Factory Farming and the Envionment
By No author listed, there is no publication written
http://www.gracelinks.org/265/environment

Picture: Shows how the industral farms do not care about the land or the enviornment.

Summary:
In this article i found it explains what a normal family owned farm is like. It says that they use normal methods to get the desired crop, they then tend and take care of the farm to make sure it is health. But with a factory or industrial farm they do not have a balance with the crops. They dont rotate the crops. they dont even let the soil regrow to become healthier. there are not as many rules as a family farm. The area is not taken care of as well, and with a factory farm they do not care for the land. Also in the article it talks about the animals and how safe it is for them. Each day they get antibiotics to be kept healthy. But this could end up in what we eat for our meals and could possibly hurt us.

Opinion:
After reading i was a little shocked with what happens o the factory farms. I really don tlike they way they treat the land. It is amazing to me what goes on in the farms and i dont like it. Personaly i would not eat food from the factory farms, but we do need them for our food supply. I think they should have to rotate the crops and have to let the land sit to become healthier.

Questions:
1) Do you feel safe eating food from factory farms?
2) Should there be limitations to what the factory farms can do to the land?
3) Should we have more family owned farms that do not pollute as much instead or of the factory farms?
4) Do you agree with what factory farms do to the animals and the crops? 

Selective Breeding

Changing Minds: Has Selective Breeding Restructured Some Dog Brains?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=breeding-dog-brains
August 13, 2010 (Published)



Picture:
          This picture shows that dogs were being affected by selective breeding and the brain could change in smaller dogs.

Summary:
          Over many years, humans have done selective breeding in dogs. They wanted this color of this dog, and that dog needed to have curly fur. We changed what dogs would look like and it is starting to affect thier brain changes to their sense of smell and their behavior. A neuroscientist, Michael Valenzuela, did a study on the position of the skull in a dog because he thinks that all dogs came from Canis Lupus, or gray wolf. Valenzuela and other scientists tried to do tests with MRIs to check the length of the skull  and if the brain has rotating, making the gray wolf's brain the control of the emperiment. They also took the width and the length of  dogs skull and multipthem by 100 to get the cephalic index (CI). This experiement was tested with 11 dogs. They found out that dogs with the dogs with smaller snouts actually had a different brain than the original wolf. So when humans were deciding on the perfect pet, dogs were having a change of brain which mostly affects their smell. With all the tests that were done, Valenzuela still is getting more research. But we know that pug-like dogs are not the best for the work force.

Opinion/Reflection:
             I was shocked knowing that selective breeding can effect dogs so much. You would think that dog breeders were just breeding dogs to get certain traits from each and that it won't affect the dog but maybe we should start looking in another direction. Maybe we need to start thinking about trying to breed more dogs so that way they can use their sense or smell. Or look into how dogs behave and keep using the selective breeding tactic to get dogs with long snouts.

Questions:
1. Is it possible to be able to breed so that dogs with smaller snouts can still use their sense of smell?
2. If you were a scientist, how would you try to solve this problem?
3. Could breeding dogs so they had their normal traits before selective breeding change them back to the way they were?

Genetically Modified Foods

Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?
by: Deborah B. Whitman
April 2000

http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

This picture shows a little bit of what adding a gene to a crop is like

Summary:
GMOs are Genetically Modified Organisms that have a big impact on the population's health. They are crop plants that are used for human consumption, using the latest biology techniques. Genetic engineering can alter a specific gene in the one crop that you essentially would want to "make better". The genes can not only be transferred from plant to plant, but non-plant genes can be used as well. Some great advantages of these GM foods include Pest resistance, Herbicide tolerance, Disease Resistance, cold and drought tolerance, nutrition, and pharmaceuticals.  Environmental activists, religious organizations, public interest groups, professional associations and other scientists and government officials all have negative opinions about GM 
foods. Health risks, environmental concerns, and economic risks are just a few.   Therefore, these types of genetically modified foods have the potential to be a real life saver when it comes to our populations growing in ways that it never has before.

Opinion/Reflection:
I think that this type of food making will most definitely be needed in the future. Especially once our population gets to an outrageous number. This may not be the most safe way to get food, but when it comes down to having dinner or preferring not to have it because it might not be safe, I think most people would choose the food. 

Questions:
1. Would you feel safe eating Genetically Modified foods?
2. What is another way we could feed the growing population most efficiently?
3. Do you see GMOs as a problem, or a great solution?

Alternative Energy: Underwater Vibrations

The image above is what the metal rods that are capturing the vibrations of the ocean current and creating energy look like in place.

Article:  The Weirdest New Source of Alternative Energy: Underwater Vibrations

By: Andrew Grant

The latest frontier for renewable energy is the ocean floor. A novel method of generating power uses a network of metal rods to tap into the currents that flow along the bottom of the ocean (and along riverbeds as well). Water swirls as it flows past the rods, making them vibrate. This phenomenon is painfully familiar to oil companies, which spend large sums of money minimizing such vibrations in order to stabilize offshore drilling equipment. “Everyone was obsessed with suppressing this motion,” says Michael Bernitsas, the University of Michigan engineer who developed the technology. “At some point it dawned on me that maybe we can do the opposite: Enhance it and harness the energy.”

Many proposed ocean energy projects rely on turbines that require sustained strong currents, but Bernitsas’s device can run efficiently on water flows of just a few miles per hour. He says that the cost of water-flow power production is less than that of solar or wind and that current-based generators can be arranged in large networks to power thousands of homes.

Although his technology has proved itself in the lab, Bernitsas still needs to find the best materials to withstand the elements in a real underwater environment.Vortex Hydro Energy, Bernitsas’s company, plans to install a prototype—about the size of a large car—in the Detroit River by the end of the year.

Summary: Oil companies for years have been trying to reduce vibrations from underwater currents to help stabilize their offshore drilling equipment but an engineer named Michael Bernitsas discovered that you can get energy from the vibrations themselves. His idea consists of metal rods that run along river bottoms and the ocean floor that captures and transfers the vibrations into usable energy. He class it Vortex Hydro Energy. Michael Bernitsas built a prototype of his idea and put it through a series of tests to prove that his technology actually worked. The tests proved that it does in fact work, only needs a current of a few miles per hour, costs less than solar or wind technology, and could power thousands of houses through areas of generators.

Reflection/Opinion: I think that Vortex Hydro Energy is a great idea if it works as well in the real ocean as it did in its tests. Its a cheaper, more environmentally safe way to provide energy for homes, businesses, etc. Since the article talked about how the idea was discovered through the pipes of off shore drilling equipment, maybe they can combine Vortex Hydro Energy with the oil drilling pipes to harness the energy from both at the same time.

Questions: 

1. Do you think that Vortex Hydro Energy would be an efficient energy source?

2. What problems, if there are any, do you think the metal rods would cause for marine life?

3. What would happen if the current isn't strong enough to provide enough energy to power the houses that are relying on it?

http://discovermagazine.com/2009/mar/25-weirdest-new-source-alternative-energy-underwater-vibrations#.UMj0Y4OCmSp

Organic Farming

The New Era of Organic Farming by Vicky Uhland

http://search.proquest.com/docview/219605386/13AF0573798161B1122/3?accountid=41322






The above graphic is a map of where the organic farms are located throughout the United States. Similar to the article above, it shows that the state of California is the leading state with the most amount of organic farms.


Summary:
This article is about how organic farms are no longer for hippies or weirdos. Organic farms are now becoming more popular with young farmers because of the business aspects. Organic crops are more valuable now a days than regular crops. Many large vegetable producers that you see in the store now have organic acreage in their farms. Younger farmers are the more likely organic farmers that you will see, because they want to experiment and they believe that it is healthier and better for the environment. Many small town farms are starting to grow organic instead of using pesticides and fertilizers, that can modify the genetic make- up of the crops and could possibly hurt the animal ingesting the crops. A problem that occurs in organic farms more often that regular farms is that the harvest has to be hand picked, and the farmers cannot pay many workers, so they use illegal immigrants or they pay salaries to people who live there year round to help them pick their crops.

Opinion/ Reflection: 
I think that all farms should be organic. I believe this because if pesticides and fertilizers can kill off bugs or rodents and speed up the growth of a plant that is not used to that, imagine what it can do to the human body. Pesticides can slowly kill us if there is enough of it still on the crops and fertilizers can speed up growth rate and lead to diseases and body malfunctions. I think that if I eat more organic foods, I will see a change in mood, weight and growth rate. The chemicals could interfere with all aspects of life, if the food is not organic. I also think that all farms should be organic because it would make the economy better if there was more competition for organic foods at grocery stores and the prices would be higher making the economy to boost up.

Questions: 
1. Should farms have to have at least some of their land designated for organic crops?
2. How can going organic help the human race?
3. What can the average person do to make companies go organic?
4. Is going organic necessarily better?