organically grown food therefore relying

on cheap processed alternatives.

Another problem is that the real costs of

food are invisible. We are not paying for

the health care costs that are going to

bankrupt our health care system or the

long term effects that are going to result

from unhealthy processed food. These

costs are completely hidden from us,

and the corporations want to keep it that

way. These costs are adding up at such

an alarming rate and there needs to be

a change in policy in order to keep diet

related health risks to a minimum.

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Obesity rates have tripled over the past 10 years

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There is food and there is what I call edible food-like substances. These are things we invented in the last 50 years or so that, you know, smell like food, taste like food, look like food, but they’re very different than the kinds of things people ate 100 years ago.

—Michael Pollan

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problem one

FOOD CHOICE VS. AVAILABILITY

While some people have access to healthy,

unprocessed food, there are locations such

as Detroit that are considered to be food

deserts. Food desserts are urban areas

that do not have any major grocery store

within the city limits. This means those

people have very few options when they

are purchasing food and often times end

up buying food at a corner store.

Another problem is that a large amount of

the food available at grocery stores is only

of one variety. Iceberg lettuce is available

at almost every store across the country

but provides little nutritional value. On the

other hand, more nutritious varieties such

as Red Sail and Red Majestic lettuce are

more expensive and available at a smaller

percentage of stores.

Both food choice and availability effect

what people eat. If quality products were

available more often people would be

more likely to purchase them causing a

decrease in the cost of the product.

Consolidation

When a market is consolidated the largest four companies have control over 40% of the market. This gives them the chance to raise prices to limit open competition.

How can consolidation begin to personally effect your food choices:

It’s harder and harder to find healthy, locally

produced foods in communities especially

if you live in a low-income area where there

might not be a supermarket for miles.

Prices are rising at the supermarket, but

you’ve heard that farmers are struggling

and big food companies have made record

profits this year.

You don’t have much choice about the food

you eat—maybe the selection of produce is

bad, or you don’t like that everything seems

to be made with corn products.

Local farms are going out of business

because small farmers can’t compete with

prices set by consolidated buyers.

Just one company controls the majority of

seeds in the U.S., and regularly threatens

farmers who don’t buy their seeds.

The food you can afford is bad for you;

healthy food is expensive.5

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ICEBERG LETTUCEAVAILABLE AT

98%OF GROCERY STORES

$1.19

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RED MAJESTIC LETTUCEAVAILABLE AT

20%OF GROCERY STORES

$1.99

The nutritional value of Red Majestic is much higher than iceburg with higher values of folate, vitamin K, beta carotene

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problem two

THE REALCOST OF FOOD

While the food we are purchasing seems

inexpensive the real costs of food are

invisible. We aren’t paying for the health

care costs and we aren’t paying for the

long term effects that are going to result

from unhealthy processed food. We are

paying tax dollars for foods that make us

sick. The corn syrup we eat is filled with

sugar and this sugar is making us obese

and that is leading to diabetes.

If we start assessing the real cost and

communicate that message maybe people

would be persuaded to change. For ex-

ample, a value meal at McDonald’s may

cost $3.59 upon purchase, but when you

add in the taxes and health care costs that

are skyrocketing because of diet related

diseases, that cost could go up to $85.59.

Now is that something you really want to

be spending your money on?

In addition, soy, cotton, corn, rice and

wheat are also the most subsidized crops

in the U.S. Those five crops receive more

than 80% of all the taxpayer subsidies.

Many of the other “conventional” crops

also receive government support from

taxpayers, including milk.

Consumers make food cheap when

they pay their taxes. “Conventional” food

would be impossible without the farm

subsidies—which means that consumers

pay at least two times for almost all of the

“conventional” foods they buy. They don’t

seem so cheap anymore—and that does

not include the expenses associated with

health issues that occur as the result of

eating “conventional” food.

Unfortunately, everyone pays the second

subsidy bill, even the buyer of organic

foods, because the subsidy is a tax imposed

on all of us by the Farm Bill. The current

version was just passed in 2008, and most

of the current bill is business as usual:

billions more for the richest farmers

growing the five most subsidized crops.7

It will be argued that moving animals offfeedlots and back onto farms will raise theprice of meat, Pollan writes. It probablywill—as it should. Paying the real cost ofmeat, and therefore eating less of it, is a goodthing for our health, for the environment, for our dwindling reserves of fresh water and for the welfare of the animals.6

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$147Billion spent in weight related medical bills in 2008

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66%

Gallbladder Disease

The risk of gallstones is about 3 times

greater for obese patients than in non-obese

people. Indeed, the risk of sympomatic

gallstones appears to correlate with a rise in

body mass index.9

Breathing Problems

Obstructive sleep apnea is more common

in obese people. Obesity is associated with

a higher prevalence of asthma, severe

bronchitis and respiratory insufficiency.9

Heart Disease

The risk of heart attack, congestive heart

failure, sudden cardiac death, angina or

chest pain is increased in persons who are

overweight or obese. High blood pressure

is twice as common in adults who are obese

than inthose who are at a healthy weight.9

of Americans are overweight, and it is having an immense impact on our health and healthcare system.

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Type 2 Diabetes

A weight increase of 11-18 pounds raises a

person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes

to twice that of individuals who have not

gained weight. Over 80 percent of people

with diabetes are overweight or obese. This

may account for the newly invented word,

“diabesity”, which signifies the association

between obesity and diabetes.9

Fatty Liver Disease

The main cause of non alcoholic fatty liver

disease is insulin resistance, a metabolic

disorder in which cells become insensitive

to the effect of insulin. One of the most

common risk factors for insulin resistance is

obesity, especially central abdominal obesity.

Studies indicate the higher the BMI the

worse the liver disease.9

Risk of Arthritis

Osteoarthritis is much more prevalent

among obese patients, especially patients

diagnosed with severe clinical or mobid

obesity. Health studies show that obesity

is a strong predictor for symptoms of

osteoarthritis, especially in the knees.9

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Meatloaf Ingredients: Beef, water, cream, onions, tomatoes, 2% or less of: soy protein concentrate (with caramel color), modified cornstarch, rolled oats, tomato puree (water, tomato paste), green peppers, beef flavor (maltodextrin, salt, beef extract, rendered beef fat, sesame oil), salt, sour cream flavor (malto-dextrin, sour cream solids, cultured buttermilk, natural flavors, citric acid, yeast extract), brown sugar syrup, brown sugar, bleached wheat flour, potassium chloride, sugar, dehydrated onions, egg whites, worcestershire sauce (vinegar, mo-lasses, high fructose corn syrup, salt, anchovies, tamarind, spices, natural flavor, caramel color, onion powder, garlic powder), soybean oil, dehy-drated garlic, garlic puree, spices, dehydrated soy sauce (soybeans, salt, wheat), seasoning (tomato paste, natural flavor), seasoning (maltodextrin, flavor, enzyme modified butterfat), caramel color, xanthan gum, carrageenan with dextrose, natural flavors, cultured whey, beef stock, lactic acid, calcium lactate

Macaroni: Blanched macaroni (water, semolina, wheat gluten), water, skim milk, cheddar club cheese (cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), salt, annatto color), cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes, annatto color), cheese flavor (cheddar, granular, semisoft and blue cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), sodium phosphate, whey, citric acid), modified cornstarch, rice starch, bleached wheat flour, salt, potassium chloride, cheese flavor (cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), salt, enzymes, cultures, phosphoric acid, xanthan gum), cheese flavor (cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), water, salt, disodium phosphate, natural flavors), spices, cultured whey, carrageenan, yeast extract, annatto coloring.

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health and education • 27

WHY IS EVERY MEAL MICROWAVABLE?

Approximately one in three meals today

are cooked from scratch. We rely heavily

on pre-prepared, convenient and take out

food that are most often unhealthy. The

statistics for increases in diabetes, heart

disease and childhood obesity, could take

at least a generation to reverse. The public

is now calling for a complete restructure of

the food industry to combat the problem.

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum,

said: “We have a whole generation of

parents relying on prepared foods that

can be put in a microwave or oven with

no cooking skills involved.

We have a situation where many families,

both one and two parent, are working so

many hours just to survive and feed their

family in today’s economy. It’s a function

of the way in which we live today, which is

an overworked society. The way we live is

causing the problem. The only way out of

the problem is to call on the food industry

and government regulation to have better

standards of the food we are eating.

People I know who are never overweight

or obese are frugal people. It’s not because

their extreme frugality keeps them from

eating at fast food places. They know how

to save money and they do all their own

cooking. This is one of the most important

steps to changing the way you eat.

When you do your own cooking you can

buy more foods in bulk cheaply, control

your sodium, calorie and fat content. This

gives people control of what they are

actually putting in their bodies. When we

rely so much on microwaving our food,

we don’t pay attention to the product that

we are really eating. Instead it is the fat

or calorie content. When cooking a meal,

you have a better understanding of what is

really being put into the food.10

“If you cook from scratch, you’ve got totalcontrol. If you make, for example, a lasagna,you can control how much oil, how manyvegetables, what meat you’re using, whetherthe cheese is low fat or not.”

problem three

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RETHINKINGOUR MEALS

As we continue to become more aware of what we are eating, we must also think about how we eat. With the introduction and reliance on products like microwave meals fewer and fewer meals are cooked and enjoyed together.

More often we are eating meals on the go,

alone, or popping pre-made meals into the

microwave. We need to reclaim family and

community meals and begin to once again

cook for ourselves.

One problem today is that teens and young

adults are often not taught how to cook. Of

course making simple meals usually isn’t a

problem, but following a recipe just isn’t as

common anymore. A great option to target

this demographic by createing a unique

cookbook that supplies easy recipes, using

local in-season food. While there are many

cookbooks out there, there aren’t many

directed at the college age level. This is a

great opportunity to reintroduce a younger

audience to the food they are putting into

their body.

Along with the cookbook would be a

guidebook with locations of where to

shop locally in specific cities and towns as

well as a guide to in-season food. All the

information to cook a local, in-season meal

would be at their disposal.

solution

Deliverable | Cookbook with local and inseason food guide

Audience | College Students

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FOODETHICS

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Separated from their mothers only a few hours after birth, the calf is chained in a stall so small that he cannot even turn around. Stalls are so tiny that the calf cannot even stretch out his legs to sleep, but must lay hunched on top of them.

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livestock production • 33

In the United States roughly 10 billion farm animals are raised and slaughtered each year for food. At most conventional farms, these animals are not treated well. With their focus on productivity and efficiency, “factory farms” generally contain many thousands of farm animals under extremely crowded conditions. This is cost-effectively as possible usually with no regard to humane treatment.

THE TRUTH BEHINDMEAT PRODUCTION

Factory farms animals are often treated

as units of production and are often

subject to forced feeding of unnatural

diets, extremely restrictive confinement,

tail docking, “debeaking,” artificial

growth hormones, electric stunning,

and inhumane slaughter. The problem

is, farm animals are not protected by

federal law from cruelty on the farm.

This is a situation which relys on us to

make a difference. With all of the issues

involved in this industry change needs

to happen immediately.

Some of the inhumane treatments include some of the following:

Debeaked with a hot blade across

the sensitive top portion of their beaks

because tight confinement causes

chickens to peck each other

Hung upside down by their feet at

the slaughterhouse and attached to a

moving rail while still conscious; and

in some cases, boiled alive

Millions of female pigs spend their

pregnancies in small metal crates that

restrict movement. Boredom, frustra-

tion and stress can cause these sows

to develop unnatural behaviors, such

as repetitive head bobbing, similar to

mentally ill humans.11

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WOULD YOU RATHER BE ABLE TO ROAM FREE IN A FIELD

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OR STUCK IN A 14 INCH CAGE WITH EIGHT OF YOUR FRIENDS?

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problem one

LIVESTOCKPRODUCTION

The livestock industry has played a large

role in global warming. The livestock

industry is responsible for 18 percent of

greenhouse gas emissions, a bigger share

than that of transport and accounts for a

great deal of carbon dioxide emissions,

most of it due to growing pasture size and

land for feed crops.

It also heavily impacts the world’s water

supply accounting for more than 8 percent

of human water use worldwide. The farms

are the largest source of water pollutants,

animal waste, antibiotics, hormones,

fertilizers, pesticides, and sediments from

eroded pastures. While global figures are

unavailable, it is estimated that in the USA

livestock and feed crop agriculture are

responsible for 37 percent of pesticide use

and 50 percent of antibiotic use.

The sheer quantity of animals being

raised for human consumption also poses

a threat of the Earth’s biodiversity. The

land area they now occupy was once

habitat for wildlife. In 306 of the 825

terrestrial eco-regions identified by the

Worldwide Fund for Nature, livestock are

identified as “a current threat”, while 23

of Conservation International’s 35 “global

hotspots for biodiversity”—characterized

by serious levels of habitat loss—are af-

fected by livestock production.12

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A stunning instrument used to incapacitate farm animals with a strong electrical shock prior to slaughter.

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GESTATION CRATES ARE ONLY

17”WIDE GIVING THE PIG

NO ROOM TO MOVE

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problem two

FACTORY FARMCONDITIONS

Mass production of meat has resulted

in incredible pain and suffering for the

animals. Today they are raised on factory

farms and have been pumped full of

antibiotics, hormones and chemicals to

encourage high productivity.

They are confined to small cages with

metal bars, ammonia-filled air and often

artificial lighting or no lighting at all. They

are subjected to horrible mutilations: beak

searing, tail docking, ear cutting and even

castration. Even the minimum humane

standards proposed are thwarted by the

powerful food conglomerates. Corpora-

tions have turned family-farming methods

into cost-saving production strategies,

which endanger public health and treat

animals cruelly. Also known as confined

animal feeding operations (CAFOs), the

factory farms treat animals like more as

production units and as a result your get

poor food quality, and inhumane condi-

tions for the animals.

Broiler Chickens

The broiler chicken industry produces six billion chickens a year for slaughter. This industry is ruled by 60 companies which have created an oligopoly. The chickens are selectively bred and genetically altered to

produce bigger thighs and breasts, the parts in most demand. This breeding creates birds so heavy that their bones cannot support their weight, making it difficult for them to even stand. The birds are bred to grow at an astonishing rate, reaching their market weight of 3 1/2 pounds in seven weeks. Broilers are raised in overcrowded broiler houses instead of cages to prevent the bruised flesh which would make their meat undesirable. Their beaks and toes are cut off and the broiler houses are usually unlit to prevent fighting among the birds.

Layer Chickens

There are about 250 million hens in U.S. egg factories supplying 95% of the eggs in this country. In these facilities the birds are held in small cages with slanted wire floors which cause severe discomfort and foot deformation. Five to eight birds are crammed in cages only 14 square inches in size. Because of the conditions, they become very aggressive and attack the other birds in their cage. To help combat this behavior, the birds have their beaks seared off at a young age. The chicks are sorted at birth and newborn males are separated and suffocated in trash bags. The layer hens are subjected to constant light to encourage greater egg production. At the end of their laying cycle they are either slaughtered or forced to molt by water and food deprivation, which

Animals are not even considered animals atall;they are just food producing machines.

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shocks them into another cycle. Many birds become depleted of minerals and either die from fatigue or can no longer produce eggs and are sent to the slaughterhouse.

Pigs

It is estimated that 90% of all pigs raised for food are confined at some point in their lives. Pigs are highly social, affectionate and intelligent creatures, and suffer both physically and emotionally when they are confined in narrow cages where they can’t even turn around. Many pigs become crazy with boredom and develop nervous ticks; while others are driven to fighting. Pigs are born and raised inside buildings that have automated water, feed and waste removal. They don’t see daylight until they are shipped for slaughter. Dust, dirt and toxic gases from the pigs’ waste create an unsanitary environment that contributes to a number of diseases and illnesses, including pneumonia, cholera and dysentery.

Veal Calves

The veal industry is notorious for the cruel confinement of calves. Calves are kept in small crates which prevent movement inhibit muscle growth so their flesh will be tender. They are also fed a diet deficient of iron to keep their flesh pale and appealing

to the consumer. Veal calves spend each day confined alone with no companionship and are deprived of light for a large portion of their four-month lives.

Dairy Cows

Dairy cows are bred today for high milk production. For cows who are injected with Bovine Growth Hormone, their already high rate of milk production is doubled. Half of the cows in the national dairy herd are raised in intensive confinement, where they suffer emotionally from being socially deprived and being prohibited from natural behavior. They produce milk for about ten months after giving birth so they are impreg-nated continuously to keep up the milk flow. When cows can no longer produce adequate amounts of milk they are sent to slaughter. The cows are kept in a holding facility where they are fed, watered and have their waste removed mechanically and are allowed out only twice a day to be milked by machines.13

livestock production • 43

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Millions of piglets are killed inhumanely every year in by PACing—Pounding Against Concrete. Many survive the practice but are thrown into the garbage bins regardless. There they suffer for upwards of 7 days as the rendering trucks come to pick them up only once a week. Still want some bacon?

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95%Some of the “ingredients” commonly used in animal factory feed include:

Drugs, chemicals and antibiotics (an estimated

13.5 million pounds each year)

Excessive grains are fed to most animals who

are designed to eat grass

Animal byproducts, such as feathers, blood,

intestines, euthanized cats, and road kill

Meat from their own species (this practice has

been linked to the spread of mad cow disease)

Plastic pellets are fed to animals as roughage

because the factory diet doesn’t contain fiber14

of factory raised animals are subject to deplorable conditions such as overcrowding, hunger, thirst, and sometimes-fatal weather extremes.

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problem three

HORMONES AND ANTIBIOTICS

Modern industrial farms are ideal breeding

grounds for germs and disease. The animals

live in close confinement, often standing

or laying in their own feces, and under

constant stress. Industrial livestock op-

erations produce an enormous amount of

concentrated animal waste—over one bil-

lion tons annually—that is often laden with

antibiotics, as well as antibiotic-resistant

bacteria from the animals’ intestines. It is

estimated that as much as 80 to 90 percent

of all antibiotics given to animals are not

fully digested and eventually pass through

the body and enter the environment, where

they can encounter new bacteria and cre-

ate additional resistant strains. With huge

quantities of manure routinely sprayed

onto fields surrounding CAFOs, antibiotic

resistant bacteria can leech into surface

and ground water, contaminating drinking

wells and endangering the health of people

living close to large livestock facilities.

Human impact

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a growing public health crisis because infections from resistant bacteria are increasingly difficult and expensive to treat. As of this writing, the U.S. Congress was considering legislation, opposed by industrial farm lobbyists, which would ban seven classes of antibiotics from

use on factory farms and would restrict the use of other antibiotics. This is a response to the fact that modern industrial livestock operations threaten to increase the preva-lence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The National Academy of Sciences calculates that increased health care costs associated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria exceed $4 billion each year in the United States alone—a figure that reflects the price of pharmaceuticals and longer hospital stays, but does not account for lost workdays, lost productivity or human suffering.15

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livestock production • 47

70% of antibiotics administered in the US go to our meat animals. Of that 70% given to livestock and poultry, 90% are dosages known as “non-therapeutic” meaning they are administered defensively to prevent illness or disease, and to improve growth15

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It is extremely important to bring about

awareness on this topic. Animals are being

treated like a product rather than a living

breathing creature. There have been docu-

mentaries such as Food Inc. that have shed

some light on this topic, but still nothing

is drastically changing. Even WWF has

created campaigns to stop the unethical

treatment of animals. Yet people are still

ignoring the topic.

Through graphic design, there needs to be

a drastically different campaign that will

communicate to people the importance of

knowing where their meat comes from. A

poster series to encourage people to think

about their food choices as well as how

easy it can be to choose meat that has been

humanely treated is an easy way to quickly

communicate that message. Along with

the posters, it is important to create a

website that holds relevant content about

what companies have good ethics and

where they are located. If it is easy for

people to access and understand how

simple it is to purchase local and ethical

meat, they will be more likely to change.

Where does your food come from? What have these products gone through before getting to your plate? That chicken breast came from a living, breathing chicken. Where did this chicken live and what kind of life did it have? Better yet, why does this matter?

WHERE DOES YOURMEAT COME FROM?

solution

Deliverable | Poster Awareness Campaign

Audience | General Public

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livestock production • 49

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health and education • 51

03

LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY

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Just nine crops now account for over three-quarters of the plants consumed by humans. And not only have we experienced a massive reduction in the food crops we can choose, but also a shocking loss in varieties within crops. According to a study by the Rural Advancement Foundation International, 75 types of vegetables, or 97% of the varieties available in 1900, are extinct.

LOSINGCROP SPECIES

Even a quick glance down supermarket

shelves would seem to show that the

American consumer has an abundance

of choices when it comes to food products.

In reality, however, this is an illusion of

choice rather than a real opportunity to

experience food diversity.

While it seems that we have a variety to

choose from, the reality is that almost all

processed food products are made from

the same few raw food materials—corn,

wheat, rice and potatoes.

With the introduction of mechanized farm-

ing, the distribution of hybrid seeds and

their accompanying reliance on fertilizers,

pesticides and herbicides became more

widely known. Traditional farming has

been replaced with standardized production

because this allowed for control over any

problem that could arise. This production

has destroyed critical diversity and they

also rely heavily on chemicals and increased

amounts of energy. Genetically modified

seeds were created to respond to certain

chemicals which increased their yield.

This has resulted in a loss in crop diversity.

Now most of the corn grown in America is

one of six types.

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health and education • 53

Mechanized crop production at a large farm in Iowa

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loss of biodiversity • 55

In an attempt to convince consumers to

accept food biotechnology, the industry

has relentlessly pushed the idea that

biotechnology is the solution to world

hunger. This claim however relies on two

false claims; people are hungry because

there is not enough food produced in the

world and genetic engineering increases

food productivity. The reality is the world

produces more than enough food but the

way it is being produced is not working.

The seeds—usually soybean, cotton or

canola— allow farmers to apply herbicide

in ever greater amounts without killing the

crops. Monsanto and other companies also

produce “Bt” seeds—usually corn, potatoes

and cotton—that are engineered so that

each plant produces its own insecticide.

A two-year study by University of Nebraska

researchers showed that growing herbi-

cide-resistant soybeans actually resulted

in lower productivity than that achieved

with conventional soybeans. These results

confirmed the findings of Dr. Charles Ben-

brook, the former director of the Board on

Agriculture at the National Academy of Sci-

ences. His work looked at more than 8,200

field trials and showed that Roundup Ready

seed produced fewer bushels of soybeans

than similar natural varieties.

THE ROLE OFBIOTECHNOLOGY

Genetic engineering (GE) could be a

major contributor to starvation as well.

Corporations currently have patents on GE

“terminator” technology. These seeds are

genetically engineered by biotech compa-

nies to produce a sterile seed after a single

growing season, insuring that farmers can’t

save their seed and instead are forced to

buy from corporations every season. More

than half of the worlds farmers rely on

saved seeds for their harvest.

One major problem now is that GE seeds

have cross pollinated with other seeds

worldwide. The GE seeds were supposed

to be confined so this would not happen,

but seeds are being blown off of trucks

onto organic farms and contaminating

the crops. In addition, once the patented

gene cross pollinates on a farm, the patent

owner now has rights to the crop on that

farm. This has resulted in many court cases

as to who owns the farm crops.16

problem one

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loss of biodiversity • 57

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apple

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loss of biodiversity • 59

apple

86.2%OF APPLE VARIETIES LOST

FROM 1903-198316

We have lost so many varieties of fruit because agricultural corporations are only interested in crops with high yield and uniformity.

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loss of biodiversity • 61

Despite decades of experimentation with

different strategies, effective environmental

regulation, has continued to fail. In the

1990s, there was a critical re-examination

of our regulatory strategies and on the

role of alternative policy options such as

self-regulation, information strategies and

communicative education.

While there is much value in some of these

approaches, there remains a tendency

among policy makers to treat the various

policy instruments as alternatives to one

another rather than as complementary

options. As a result, they often embrace one

of these approaches without regard to the

virtue of others.

LACK OF GOVERNMENT REGULATION

There needs to be focus on one particular,

and pressing, environmental problem:

biodiversity conservation. However, the

problems it confronts and the dilemmas

it faces are substantially similar to those

which many other nations must address.

Accordingly, there is good reason to believe

that the lessons we draw, the policy design

criteria we identify, and the solutions we

suggest, will have a broader resonance and

applicability to other developed nations

seeking to conserve biodiversity, including

the United States.17

Researchers showed that growingherbicide-resistant soybeans actuallyresulted in lower productivity than thatachieved with conventional soybeans

problem two

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It is extremely important to bring about

awareness on this topic. Animals are being

treated like a product rather than a living

breathing creature. There have been docu-

mentaries such as Food Inc. that have shed

some light on this topic, but still nothing

is drastically changing. Even WWF has

created campaigns to stop the unethical

treatment of animals. Yet people are still

ignoring the topic.

Through graphic design, there needs to be

a drastically different campaign that will

communicate to people the importance of

knowing where their meat comes from. A

poster series to encourage people to think

about their food choices as well as how

easy it can be to choose meat that has been

humanely treated is an easy way to quickly

communicate that message. Along with

the posters, it is important to create a

website that holds relevant content about

what companies have good ethics and

where they are located. If it is easy for

people to access and understand how

simple it is to purchase local and ethical

meat, they will be more likely to change.

Where does your food come from? What have these products gone through before getting to your plate? That chicken breast came from a living, breathing chicken. Where did this chicken live and what kind of life did it have? Better yet, why does this matter?

UNDERSTANDINGBIODIVERSITY

solution

Deliverable | Infographic Poster Series

Audience | General Public

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loss of biodiversity • 63

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health and education • 65

04

CORPORATECONTROL

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While we continue to stuff ourselves with processed food, the corporations continue to make an overwhelming profit at the cost of our health.

LOSS OF OURFOOD RIGHTS

Until the 1970’s, there was much less of a

monopoly over the food industry. Today

there are only about six corporations that

own close to 90% of the food industry.

On top of their control, they also get the

majority of government subsidies. This

creates enourmous control over what we

are able to eat.

Small farms, who have good practices, do

not recieve government subsidies mostly

because they do not produce high yields

of corn and soy. This drives their prices

up without support from the government,

whereas large corporations who have huge

profits from an overabundance of certain

crops are showered with subsidies to keep

producing the same dangerous food.

While we do have the choice of what we

eat, corporations try to keep health studies

on their food under the radar. In order for

them to continue to profit they need to

keep producing the same unhealthy food

created from the same few ingredients. If

consumers begin to ask questions, and stop

purchasing certain products, corporations

will begin to lose much of their profit.

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corporate control • 67

According to the FDA, farmers feed their cattle anywhere from 1 million to 2 million tons of chicken feces each year. This cross-species crap-as-food practice worries critics who are con-cerned it may lead to increased risk of mad cow disease contaminating beef products. So they want to ban the practice and disallow the feed-ing of chicken litter to cows.

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problem one

LACK OF GOVERNMENT REGULATION

There are many problems with how the

government regulates our food. A major

concern are the amount of false claims food

companies promise on their packaging.

Many processed food claims to help to

lower cholesterol, increase brain function

and even help with digestion. The problem

with these claims is that it gives people a

false sense of security which discourages

them from taking other more effective mea-

sures, like exercising and eating healthy.

Most of the products fail to deliver on the

claim and when asked for proof, many can’t

provide evidence.

Another issue is that the government does

not have the power to take contaminated

meat off of the shelves at the grocery store,

instead it is up to the corporations to pull

product from the shelf. Since most of the

corporations care more about money than

human health, often times companies

know about the contaminated products but

choose to continue selling them.

Last, the lack of FDA regulation on food

safety is unacceptable. Corporations are

allowed to put “free range” on eggs and

chicken if the animal has an opportunity to

go outside. This means that the may never

actually go outside but there is an outside

area. If the claim is made on the packaging

consumers should be able to trust if. It’s

things like this that the FDA really needs

to step in and mandate.

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health and education • 69

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53%CONTAMINATED WITH

CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS5

30%CONTAMINATED WITH

STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS

11%CONTAMINATED WITH

LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES

6%CONTAMINATED WITH

SALMONELLA

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corporate control • 71

Chicken Feces

According to the FDA, farmers feed their cat-

tle anywhere from 1 million to 2 million tons

of chicken feces each year. This cross-species

crap-as-food practice worries critics who are

concerned it may lead to increased risk of mad

cow disease contaminating beef products. So

they want to ban the practice and disallow the

feeding of chicken litter to cows.9

Corn

Though “corn finishing” produces bigger,

fatter cows in less time, corn is not a natural

diet for a cow. In 1998, a Cornell University

study revealed that cows fed on a natural grass

diet had at least 80% less E. coli than grain

fed cows.

Other cows

In the real world cows are vegetarians. They

don’t eat other cows, or chickens, or poop

from any creature. Through the magic of

horrific factory food production practices

in the USA, dead cows are fed to chickens,

and chicken poop is fed to cows. Rather than

trying to protect the integrity of their cows,

the U.S. beef industry chooses to pretend that

there’s nothing wrong with practice of feeding

corpses to chickens, and feces to cows. Also,

the USDA has banned farmers from testing

problem two

MEAT CONTAMINATION

01

02

03

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MONSANTO SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE SAFETY OF BIOTECH FOOD, OUR INTEREST IS IN SELLING AS MUCH OF IT AS POSSIBLE. ASSURING ITS SAFETY IS THE FDA’S JOB.—PHIL ANGELL, MONSANTO

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MONSANTO SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE SAFETY OF BIOTECH FOOD, OUR INTEREST IS IN SELLING AS MUCH OF IT AS POSSIBLE. ASSURING ITS SAFETY IS THE FDA’S JOB.—PHIL ANGELL, MONSANTO

problem three

CONTROL OF THE SEED

The unknown is a huge factor. We are kind

of recreating nature and we have no idea

what the outcome is going to be. We keep

creating quick fixes for everything rather

then trying to come up with a sustain-

able solution with the things we already

have. For plants designed in a lab a little

more than a decade ago, they’ve come a

long way: Today, the majority of the na-

tion’s two primary crops grow from seeds

genetically altered according to Monsanto

company patents. Ninety-three percent

of soybeans. Eighty percent of corn.

The seeds represent “probably the most

revolutionary event in grain crops over the

last 30 years,” said Geno Lowe, a Salisbury,

Md., soybean farmer.

But for farmers such as Lowe, prices of the

Monsanto-patented seeds have steadily in-

creased, roughly doubling during the past

decade, to $50 for a 50-pound bag of soy-

bean seed. The revolution, and Monsanto’s

dominant role in the nation’s agriculture,

has not unfolded without complaint.

Farmers have complained about the price

increases, and competitors say that the

company has ruthlessly stifled competi-

tion. Now Monsanto, much like IBM and

Google, has drawn scrutiny from the U.S.

antitrust investigators, who under the

Obama administration have looked more

skeptically at the actions of dominant

firms. During the Bush administration, the

Justice Department did not file a single

case under antimonopoly laws regulating

a dominant firm. But that stretch seems

unlikely to continue.

“We must change course,” Christine

Varney, the Obama administration’s chief

antitrust enforcer, said at the time. Of all

the new scrutiny by Justice, the Monsanto

investigation might have the highest

stakes, dealing as it does with the food

supply and one of the nation’s largest

agricultural firms. It could also force the

Obama administration, already under fire

for the government’s expanded role in the

economy, to explain how it distinguishes

between normal rough-and-tumble com-

petition and abusive monopolistic business

practices.

Monsanto says it has done nothing

wrong. “Farmers choose these products

because of the value they deliver on farm,”

Monsanto said in a statement. “Given the

phenomenally broad adoption of these

technologies by farmers, such questions

are normal and to be expected.”

corporate control • 73

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Mechanized food production at a large corporate farm

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health and education • 75

Naturally growing food at a small organic farm

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corporate control • 77

problem four

GENETICALLYMODIFIED FOOD

Genetically Modified food is a relatively

new practice. Almost every country around

the world, except for the U.S. has mandated

that food be labeled GE if it has been ge-

netically modified. Almost 70% of what is in

the grocery store today has been genetically

modified in some way.

So what is the problem with this? Nobody

knows what impact this will have in any

sense. There have not been enough studies

done to show conclusive evidence of no

health impact. This concerns many people.

If we do not know the outcome of manipu-

lating our food, then why should we do it

at all? Another problem is the impact on

the environment. This is already started to

show. GE seeds have been found in remote

parts of the world where they have cross

pollinated with other plants. The GE crops

were meant to be completely segragated

to ensure this would not happen, but obvi-

ously that is not the case.

The introduction of GE seeds could have

dire consequences, or not, the problem is

that nobody fully understands what could

potentially happen. By creating these

new organisms, we are introducing a new

variety into the world without studying the

future potential.

While we have survived for thousands

of years on diverse crops, we now have

created a single variety that is meant to pro-

duce an abundance of food. This food often

has a gene inserted to make it resistent to

pesticides while maintaining its perfect ap-

pearance. So instead of losing any crop, they

are now having to use more and more fertil-

izers. One problem that has stemmed from

this is that bugs are now becoming resistent

to some of the fertilizers. This means that

more and more are being used ending up in

a never ending cycle of pesticide use.

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health and education • 79

70%of food in America is genetically modified. Unfortunately it is not required to label such food.

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INFORMATIVE PACKAGING DESIGN

Currently, there is little regulation on packaging to inform the consumer about where there food comes from and how that food was produced.

solution

Deliverable | Miles traveled packaging and receipt

Audience | General Public

While many countries have created

policies to inform the consumer about

food products, America still lacks the

regulation to control this. Consumers are

not informed as to whether or not their

food has been genetically modified and the

list of ingredients is often so difficult to

understand that people have given up.

By instituting a policy which requires cor-

porations to list more information about

the product , consumers would have a bet-

ter understanding of their food and would

possibly make a more informed decisions

about what they decide to purchase. The

new packaging design would require

companies to list where the product came

from, distance traveled included, and how

that food was created—whether it was

genetically modified. Most other countries

are already requiring most of this informa-

tion to be present on packaging, but for

some reason America has fallen short.

With this information clearly displayed

on the product, consumers would quickly

be able to make more informed decision

as to whether or not they want to support

certain agricultural practices. It is also a

quick read as to what foods are currently

out of season and are required to be

shipped in from far distances to get to

your dinner plate.

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corporate control • 81

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health and education • 83

05

THEENVIRONMENT

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Global agriculture uses 70% of the worlds water and threatens the oceans with agrochemicals and the atmosphere with greenhouse gases from livestock production.

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the environment • 85

The United Nations estimates that farm animals world-wide generate 18% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions. Couple that with emissions from transportation, refrigeration, the clearing land for crops, pastures and livestock and one can see the environmental impact is much greater than corporations want people to believe.

THE DEVASTATING IMPACT

Corporate farming, at times known as

agribusiness, has had a profound effect on

not only the way we eat as human beings,

but on the very concept as to how we look

at the food. When we use the word farm,

we like to think of the classic painting of

mom & pop in front of the red barn with a

pitchfork and happy little cows.

Nothing of course, could be further from

the truth. Today’s agribusiness is one,

smooth, streamlined process, designed for

getting maximum profit from minimal ef-

fort. It doesn’t stop at the production, but

in fact moves onto the distribution aspect

of food as it gets to our table. The problem

with this concept of course is that by

reducing the actual number of companies

that produce our food, it limits the diver-

sity of the food being produced, and

if one of these great agribusinesses

should stop functioning, a great deal of

the food chain could be threatened.

Environmentally, of course, when

things are streamlined for profit,

there is often a great cost. Because

larger machines are needed to harvest

and process food, the effects of these

machines billow diesel byproducts

into the air. They are expensive to

purchase and maintain, especially as

technology becomes more and more

integrated to them. Meat production,

desertification, industrial farming, soil

degradation, forrest loss, food process-

ing, food packaging, transportation

and waste account for a third of all

green house gas emissions.

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Over 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, including non-target spe-cies, air, water, bottom sediments, and food. Pesticides contaminate land and water when they escape.2

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health and education • 87

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the environment • 89

problem one

CORPORATEWASTE

There is an extremely large amount of

chemicals used by corporations in order to

mass produce crops. Chemical fertilizers,

which are a key component of industrial

agriculture, pose a risk to soil and water

quality18. Not only is this waste harmful just

by being used, it is also not often disposed

of properly. Many times chemicals leak into

drinking water creating toxic problems.

Pig and poultry industries produce 6.9

million tons of nitrogen per year, equivalent

to 7 percent of the total inorganic nitrogen

fertilizer production in the world. In areas

of animal concentrations, excess nitrogen

and leaches or runs off into drainage

and groundwater, damaging aquatic and

wetland ecosystems, and polluting water

supplies for human consumption. Proper

drainage of manure and other animal

wastes in to surface water and leaching

from saturated soils become an issue in

industrial livestock production systems.

Transportation of food also has a negative

impact on the environment. While it is

difficult to generalize, transport beyond

15 kilometres is often uneconomical. In

addition, fertilizers, often a cheaper more

available and more practical source of

nutrients, further reduce the demand for

nutrients from manure, turning the latter

into “waste” 18.

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problem two

INDUSTRIALFARMING

We have relied on our environment and

natural resources for thousands of years

without problems. Why is it now that we

are destroying the environment in order to

mass produce food?

Industrial farming uses a massive amount

of water, energy and chemicals with little

regard for the environment. A number

of irrigation systems used to create our

food have been pumping water out of

reservoirs. Also, chemicals are being used

at high rates and they are seeping into our

drinking water. All of these problems are

creating extremely unhealthy drinking

water for the public.

There are also many concerns with the

livestock industry. The creation and

disposal of such enormous quantities of

waste has a devastating effect on the air,

water and soil surrounding factory farms.

Unlike human waste, livestock manure is

not processed for sanitation. On factory

farms it is commonly mixed with water

and held in pits (called “lagoons”), and

then spread or sprayed on cropland. But

the system often suffers from an excess of

manure: the lagoons can leak or spill, for

instance, or the manure is over-applied to

fields, which can cause it to run off into

surface waters19.

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the environment • 91

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CHOOSING THE RIGHT FOOD

Processed food and corporate farming is having an enormous impact on our environment and it is sometimes unclear how much our food choices are contributing to the problem.

A guidebook directed towards families

who purchase a large amount of food

would inform families how to shop in sea-

son and locally. This would help decrease

the overall environmental impact of our

food choices.

Currently most people have a little

understanding of the food industry and

it’s impact on the environment. However,

creating a detailed guidebook on afford-

able ways to make smart purchases, it will

create a simple step by step guide to show

consumers how easy it is to switch.

Making smart choices can be hard, but I

am hoping that this guidebook will allevi-

ate some of the complications. Included

in the guide are restaurants that are sus-

tainable, local markets and farms, CSA’s

as well as simple recipes separated by

season. By separating them this will show

the consumer that only certain products

should be purchased during certain times

of the year.

solution

Deliverable | Sustainable Guidebook

Audience | Urban Consumers

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the environment • 93

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While many problems exist in the food industry, there is still hope for positive change to occur. Policies are slowly being put into place to protect small scale farms and consumers.

THE FUTURE OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY

There have been slow changes occurring

recently because of the realization of all

the problems in the food industry. People

are paying more attention to their food

and where it is coming from. Many are

taking steps to shop at farmers markets

and local stores rather than buying from

large corporate food companies.

Policies are also coming into play and will

hopefully be much more supportive of the

small farms as the green revolution has

taken over the country. While this move-

ment is headed in the right direction, there

are also corporations jumping on the band

wagon without proper care for the food

they are putting on the shelves. They are

still finding loopholes to label food that

could mislead the consumer.

Hopefully better food policy will pass soon

where proper labeling will be mandatory.

This means that for now, it is really up to

the consumer to understand where their

food comes from and what is in it. With a

continued push from many consumers and

better government stipulation, the horrors

of what is currently happening the food

industry will begin to reshape in order to

fit a healthy lifestyle.

It is easy to start with small changes like

shopping local and eating in-season food.

These are the small steps that are going to

take us from a corporate run food system

to a more sustainable food future. With

the problems listed throughout this book,

making a small change can really help to

push for a better and local food industry.

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1 Unknown.“Why the Organic Movement Talks AboutButz.” Organaholic! Organic Food Blog. Nov 2010. organaholic.com/2010/11/21/earl-butz

2 Unknown. “A History of American Agriculture.” Nov 2010. Growing A Nation. www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/gov.htm

3 Unknown. Nov 2010. library.duke.edu/digitalcollections.

4 Krebs, Al. “Control of the World’s Food Supply.” Nov 2010. www.converge.org.nz/pirm/ctrlfood.htm

5 Richardson, Jill. “Sick of Corporate Control Over Your Food. Dec 2009. Common Dreams. www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/28-2

6 Pollan Michael. “Farmer in Chief” Oct 2008. Michael Pollan. michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/farmer-in-chief/

7 Allen Will. “The Real Cost of Cheap Food.” June 2008. www.alternet.org/environment/86986/

8 Hellmich, Ninci. “Rising Obesity Will Cost U.S. Health Care $344 Billion a Year.” Nov 2009. abcnews.go.com/Politics

9 Collins, Anne. “Health Risks of Obesity.” www.annecollins.com

10 Unknown. “Ready in minutes … but micro meals are obesity timebomb.” July 2010. www.heraldscotland.com/news/health

11 Noyes, Katherine. “Help Factory Farm Animals.” charityguide.org/volunteer/fewhours/factory-farm-animals.htm

12 Unknown. “Livestock impacts on the environment.” 2006 www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm

13 Unknown. “Factory Farming Facts”. www.idausa.org/facts/factory farmfacts.html

14 Adams, Mike. “Factory animal farms.” Oct 2007. www.naturalnews.com

15 Unknown. “Antibiotics.” 2009. www.sustainabletable.org/issues/antibiotics

16 Kimbrell, Andrew. “Fatal Harvest.” Island Press. ©2002.

17 Gunningham, Neil. Redesigning Environmental Regulation.” 2010. www.elaw.org/node/2682

SOURCES

All photographs used in this book are from flickr.com under the creative commons liscense, “Fatal Harvest” ©2002 and “Charlie Harper, an illlustrated life.”

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Copyright © Andrea Falke 2010

Personal project without rights for multiple publication

Presented for The Academy of Art University

79 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA

Phil Hamlett and Hunter Wimmer

Printed on acid-free Red River 50 lb

Printed using Epson 3800 Ink Jet Printer

Typefaces used Chronicle, Glypha, Din

Photography from Flickr, Fatal Harvest and Charley Harper

Andrea Falke | 814.880.0641 | [email protected]

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the environment • 99

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http://www.tutorvista.com/bow/environmen-

tal-effects-of-pesticides


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