Problems with Cheap Food

Problems with Cheap Food Casey Vorfa Food fight: Worldviews on food production and consumption Cheap Food Is Simply Unaffordable During the past few decades, the Food industrys productivity levels have skyrocketed and our food system is now able to produce large quantities of food in very short time spans. Furthermore, these products are sold at extremely low prices in order to attract consumers. At first glance this seems like an ideal food system but unfortunately things arent as they seem. Producing unlimited amounts of cheap, processed food actually costs a lot of energy and has harmful effects on the environment, animals and our own health . Therefore, finding new sustainable ways of producing food remains crucial. First of all it is important to understand how the food industry manages to sell its products at such an irresistible price. The reason is simple. All large food companies have one single goal : maximizing their profit. In order to do so, they want to make sure that they produce and sell as much as possible in a very short period of time. In order to increase their yield companies use advanced technology and an alarming amounts of resources such as pesticides, herbicides, fossil fuel and corn. In particular corn is of great importance, it is used as a preserving agent and also as food to cattle. More than 12 billion b.u of corn are produced annually(1). Furthermore, with fossil fuel levels running low, corn is turned into ethanol and later used as fuel. The food companies can sell us their products at such cheap prices because the corn that they buy and use doesnt cost them a thing. The price of corn is being maintained at low levels in an artificial way. Over the past decade the US Federal Government has spent more than 50 billion dollars into the corn industry(2). This is the why unprocessed organic foods are so much more expensive. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a dollar could buy 1200 calories of potato chips or 875 calories of soda but just 250 calories of vegetables or 170 calories of fresh fruit (3). In a few words, the large food companies have been receiving financial support by the government. No wonder unprocessed foods are much more expensive and unaffordable. They havent been receiving any royal treatment. One of the main flaws of our food production system is that it is very energy-intense. The food industry is heavily dependent on the use of oil and fossil fuels. In order to increase their output food industries use diesel powered tractors, irrigation pumps, pesticides and herbicides made of natural gas and petroleum. In fact, in the U.S about 10 percent of the energy budget goes to producing, distributing, processing, preparing and preserving the plant and animal matter we consume (4). However, the amount of food that is produced is much smaller than the amount of energy used to produce it. For instance, the U.S expends roughly ten units of fossil energy to produce one unit of food energy (5). Thus, if companies are already producing large amounts of food an unimaginable amount of energy is used to make it. It seems that the large food companies are ignoring the energy crisis we are in. For decades industries have been exploiting Earth’s natural resources as if these resource s were to last forever and the food industry has been no exception. Considering the fact that the global population is increasing and that we are running out of fossil fuels we will no longer be able to satisfy the increasing demand.The demand for meat and poultry is expected to increase by 25 percent by 2015 (6). In addition, the price of oil and other fossil fuels will also increase. Hence, the current food production system is unsustainable and will eventually collapse. Not only is our current food system very energy demanding but it also damages our ecosystems and harms animals. As one of the main energy consumers the food industry is also one of the major water, air and soil polluters. Burning fossil fuels create greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. Intensive farming requires large amounts of chemical fertilizers. In American farms more than 10 million tons of fertilizers are being used for corn alone. 23 million for all crops (7). All these chemicals end up in rivers, lakes or in seas contributing to water pollution, soil contamination and in what we call dead zones .Dead Zones are areas of approximately 6000 -sq-mi area which contain no oxygen, killing all forms of sea life. There are nearly 400 dead zones and these dead zones cause the fishing industry to lose 212 000 tons of seafood a year (8). But our food system does not only pollute our land by releasing chemicals. Our ecosystem is also affected by the large amount of manure our system releases. One pig can produce four times more waste than humans (9). Considering the number of pigs and other livestock we can definitely say that a tremendous amount of waste is produced. All of this waste is thrown into giant pits called lagoons. These lagoons contain so much waste that they become toxic and they are one of the main causes of pollution in the United States (10). They also pollute the land with heavy metals like cadmium, selenium, zinc, copper and arsenic(11). Furthermore, industrial agriculture also contributes in soil erosion and the loss of biodiversity. Monoculture crops are vast spaces of land where only one type of plant grows. These crops create an ecological vacuum that insects take advantage which reduces the quality of soil (12). These crops also reduce biodiversity which damages the food chain. But the degradation of animal life doesnt end there. Because the food industry wants to make us much profit as possible thousands of animals are cramm ed together in small contracted areas where they never get to see sunlight. Apparently, for large companies animal welfare and our environment are much less important than making profit. Most importantly cheap food has also affected consumers health in a variety of negative ways . Processed foods are low in nutrients, high in salt, sugar and fat. Moreover, three-fourth of the world food sales involve processed foods which means cheap food has reached almost every country. Different studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between consuming cheap foods and the chances of developing different types of diseases. Since the late 1970s, obesity rates have more than doubled among children 6 to 11 of age and more than tripled among those 12 to 19 of age (13). Products like SSBs (sugar sweetened beverages) are major contributors to childhood obesity, as well as to long term weight gain, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (14). Furthermore, the chemicals and hormones that are added in our food also cause health issues. Danish Scientists have proven that hormone residues in beef are linked to high rates of breast and prostate cancer, as well as early onset puberty in girls(15). Moreover, all the waste and pollution that is caused by our food production system doesnt only affect animals but it affects our health as well. For instance, livestock manure pollutes the air with hydrogen sulphide which is linked to respiratory and neurological diseases (16). Hence, cheap food comes with very high costs to our health. Our current food system has many drawbacks, therefore it is important that we find new sustainable ways of producing food. First of all we posses technology that could decrease pollution and spare resources. Anaerobic digesters and micro turbines can convert manure into renewable, low-carbon biogas-fired electricity. Carbon dioxide could be used to grow algae for food and algae could easily be converted into bio-fuels. In addition, drip irrigation seems promising. Drip irrigation consists of underground tubes that deliver water directly to a plants roots. Researchers at Iowa State University estimate that corn farmers would use 40 percent less water and lower their energy bills by 15 percent with drip irrigation (17). No-till agriculture is yet an other promising option. This method involves planting seeds without turning the soil which reduces soil disturbance. Argentina already uses this advanced technique for more than half of its farms. Even though these methods are very helpful there is a lot more to be done. For the past decades large food companies have driven farmers off the land. In fact, nine out of ten hog farmers have left the business since 1979 (18). With unemployment levels getting higher by the day returning to the old way of farming might be a solution. Although it may seem that local farmers dont stand a chance towards the large food companies that is not necessarily true. If we support local farmers and the local food movement we are playing our part into stopping the food industrys harmful practices. Furthermore, companies like Niman Ranch have created networks of small scale farmers who only sale natural meat to restaurants (19). Other companies like Bon Appetit encourage their costumers to make environmental friendly choices. Our behavior as consumers also has a large impact on the energy ratio. Even though we might not realize it, our every day choices do have an influence on the amount of energy that is being used. Our diets one of them. If we eat meat every single day the amount of fossil fuels used is a lot greater than if we ate grain everyday. Meat is four times as energy demanding as grains are. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we should eat grains everyday but reducing our meat consumption and eating more foods that are less energy demanding does have a large impact. Restaurant owners might decide to sell in smaller proportions and keep the leftovers. Moreover, maybe we should think twice before going to eat at buffets. As consumers we should also think about not wasting our own food and not buying more than we need. The USDA estimates that Americans throw out 14 percent of the food that they buy which results in the waste of large amounts of resources (20). Thus our decisions as consumers can have large impacts on the food system. In conclusion, our society simply cannot afford cheap food. Our current food production system is not only highly inefficient but also harms our planet, animals and our own health. Fortunately for us it is not too late to change things. The use of modern technology to manage waste, supporting local farmers and Eco-friendly products are only some of the few ways to create a new sustainable way of producing food. References (1),(2),(3), (6),(7),(8),(19),(20) : Walsh, Bryan, Getting Real About High Price of Cheap Food , Time in Partnership with CNN, August 21, 2009 (4),(5)(9),(16)(17) : Webber, Michael E., More Food Less Energy, Scientific American, January 2012 (10),(11) (15),(16)(18) : Schloser, Eric â€Å" Cheap Food Nation Siera, November/December 2006 : Kaplan, David, Food Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy : Nestle, Marion Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity The New England Journal of Medicine, Boston, June 15 2006. : Stuckler, David and Nestle Marion, Big Food, Food Systems and Global Health Plos Medicine, Volume 9, Issue 6, June 2012

QR Codes Being Used For Marketing Essay

For the purposes of this assignment, a QR code for Coca-Cola was used. The image scanned is to the right. This is a QR Code Coca-Cola places throughout sports websites including ESPN.COM which is where this was found. Analysis of the QR Code’s Effectiveness Having found the image on ESPN.COM it was assumed that the next jump point would be to one of their sports drink brands. In fact the QR Code took me to their Facebook fan page and asked me to â€Å"Like† their page. The page has 58.6 million likes and shows friends who are also â€Å"Liked† the brand. As the landing page was the Facebook fan page for the brand, the call to action was to review and look over their content. As the Super Bowl was just last weekend and Coca-Cola had a series of commercials running at this event, there are pictures, out-takes and other items that show how the commercials were made. There is also a series of videos that are used for further supporting and promoting their brand. The Coca-Cola brand page is one of the more comprehensive in consumer advertising with exceptionally rich, varied international content. There is no overt call to action to buy one of their beverages; there is however an exceptional depth to the history of the brand and its progression over time. Coca-Cola is clearly proud of their history in advertising and branding, and use the Facebook timeline to show this well. They have also shown on their Facebook fan page how to create a community extremely well. The continued efforts on the part of Facebook to create communities and show how Coca-Cola fans all share common bounds together is done well. Conclusion Coca-Cola is maintaining and strengthening its brand with this QR code campaign. It is also showcasing how well it integrates the many channels of customer interaction and communication with its social media efforts. The area Coca-Cola needs to improve on however is the placement of this specific QR code. It was on a sports website which have one assume it was for a sports drink. The branding for sports on the Facebook site used as the landing page was so generic to sports, it was more like a billboard. This QR campaign was designed for a very broad, global audience and for that purpose, did extremely well. It could have been improved through the use of more effective, segmented QR codes to specific Coca-Cola sites dedicated to specific interests. Finally, the call to action was vague and more based on building awareness. What Coca-Cola did well however was create a very effective program for driving people to their Facebook page immediately, driving up Likes. Coca-Cola’s branding is predicated on a spread message of refreshment, and they did accomplish this very well. Finally the company did a great job of showing how it has created entertaining commercials and promotions based on their innate expertise in consumer products branding.

Social Media Resources - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1366 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/04/10 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Social Media Essay Did you like this example? Social media continues to prove to be a valuable resource. In fact, since 2004, the use of social media in healthcare has continued to grow and ignoring its presence can no longer be considered (Smailhodzic, Hooijsma, Boonstra, Langley, 2016). Social media is the way of the future for marketing, educating, and overall communication. The purpose of this project is to identify a specific behavior and utilize social media to promote health to save the target population from possibly contracting the chronic condition of diabetes. Project Title The title of this social media project is Liquid obesity: The road to diabetes. The consumption of sugar in beverages has increased globally and the prevalence of childhood and adult obesity cannot be ignored (Avery, Bostock, McCullough, 2014). Sugary drinks or consuming drinks with calories are nutrient poor and result in insulin spikes with empty energy bursts that quickly come and go. The consumption of these drinks leads to ingesting a large number of calories while still not satisfying hunger. This can lead to obesity and diabetes. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Social Media Resources" essay for you Create order Objectives The objectives of this project are to educate the target audience in (1) identifying empty calories in liquids, (2) how many extra calories are consumed just from drinking your calories (3) how continued consumption can lead to obesity and diabetes and (4) how to pick other healthy options. Target Audience The target audience for this project is adolescents age 14 through adulthood. Based on this target audience the information should be prepared at a 6th-grade education level. This will ensure that the health literacy of the target audience is met and the information is understood. Social Media Platform According to Cook (2014), approximately 91% of children live in a house that has internet access. Cook (2014) continues reinforcing that Facebook is the most widely used social media platform since 2012. Based on this finding Facebook is the best platform for this project. This platform will help reach the intended target audience of both adolescents and adults both looking for health information regarding obesity, weight loss, and diabetes management. This social media platform can also be utilized with multiple media formats including pictures, memes, and videos. Image sharing and video sharing is one of the most popular forms of social media, especially in the younger populations. For this reason short, funny educational video presentations that can be shared on Facebook would be the best platform to ensure they are viewed, shared and commented on the most. Covered Topics The topics to be covered in this project will be tied directly to the objectives to ensure that the intent is met and the health promotion is received appropriately but the target audience. The topics will be as follows: Sugary drinks provide empty calories. There are approximately 18 teaspoon of sugar and 200 extra calories in 20 oz soda (Zimmerman, 2014). 64 oz soda can have up to 700 additional calories in a drink. This is roughly the same amount of calories in a large meal (Zimmerman, 2014). How to find hidden sugar in labels Sugar can be hidden under different names in beverages such as high fructose corn syrup, lactose, dextrose, maltose, and nectar. Obesity and diabetes How to monitor your weight, BMI, and waist circumference. Symptoms of metabolic syndrome including apple or pear-shaped body with a large waist circumference and abdominal fat. Symptoms of diabetes increased thirst, frequent urination, hunger, fatigue, and blurred vision How to choose health beverage options. Water, sparkling water, fruit infused water, low fat-skim milk, sugar free beverages and appropriate water enhancements for flavor. Not all fruit juice is created equally. Choosing a healthy fruit juice versus sugar infused fruit juice. When to see your healthcare provider If you gain more than 10lbs in one month If your BMI is 30 or above If symptoms of diabetes or metabolic syndrome are present. Collaborative Care Approaching care in a primary care setting has to be a team approach. Although as a provider typically the clinician sees the patient alone, however, the clinician should be armed with a wealth of resources. Those resources can be in the form of a referral to other professionals who can help approach care for the patient in a collaborative team approach. As professionals, we then become a treatment team in which collaboration occurs for the best health outcomes for the patient. With regards to this project, an example of a collaborative approach could be with a registered dietician and possibly a physical therapist if dealing with physical limitation due to obesity or diabetes. No patient ever wants to approach their illness alone. This is also where the power of social media comes into play. Online patients can find peers who are on the same health journey they are on. Social support is the most common type of social media used by patients (Smailhodzic, Hooijsma, Boonstra, Langley, 2016). Finally, another important aspect of collaborative care is to ensure the patients family, friends, or loved ones are supportive of the plan of care for the patient. When the patient has a support system at home the likelihood of a positive outcome to reach treatment goals is greatly improved. Clinical example of collaborative care During this terms clinical rotation diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia were seen in almost every patient appointment. In each of these patients, there were also overweight, or obese. Many of these patients would report that they would try to lose weight and make better decisions regarding their diet. During the interview when questioned about specifics, it was apparent that many patients just did not have a good understanding of how to make good dietary choices. Their literacy on how to read food labels or how certain foods affected their disease was very minimal. Patients also reported little adherence to an exercise program. Most patients made it more difficult then it needed to be and most did not have an understanding of how exercise can help them. Regular exercise is shown to improve cardiovascular health, including blood pressure, blood lipids and insulin sensitivity as well as weight loss with more calories burned (Kumar, Robinson, Till, 2015). While the pati ents were in the clinic it was important that they were educated that a simple walk of 30 minutes 5 times a week just after dinner, or working in the garden for 30 minutes was effective. Exercise did not have to be a scheduled regimen in a gym or a class. The patients were receptive to this and seemed willing to participate. The lack of knowledge overall collaboration with a registered dietician and diabetes educator could greatly fill the knowledge gap and assist patients to become more independent in their own health care decisions with their diet. The clinic during this rotation did have a staff dietician in which a referral was generated during each of these visits. With patient follow-ups in the clinic patients reported positive results and experiences in which they were taught how to read labels, how to shop at the grocery store, how to cook at home and how to make the best food decisions when dining outs. These were all directly related to actual life skills in which the patients could participate in. The greatest area of learning This assignment really reflected the ease at which caloric intake could lead to obesity and diabetes. This should be a huge concern to those in public health. The amount of obesity in this country could be viewed as a possible public health failure. The price of a sugary beverage is typically much cheaper than that of a bottle of water or other nonsugary beverage. With a search on Facebook, there were also less than 5 resources when searching for how to avoid sugary beverages. There is little information for the target audience on how to identify and avoid sugary beverages. This is a project that is truly needed. Conclusion The overall physical and financial health of the United States is in jeopardy due to the rising trend of obesity and diabetes mellitus. Large-scale attempts with policy change to limit sugary beverages to both adolescents and adults have proven unsuccessful (Zimmerman, 2014). In order to impact this serious public health concern, smaller approach needs to be initiated to achieve change. The outline of this project is an example of how we can start a smaller initiative through education of the target audience.

Essay on Soviet Propaganda - 1881 Words

Soviet Propaganda The soviet communist party, or the Bolsheviks, always new that strong propaganda was essential to increase the consciousness of the masses. As stated in the Encyclopedia of Propaganda, propaganda was central to Marxist-Leninist ideology long before the Bolshevik revolution of 1917.(675) The power of persuasion and coercion were exercised with great force by Soviet leaders. The two leaders whom utilized propaganda to influence public opinion in the USSR were Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. Both men used many different facets of the media to spread their propaganda. They also used the troubled social climate along with the ignorance of the masses to custom tailor a regime that lasted for over seven decades.†¦show more content†¦Lenin said, The struggle of the Russian working class for its liberation is a political struggle, and its goal is the attainment of political liberty. (Pipes 45) Lenin used this form of propaganda, agitprop, to convey the need of a total reformati on of Russias government. He knew that this form of propaganda would work best. Propaganda of agitation, being the most visible and widespread attracts all the attention. (Ellul 71) In his agitative propaganda Lenin cited specific enemies, or scapegoats namely, The Mensheviks. Along with the Mensheviks, or whites as they were called, the soviets expressed outright hatred of the western world and its ways. Soviet propagandists created the idea that the western capitalist civilization was falling behind, as the superior socialists marched forward. Soviet artists and intellectuals were ordered to create propaganda material that portrayed this idea of a weak and inferior western world. The soviets official ideology was that they needed to gain complete control of all aspects of communication. Lenin embraced the idea of agitative propaganda that was introduced earlier by Georgi Plekhanov. Since the Soviet union was founded in 1920 there was an official department of agitprop. This de partment worked directly through schools, publications and the broadcast media. (Encyclopedia of propaganda 17) Part of Lenins strategyShow MoreRelatedSoviet Propaganda And The Soviet State888 Words   |  4 PagesThe origin of the soviet propaganda can be traced from the state’s very conception, as the new government worked tirelessly to convince its populace of its legitimacy. Soviet propaganda uniquely differs from other countries’ propaganda, in that the USSR’s extensive censorship and large-scale manipulation of information created the perfect circumstances for near complete control of the citizenry. Only with the arrival of Glasnost in the 1980’s did many in the Soviet state begin to doubt the legitimacyRead MoreShostakovichs Contribution to Soviet Propaganda1970 Words   |  8 Pages In the year 1922, after a long and bloody civil war, the Soviet Union was officially formed. 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