Recipe

Pico De Gallo




Ingredients

1 medium tomato, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 sprigs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 green onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 Limes or lemons

Directions

1.In a medium bowl, combine tomato, onion, jalapeno pepper (to taste,) cilantro and green onion. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir until evenly distributed. Squeeze the lime or lemon to add extra flavor. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.


All of these vegetables are in season which can be found locally at the Farmers Market :)

Feed Lots (Abstract)

Abstract

Industrial meat productions in America have been a threat to human health and security due to the use of hormones that affects the development of young women as well as antibiotics leading to an increase of harmful bacteria. One of the many problems is that like humans, cattle need nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen in their food. But due to the horrible diet that these cattle are put on, all the nutrients needed to stay healthy are not given to them. The health issues caused by the infected cows milk can lead to many different side effects that can be devastating to the human health. When a cow is injected with BGH, the blood then activates production of another hormone, called Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1), which is a naturally occurring hormone-protein in both humans and cows. Having high levels of (IGF-1) in BGH could lead to cancer that will happen by an uncontrollable cell division that takes place in the human body that will also affect the growth of humans.

If this continues to happen, the future of our children and our children’s children will be a continuous cycle of mass destruction causing multiple deaths due to the cancer that is now occurring from the meat as well as girls as young as seven years old growing their female parts when they are not ready to be developed until their teenage years. While the industrial meat productions in America are a threat to human health and security due to the use of hormones which affects the development of young women as well as antibiotics leading to an increase of harmful bacteria there are many solutions that can be used to limit and reduce the injurious bacteria that a person may consume while eating or while inhaling.

"But due to the horrible diet that these cattle are put on, all the nutrients needed to stay healthy are not given to them. "

Food Inc. Reflection

Alexandra Sandoval
Period ½
April 27, 2010
Food Inc. Reflection

During the movie, I found many things striking in both a good and bad way. Seeing how the mother of a young boy lost her son made me tear up a bit because how the government wouldn’t pass Kevin’s Law. Its so sad and crazy how people can just die from eating bad meat. I think that having meat recalls should be announced in many different ways to the community so that no one will have to go through that again. It is also so sad how the major farmers degrade the farmers. In these factory farm houses the chickens, pigs, and cows go through hell because they are in cluttered spaces which they are then injected with hormones in many different ways like putting it in their food. I think that all people should watch this movie because it will be a good dose of reality for them because people really need to see what is going on “behind the scenes”, because f they don’t these animals will be mistreated still and meat recalls will be announced so many times more. I think that the people need to start reading the labels on the food product to see what is really in them. My discussion question is: how can we convince people to go to farmers market to buy all their fruits and vegetables as well as reading the labels on the food products and to by organically?

Enviromental Science: Blog #7- Sources for Research Paper

Websites:

http://www.counterpunch.org/goodman10092009.html

http://www.rivernetwork.org/blog/11/2009/09/18/new-york-times-does-it-again-time-its-feedlot-pollution

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/13/us/feedlot-perils-outpace-regulation-sierra-club-says.html?pagewanted=1

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=rangebeefcowsymp

http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/45849/2/BRD%20SAEA%20paper.pdf <-- Best Source so far talks about the diseases within the feedlot cattle and the risks.

http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/nspills.asp

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3741/is_7_51/ai_105480608/

Books:

Chemical contaminants in feedlot wastes: Concentrations, effects and attenuation- SJ Khan

Effects of feedlot runoff on water quality of impoundments- William R. Duffer

Enviromental Science: Blog #6- Peer Reviewed Sources (Senior Project)

Feedlots

Peer-Review #1: Prevalence, Antibiotic Susceptibility, and Diversity of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Isolates from a Longitudinal Study of Beef Cattle Feedlots –
Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E.Coli) has been identified to be in one of the four feedlots. A recent study shows that there is a way to cure E.Coli infections that is founded in the animals in which we consume daily. Researchers say that the cattle that live on the feedlot did not have the E.Coli infection that it was brought in from the cattle that had not been injected with antibiotics or hormones yet. Therefore the cattle’s feces released CO2 into the air causing the feedlot cows to take in the CO2 giving them this infection of E.Coli.

Citation:
"Prevalence, Antibiotic Susceptibility, and Diversity of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Isolates from a Longitudinal Study of Beef Cattle Feedlots -- Galland et al. 67 (4): 1619 --." Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .


Peer-Review #2: Survey of Salmonella Serotypes in Feedlot Cattle –
Authors: Fedorka-Cray, P.J.1; Dargatz, D.A.2; Thomas, L.A.3; Gray, J.T.1
Source: Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 61, Number 5, May 1998 , pp. 525-530(6)
Publisher: International Association for Food Protection
Do to the fecal matter that the cows produce researchers have found Salmonella. They took samples of the fecal matter and was determined that due to Salmonella, the humans eating the cattle were getting sick due to that. Once the feces is released from the cattle CO2 is produced calling air pollutant which can get us sick but not only is the air pollutant a problem with this issue is how the animals are getting fed as well as how the feedlot owners are injecting into the cattle such as the hormones and antibiotics to get the fatter and to produce meat then the average cow who is not getting injected with needles everyday. Since we eat the cattle it is for sure determined that we will consume some of the hormones injected into them causing us to get sick and possibly even death may occur sue to the percentage of Salmonella or E.Coli the cattle may have.

Citation:
"IngentaConnect Survey of Salmonella Serotypes in Feedlot Cattle." IngentaConnect Home. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .

Enviromental Science Blog #5: Meat Industry and Climate Change

Deforestation, Global warming, and wasted land, water and air pollution are all directly linked to eating meat. These environmental issues are a serious problem of our time. “According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads.” Knowing this gives me the knowledge to make a difference within this world and to be a leader to others, to show them that this planet Earth we live on is more important then we think.
America itself has very limited resources some that are even wasted such as land, food, energy, and water. Without these resources animals that we eat are not getting enough water and food which then doesn’t give them energy – and the animals get there energy from the sun; it is a cycle of photosynthesis but due to global warming animals aren’t consuming as much therefore, antibiotics are injected into the animals which causes the animals to get fatter. Not only is global warming an issue that is affecting the meat industry but so much more is as well - such as, feces, the water and the air.

Three Sources :

1."Meat and the Enviroment." Go Veg. PETA, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. .
This Article talks about how the climate is affecting the animals. It tells us what we need to do, how it can be done, and what else is wrong with this issue which helped me a lot and made me think even more.

2.principles, enforce RSPO, and &. "Take a Bite out of Climate Change » Food Industry News & Trends." Take a Bite out of Climate Change. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2010. .
This article mainly talks about what we can do to stop global warming from affecting the meat industry. Although it talked about climate change and how it affects the meat I don’t think it was much help.

3.declares:, working for the agency he would later lobby. His bio. "Meat, climate change, and industry tripe Grist." Grist Environmental News, Commentary, Advice . N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2010. .
I loved this article it made me think about certain situation so much. “Shouldn’t we focus on forcing the meat industry to pay up for its massive externalities, including its contribution to climate change?”

Enviromental Science Blog #4: Initial Plant Write-up

I would like to plant sunflowers in the garden because I think they will add beauty and color to the garden and it will for sure make the garden look more presentable then it already is. The Sunflower was first domesticated in Mexico by 2600 BC. Sunflowers can be turned into sunflower oil which was founded to be very popular in Europe with member members from the Russian Orthodox Church because sunflower oil was one of the few oils that were not prohibited during lent. Therefore, sunflowers can be used to beautify the garden as well as be used as cooking oil.
Growing Sunflowers is a way to attract bees, butterflies and birds to our garden. Late spring is when we should plant the sunflowers. I would prefer planting the ‘Ring of Fire’ which is a 5-inch wide pollen-less flower; bi-colored petals in dark red around a chocolate brown center which will then taper off to golden yellow tips. These sunflowers can grow 4 to 5 feet tall. Due to the height of these beautiful flowers lots of space is needed in order to grow.
The sunflower plant can grow from 3 to 18 feet tall. A sunflower only requires 90 to 100 days to grow. A single sunflower can have up to 2000 seeds inside of the head. Sunflower seeds are used to produce numerous things like cooking oil, medicine, paint, animal feed and biodiesel, these items that it can produce or be used for is very beneficial to us humans and animals as well.
I believe if we add sunflowers into our garden it will attract our community into seeing what we seniors have created over the past year. Adding color as well will attract our community into seeing the garden as well. Since Sunflowers take such little time to grow we can possibly grow different kinds of sunflowers within the garden. They are now creating sunflowers which have an orange head (middle of the flower) which is something that we are not yet used to. One of the most beneficial uses of sunflowers is that it can remove toxic waste from the environment which is excellent.