Nathan Lewis: Powering the Planet: Where in the World Will Our Energy Come From? lecture reflection

I thought this lecture was very interesting. As a senior in high school, it did become a little boring at times, mainly because I didn't understand the vocabulary. The idea behind this lecture was about ways for people to notice that our Earth's energy, other ways we can use energy from other sources, and how the climate can change. In the beginning of the video, Lewis talks about the problems that have occurred. For example, he talks about fossil fuels and how we can use another source of energy. He puts the United States into consideration along with the other countries and shows us where we stand energy-wise. I like the way he did this because it made me realize how much we actually put into the air. He later then talked about other sources that could be used to give us energy. The main one that he said we should use is solar. Solar energy is accounted for most of the available renewable energy on Earth. Solar powered electrical generation relies on heat engines and photovoltaics. Photovoltaics are arrays of cells containing a material that converts solar radiation into direct current electricity. This has been named the number one source that we could use for energy. This is better because the sun is out all day and it doesn't leave fossil fuels. The only problem that has occurred is that they don't have the technology to restore the sunlight when it is night, but they hope to solve in the future.

I think solar energy is the best way to go because, like I've said, its the most safest. It has Energy, National, Environment, and Economic securities.

Stop Motion Label

History/Origin

Created in 1979, the sugar snap pea was a product of the crossing of the English and Snow Pea.

http://www.freshking.com/snaps/history.htm

Archeologists exploring the "Spirit Cave," located on the border between Burma and Thailand, found peas that were carbon dated at 9750 BCE. No doubt these were a variety of wild peas that were gathered rather than cultivated. Another archeological dig at Jarmo in northwestern Iraq uncovered peas that were dated between 7,000 and 6,000 BCE.

http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch52.html

Nutrition/Chemical Composition

Green peas are a very good source of vitamin C, vitamin K, manganese, dietary fiber, folate and thiamin (vitamin B1). They are also a good source of vitamin A, phosphorus, vitamin B6, protein, niacin, magnesium, riboflavin (vitamin B2), copper, iron, zinc and potassium.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=55

The largest chemical component in peas is carbohydrates which composes about 56.6% of seed weight. The most plentiful pea carbohydrate is starch at 36.9-48.6%, while amylose is about 34% of seed weight in peas. "Nutrient composition of milled and polished peas as measured per 100 grams of edible portion of dried matured whole seeds are 1.4 g oil, 6 g crude fiber, 16.7 g dietary fiber, 54.1% starch, 8.1% sugars, 4.4 mg iron, 0.77 mg thiamin, 0.18 mg riboflavin, 3.1 mg niacin and 330 kcal energy" (Newman et al., 1988). Fertilizing peas with sulfur has increased their methionine content from 1.3 to 2.2 g per 100 g protein. "Pea hay (at 88.6% DM) contains (zero moisture basis): 10.7-21.6% crude protein, 1.5-3.7% fat, 16.8-36.1% crude fiber, 6.0-9.3% ash, and 41.9-50.6% N-free extract" (Duke, 1981).

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropfactsheets/pea.html#Chemistry

Interesting Facts

During the Roman Empire they were considered to be poisonous and was no longer popular.

http://www.plantea.com/dillysnappeas.htm

The French called them mange-tout, translated as eat the whole thing.

http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch52.html

Rough Draft Artist Statement

Pesticides
- How many birds do you think die a year because of pesticides?
67 Million
- FACT: Pesticides killed 25% of our bees in the winter of 2006/2007. That's tens of billions of bees
-What might pesticides put unborn fetuses at risk for?
Growth and development issues, 70% increase for risk of Parkinson's disease
- FACT: In China, 500,000 people a year suffer from pesticide poisoning, and approximately 500 of them die
- FACT: The production of pesticides can kill. In one incident, where 40 tons of pesticides were accidentally released, 15,000 people were killed, and 100,000 people are still left with mild to severe effects.
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/effects-of-pesticides.html
- How many pounds of pesticides do you think are used annually worldwide?
5 billion.
- FACT: 90% of pesticides never reach the plant. They go to the soil, air, water, or us.
- The production use of pesticides has increased drastically. From 1954 to 2001, India went from spraying 154 million tons of pesticides to how many?
88 Billion
http://theviewspaper.net/five-billion-pounds-of-pesticides/

High Fructose Corn Syrup
- History- started in 1957. Corn has glucose, not fructose. Researches created an enzyme called glucose isomerase (enzyme to alter a group of enzymes). This enzyme rearranged the composition of glucose in corn syrup and made it into fructose. With adding this, it turned a mildly sweet corn syrup into the sweet high fructose corn syrup. The production initially began as a industrial scale in 1970s.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5106547_history-high-fructose-corn-syrup.html

-Fact-HFCS is now in ketchup, canned vegetables and jams. In 2005, Americans consumed a per-person average of 28.4 kg (54.56 lbs) of HFCS each year. This is also what they understand is causing the obesity problem in the US.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5106547_history-high-fructose-corn-syrup.html

-Why? HFCS started because corn growers were beginneing to see competition in the area of margarine and shortening. With the increase in demand for corn to make HFCS the loss in production for margarine and shortening was canceled.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5106547_history-high-fructose-corn-syrup.html

- Fact-Stove Top Stuffing, Capri-Sun Juice Drink, Kellogg's, Eggo®, Lifesavers, Nabisco, Nutri-Grain, Robitussin, Vicks, Cool Whip, Claussen Pickles, Ben & Jerry's, Dreyer's, Kraft Salad Dressing, Miracle Whip Salad Dressing, A1, Bull's Eye, Holy Smoke, Jim Beam, Tuttorosso, Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Oscar Mayer Lunchables,Campbells Vegatable soup all have HFCS.

Processed Foods Annotations

This is an interesting article that I came across because it talks about GMO ( genetically modified organisms). GMOs are organisms that get pumped in most foods that we eat. I found this article especially important because it talks about two approaches that introduces GMOs into the food we eat, and how are bodies react to them.

"ScienceDirect - Food Control : Quantitative analysis of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in processed food by PCR-based methods." ScienceDirect - Home. Web. 09 Nov. 2009. .

I found this article really interesting because its all about statistics that they give me and how much information they investigated about processed foods.

"USDA Economic Research Service: US Capita Food Supply Trends: More Calories, Refined Carbohydrates, and Fats." USDA ECONOMIC RESEARCH - Home. Pdf. 09 Nov 2009. .

This article talks more about how its not only commercial foods that gets the processed treatment but that it is also the fruits and vegetables that you thought were healthy but are actually added with chemicals and GMOs. This also talks about how we should buy more from organic markets.

"USDA Economic Research Service: Recent Growth Patterns in the U.S. Organic Foods Market." USDA ECONOMIC RESEARCH - Home. Pdf. 09 Nov 2009. .

This talks mainly about the use of GMOs in a widely known food, tomatoes, and tomatoes based products, such as ketchup.

"Carotenoid Content of Thermally Processed Tomato-Based Food Products - Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (ACS Publications)." ACS Publications - Cookie absent. Web. 09 Nov. 2009. .

This article talks heavily on Foreign Direct Investments by the US food processing industry in developed and developing countries. This article, talks more about the marketing of food.
"Determinants Of U.S. Foreign Direct Investments In Food Processing Industry: Evidence From Developed And Developing Countries." Docstoc – Documents, Templates, Forms, Ebooks, Papers & Presentations. Web. 09 Nov. 2009. .

Senior Project Brainstorm

Where does our food come from? What is in the food we eat? These are the two main questions that we want Kevin Middleton's and my video to answer. We are presenting the answers to these questions by Eduatainment. A mix between Education and Entertainment.

I actually really liked this website. It was a little bit childish but it gave me information that I needed. For example, there was a slide that says "You can buy oranges and apples 365 days a year, and that is because somebody somewhere has the products now and ways to get it to you". This just shows the production of food and where we get it from.

"Fresh from the World... Where Your Food Comes From - University of Illinois Extension." University of Illinois Extension-Urban Programs Resource Network - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. .

This article is a lot more information that go into more a lot more chemicals. For example, in the first paragraph it tells you how Morgan Spurlock, from Super Size Me, changed his whole diet from getting sick after eating 30 days from McDonalds. This is a great website for us to use.

"The Way We Eat Now | Harvard Magazine May-June 2004." Harvard Alumni Magazine. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. .

Cover Cropping Essay

Is cover cropping really that important for farmers? On an energy perspective, you can say it is. There are two ways you can see this. Conventional/Industrial agricultural or organic cover crops are the two that we are going to be focusing on for this essay. They are both different but they do have one thing in common and that is what they are trying to achieve. They are both trying to get nitrogen out of our atmosphere (NO2) and into the soil, where the plants need it the most.

Why Nitrogen is important in the soil? It is important because there are 13 mineral nutrients, which come from the soil, are dissolved in water and absorbed through a plant´s roots. However, there are not always enough of these minerals to go around for every crop planted and for them to grow healthy. This is why many farmers and gardeners use fertilizers to add the nutrients to the soil. Macronutrients can be divided into two other groups. The primary nutrients are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. These are the major nutrients that are lacking from the soil first because plants use large amounts for their growth and survival.

Cover cropping is any plant grown as a monoculture to improve any number of conditions that have to with sustainable agriculture. Cover crops are fundamental, sustainable tools used to manage soil fertility, soil quality, and water and among other things. Cover cropping can be said it is the backbone of all farming that is sustainable. A cover crop is any crop grown to provide soil cover, regardless of whether it is later incorporated. They are grown primarily to prevent soil erosion by wind and water. They also provide protection, elimination of weeds and insect pest and diseases. A cover crop plant that is used most of the time is legumes and they are used by fixing the nitrogen in the soil.

Industrial agriculture is a form of modern farming that is mostly dealt with the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops. The methods include innovation in agriculture machinery and farming methods, genetic technology, achieving economies of scale in production (quantity, not quality). An extensive problem that industrial agriculture is going up against is the fuel that they run off of. Industrial agriculture runs off of Fossil Fuels. Fossil fuels are made by natural resources, like anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. These fuels contain high percentage of carbon and hydrocarbons. However, these can easily disappear if we use a lot of them. The book, “Fatal Harvest” says that, "Industrial agriculture is devastating our land, water, and air, and is now threatening the sustainability of the biosphere. Its massive chemical and biological inputs cause widespread environmental havoc as well as human disease and death.” We are being so dependent on artificial energy that we are forgetting that every day we have sunlight energy and that doesn't go to waste nor we pollute the earth even more.

When it comes to fertilizer production, they are some pros to using industrial agriculture. They tend to grow much faster than organic and there is no time being wasted because you don’t let the soil rest, like you do in cover cropping. However, it is not sustainable because, in industrial agriculture, it tends to be dominating of nature whereas; sustainable wants to be in harmony of nature. A problem that they are facing is how much water runoff. We don’t want to be adding to many chemicals because there could be a danger of water running off to the ocean, like what happened in the gulf of Mexico. But where did most of these chemicals come from? Mostly World War II extra chemicals that they had an altered them to use in our crops, and then led to our oceans.

Organic cover crops are much healthier for the earth and for us. Organic plants are all about quality instead of quantity, because someone would much rather have a good tasting tomato that is small, than an oversize tomato that tastes disgusting. It is better for the soil to rest the soil because it gives build for the FBIs to come and do their job. Organic cover crops can take a few percentages of the 80% of nitrogen from the atmosphere (N₂) and use them where they are needed, in the soil. One type of cover cropping is green manure is a great thing to do when you want to add nutrients to the soil. Planting green manure means planting a crop that is meant to be included into the soil to increase its chance of being fertile. Cover cropping is good because it adds breeding grounds and nectarines and pollen for beneficial insects. Cover cropping is good because it prevents soil erosion. Soil erosion is when soil is naturally removed by the action of water or wind. Cover cropping is great for the earth because it uses all its resources to its needs without using any industrial object. However, it all has its downfalls. Since it doesn’t have industrial component it takes longer to grow, therefore you might have to cut production in half to cover crop. Since you are cutting production in half, there are fields that are left out of production.

For my own opinion, I think that it’s better to cover crop because it takes care of the earth. Earth has given a lot for us, protection, a place to live, and food. And we pay her back by polluting her airs and ruining her soils? I don’t think that is fair to the place that we live. Cover cropping might take a long time to do but at the end of the day it’s so worth it. At the end, we get to breathe in place that isn’t filled with Nitrogen, and our soils are the ones that use it because they need it. Like I said, the only real problem that I see with using cover crops is that they have to wait for the soil to rest so they can start again on another crop. What I think they can do is rotate crops, so the soil has some varieties of other plants.

Works Cited

"• Proceedings From Conferences." Cedar Meadow Farm. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. .

"Crop Rotation | Healthy and Green Living." Care2 - largest online community for healthy and green living, human rights and animal welfare. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. .

"Overview of Cover Crops and Green Manures." ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service: organic farming, sustainable ag, publications, newsletters. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. .

"Overview of Cover Crops and Green Manures." ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service: organic farming, sustainable ag, publications, newsletters. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. .

"Plant Nutrients." North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. .

"Vitamins, minerals & phytonutrients (EUFIC)." The European Food Information Council (EUFIC) : Your guide to food safety & quality and health & nutrition for a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. .

"Industrial Agriculture v. Sustainable Agriculture : The World's Fair." ScienceBlogs. Web. 13 Oct. 2009. .

"The Seven Deadly Myths of Industrial Agriculture: Myth One | | AlterNet." Home | AlterNet. Web. 13 Oct. 2009. .

"What is soil erosion?" Soil Erosion Site. Web. 13 Oct. 2009. .

Cover Cropping

Why dont we cover crop?
Most people usually don't cover crop because you have to wait till the plants have grown so you can chop it off. It takes longer to cover crop than it is to spray pesticides. People rather eat than wait for plants to grow. What people dont realize is that waiting for the plants to grow and bring nutrients into the earth is much more worth waiting for than eating chemicals.

"Cover crops: feeding the soil that feeds me." A Way to Garden — Gardening information and inspiration from Margaret Roach. Web. 10 Oct. 2009. .

Difference between cover cropping and chemical spraying?

"Search for perfect cover crop on-going." Southeast Farm Press | Timely, Reliable Information for Southeast Agriculture | cotton, Peanuts, Grains, Soybeans, Vegetables, Tobacco, Biofuels | Farm Publications, ag magazines. Web. 10 Oct. 2009. .

Extra Information

http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/USCoverCrops.pdf

Socratic Seminar- Farmer in Chief by Michael Pollan

I thought this was one of the most interesting Socratic Seminars that I have ever participated on. I think what made it fun that that topic that it was on could and had a been impact on us. The article, Farmer in Chief, talked on who really need to change on what we are producing and eating. He was talking about food. But at the same time, Michael Pollan talked on bad techniques that we are actually using to produce our food. For example, the factories (if you can call food producer) that food is produced can spray a lot of pesticides and poison just so the food can look fresh and ready to eat, but is it really good for you? The main question that we answered was How Can America Go From Chemically Renowned Food To Organic? I think this was a really good question because you honestly don't know how many people can actually grow organic or even know what organic means. We came up with the answer to the question and we said that America can go organic but it would take time to realize how many "lies" we are being fed from the public. It would have to take time for America to change its ways.

This reading really helped for my senior project. Kevin Middleton and I want to make a video and raise awareness about processed food and what we can do to make the transition to make America organic.

Biofuels

A week ago today, we learned about bio fuels from a very special person to John. The guy that came in was John's best man in his wedding and was the driver for the Veggiebus. The Veggiebus is a bus that toured all over the United States running on vegetable oil, from what I understand. The way they did is to go from restaurant to restaurant and ask if they can have their "oil waste" and use it for their "gasoline" for their bus. Treviit, talked a lot about biofuels and what renewable fuels we could use. For example, I learned that Ethonal, Fossil Fuels, Biodiesel, and Vegetable Oil can all be used for renewable source. What I thought was really interesting is that while they were doing the Veggiebus, they used the leftover oil that they used for cooking. In restaurants, they call this waste, but why would you want to waste something that you can reuse? While this was happening, the public started taking noticed that everyone and anyone can do it. You dont have to be a scientist to renew source. He left with a quote that I will never forget... "Nothing Should Be Waste"

Cover Cropping Techniques

For our environmental project, we were divided into specialty groups. I was placed in Seasonal Rotation and this mainly teaches us what plants are in season and how we can grow it. We had to do an assignment that requires to research best practices in our specialty groups. I decided to to write about the Cover Cropping Techniques that farmers use. Cover Cropping are plants that are planted for soil erosion control, weed control, and improving soil quality. In simple terms, its when there is a plant that you want to plant but we have to add nutrients or something that the soil needs for the incoming plants to grow. Its basically like a the first step of planting.

I was reading this website http://www.mofga.org/tabid/456/Default.aspx to learn more about cover cropping and their philosophy really stood out to me. "WEED THE SOIL, NOT THE CROP" for them, it means that they want to weed out the soil and not ruin the crop. I thought that was really interesting. It also says that their system includes annual alternation between production and fallow crops. Fallow crops means to rest the crops. I found this website really useful because it gave an opinion on how to cover crop.

Stop Motion Planting

This project is basically to take a picture everyday for 28 days of a plant that I am planting. I decided to be partnered up with Ruthie McCowan. We both wanted to do something cool and something we could eat, so we decided to plant snow peas. We are not totally sure if we want to have a start or plant a seed to do it. I am actually really nervous about doing this because we want the stop motion final to look cool.

Presentations

Last Friday, we had a series of presentations about the environmental science and the problems that we are having. The subjects that the presentations were on were Waste, Water, Foods, Energy, Land Development and Population. John told us to blog about something that struck us that we listened to for our Senior Project. I already have my senior project in mind and what subject it is in. Mine is about Food. So when I was listening about the presentation about food they said something really interesting. Foods that have chemicals in them are actually for the most part are imported from other countries. Also food and mouth disease in 2001 was raised because of the cattle that we ate that year. I think this was really interesting because we are basically putting poison in our bodies. This is the only body we are going to have for the rest of life. And that scares me... I want to be healthy so I need to start eating right.

Plant Research

Lettuce is a leaf vegetable. Lettuce can be eaten cold and raw. The most popular dishes that lettuce can be eaten in is salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and in soups. Lettuce grows well under cooler conditions and need plenty of water. The lowest temperatures are around 40 degrees F and the highest temperature is 6’ degrees. HARD FREEZE IS BAD FOR YOUR LETTUCE it can damage it. Most likely, an ideal crop can grow in fall or in the early spring. Lettuce doesn’t take up much space so its good to plant in small gardens. It takes about 3to 4 weeks for the crops to show if properly maintain. “Start a crop of lettuce for fall harvest in August. Shade new seedlings from the late summer heat, and then, as the fall gets colder, remove the shading so they get good sun and set up a shelter from the frost. Protect mature producing plants with a cold frame or protective covering material such as white, polyspun row covers of garden fleece. Fall season lettuces include ‘Marvel of Four Seasons,’ (butterhead), ‘Romance’ (Romaine), and ‘Canary Tongue’ (looseleaf).”
http://www.lettucegrowingtips.com/
http://yardener.com/YardenersPlantHelper/VegetableGardening/VegetableFiles/Lettuce/PlantingLettuce

Basil is a tender low-growing herb. This herb is mostly used in Italian cuisine and taste like anise with a strong, pungent, sweet smell. This plant grows up to 18 inches during the season. This plant can grow in full sun in moist, and well-drained soil for best results.

http://nga-gardenshop.stores.yahoo.net/basil.html

Lettuce
http://www.veggieharvest.com/Vegetable-Growing-Information/lettuce-growing-and-harvesting-information/

Basil
http://www.gardeningpatch.com/herbs/growing-basil.aspx