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Lexi Kraft
Professor Meneses
L&CS 122
4 May 2012
Looking Back
After gazing at my reflection from L&CS Culture and Civic Responsibility, I
realize how much knowledge I have gained not only about society, but the
environment we live in. After L&CS 121, I reflected on how the small town I came
from didn’t reveal the real world to me. But after taking Environmental
Responsibility, I understand how Colusa contributes a lot to society by producing
food. My last reflection was about how my small town kept to itself, but now I see
we are an important producer and how people rely on Colusa County’s farmers. I
now understand the connection between little farming towns and big cities.
Recently, I have discovered that resources aren’t everlasting. Although it
seems like an obvious point, society hasn’t grasped it because American’s consume
enormously. Before this class, I wasn’t conscious about natural resources running
out. For instance, I figured we would always have water. But now, I take shorter
showers and turn off the faucet while I brush my teeth. Although these two changes
seem small, if all Americans did this, there would be bigger water supplies. This isn’t
necessarily consumers fault because everyone should have the opportunity to be
educated on our environment. Aldo Leopald, in The Environmental Responsibility
Reader, says, “our educational and economic system is headed away from, rather
than toward, an intense consciousness of land,” because consumers are, “separated
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from the land by many middlemen, and by innumerable physical gadgets,” (25). If I
didn’t take this class, I wouldn’t care about how our society doesn’t have the ability
to be educated on the land we live on. Now, it makes me mad how ignorant society is
and how it is out of control. To save our natural resources, we need to only take
what we need, instead of what we want, unless we want to ruin our planet.
Because our resources are limited, we need to promote that issue as a society
by not having such easy access to so many products. Factories that are putting
family farms out of business shouldn’t be supported because they are secretive
about their product life spans, using chemicals and/or pesticides that aren’t listed
on their label, and making underdeveloped countries. Since they are available at any
grocery store at low costs, people are willing to buy them. Farmers markets are
more expensive and not as convenient. Grocery stores should support their local
farmers instead of outsourcing to cheaper solutions. Instead of supporting this,
consumers should educate themselves on family farms in their area and buy as
much food from them as they can. Although these farms and farmers markets are
more expensive, food is essential to our living and if we continue buying
industrialized foods, later on in lives bigger bills for sicknesses may occur or lives
may be cost. Family farms are more open about the process of their crops because
they typically have nothing to hide.
In life, we typically get out what we put into things. For example, if you put in
a lot of effort to a certain class, you’ll get a good grade out of it. I learned that food is
the same way. Consumers are settling for factory processed food because it is cheap
and easy to get to. This means, they are getting bad food out of the factory farms’
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production. Fruits and vegetables appear to be plumper and more colorful because
factories use chemicals that aren’t beneficial to human health, only to the eye. If we
spray pesticides that serve as steroids on produce, they will go into our bodies.
Animals are also being slaughtered profoundly and are forced to live quicker lives
because of the humans’ obsession with wanting more and more food. If we cheat our
animals before they are slaughtered, the result, which is the meat, will also be
cheated. Micheal Pollan reveals, through Omnivore’s Dilemma, “Cows raised on grass
simply take longer to reach slaughter weight than cows raised on a richer diet,” and
now instead of cows living four or five years to reach slaughter weight, steers go
from “80 to 1,100 pounds in fourteen months,” due to “tremendous quantities of
corn, protein and fat supplements, and an arsenal of new drugs,” (71). Before this
class, I didn’t know humans would resort to such an inhumane process in order to
get meat. With meat being produced that fast, it is nearly impossible to go back to
the older farming ways because society desires quantity over quality. Americans
also tend to cater to newer ideas, which makes factory farms even more appealing.
Cows are an extreme example of how industrialized farming has selfishly twisted
and tricked nature. We have cows all over my hometown, and our college. Now
when I see them I get sad because of the short life they are bound to live. This
process is not only unfair to the cows, but also to the farmers who oppose this
process and are losing business because they can’t keep up with factory farming.
After grasping all this new information, I believe the government needs to set
higher standards when it comes to regulating food. I used to trust our government,
but now with the new insights I have attained I think they are only adding on to our
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environmental and social issues. Before buying the usual junk food I used to buy, I
read the label and turn down many foods I once enjoyed. Because government isn’t
regulating our food production correctly, Consumers are disconnected which makes
it hard to know what we are buying. This class has made me more aware of all the
issues we face everyday; before Environmental Responsibility I was blind.
This class brought many agricultural issues to my attention that really
sparked my interest. I enjoyed learning about advancements in farming because I
come from an agricultural based town. A ranch has been in my family since 1944,
which made it easy to relate readings and agricultural issues to my personal
feelings. Since I found myself researching agricultural issues in Colusa in my free
time, I decided to create my minor so I can pursue a career in not only teaching, but
also in farming. Before this semester, my minor was history, which I dreaded
because it didn’t appeal to me. After a lot of hard work, Saint Mary’s College has
approved my created minor of Business Agriculture. With this minor, I plan to go
back to my family’s ranch and help out with the business portion of it.
L&CS 122 has encouraged me to follow through with my passion for
agriculture. It has offered me information and problems that surround my family’s
ranch that I wasn’t interested in before. At grocery stores, I think twice before I buy
nuts and rice, because I know my family is working hard producing the same crops.
My mom and I buy these products from my grand parents because they need more
support to stay in business. This class has encouraged me to help my family’s farm
fight against the factory farms that are gaining support.
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People like my grand parents who farm deserve more money, respect, and
land compared to the industrial farms. With my minor classes I am taking through
summer school, I hope to become more educated on farming issues because I will be
facing them in the future. By taking this Environmental Responsibility class, I was
able to reconnect with my passion for agriculture that slowly faded away once I got
into college, which makes me more confident and determined to be successful
through my education.
Through my service-learning experience in the SMC Legacy Garden, I have
gained even more respect for farmers and other people who produce food. It takes a
lot of hard work, dedication, and time to successfully grow food, and my time at the
garden showed me that. Julia, the supervisor of the garden, taught me how you have
to be dedicated to the land to see results. I will take what I learned from her back
home to my family’s ranch to help it succeed. My hands on experience with planting
tomatoes, pulling weeds, and picking different foods to eat showed me how fun hard
work can be. After college, I plan to have my own garden so I can be sure of where
my fruits and vegetables come from.
Although the Environmental Responsibility class and service hours have
came to an end, I will carry what I learned forever, especially with future in
agriculture. The problems I learned about have affected my everyday life and I often
catch myself spreading the word to my friends and family. Without this class, I
would be unaware of problems my family’s ranch faces, clueless that our natural
resources have the ability to run out, and be forcing myself to take boring history
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classes. I have a better idea of who I am after taking L&CS 122 not only a student,
but as a future farmer and teacher.