My favorite quote in chapter 10 was, "All agriculture us at heart a business of capturing free solar energy in a food product that can be turned into high-value human energy." (pg.188) The whole subject surrounding this is that nature gives us sun and food. Now society has put a value on food, but everything is food. To a cow, grass is extremely valuable. To us, however the grass is just seen as a middleman to get our beef. All grass does is feed the cow that gives me food.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
2/16/2010
Reading about the farm in chapter 8, we get to see how the world gives back to each other. In this case, the farmer puts animals on the land so they can eat the grass. From there, compost is made to plant the grass again. By the time the new grass is grown these animals have been slaughtered. This cycle continues to rotate, giving this farm no endpoint. I think it was insightful on how Pollan observed this because that is the whole purpose of life on Earth. Each species, plant or animal or human has a purpose and it creates a cycle.
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I agree with your perception of what consumer really think when it comes to grass. Most people would never give a second thought about grass even when they're all around us, except maybe that they have to mow it. Also in reality, I don't think our cows eat grass anymore.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting to see exactly how the world does give back to each other in an organized cycle. I’ve never really thought about it until now. I liked how Pollan really got into every little detail and broke it down for us, it was easy to follow and understand.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Sheri. Adrienne, think about how you can use these ideas in paper three :D
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