Industrial Farming
I was very interested to watch The Vanishing of the Bees because I knew that the bees had been disappearing, but didn't really know the details. It was interesting to learn that what is effecting the bees is also effecting butterflies, bats, birds, amphibians and other animals. In my book review of The Sixth Extinction, I learned about many of these animals going extinct because of humans, but bees were not one of the species covered in the book. My dad used to be a beekeeper and watching this made me want to encourage him to start again!
Dirt! The Movie was also eye opening - I didn't realize just how bad industrial farming is. I think we mostly hear about animal farms being detrimental to the health of the plant and contributing to global warming, but I didn't realize how bad vegetable farms could be. This definitely made me want to shop local so I could talk to the farmers growing my foods and understand their farming practices.
There are no factory farms in my county, but there are farms in all the counties surrounding mine. Most of the farms are dairy farms and chicken farms, which I mostly knew about. I've driven past many farms nearby and they didn't seem to be huge farms. I have also taken tours of some of the nearby farms and the farming practices seemed to be much better than I think the farming practices are in many other parts of the country. One farm in particular talked about only giving their animals antibiotics when they were sick, but would never give them prophylactically. The farm was relatively small (around 250 goats and 60 cows) and learning about their farming practices encouraged me to buy their products whenever I see them at the farmers market.
I currently compost but not in my own house or yard - the city of Berkeley has a composting bin as part of our trash service. Prior to this I did not compost because I have lived in a small apartment with no yard for a very long time. I am happy that Berkeley has a composting program. When I live somewhere that I have space to compost I definitely will! Both of my parents have composted just about my whole life and I have seen first hand how much better a garden can grow when it has good soil to grow in!
Dirt! The Movie was also eye opening - I didn't realize just how bad industrial farming is. I think we mostly hear about animal farms being detrimental to the health of the plant and contributing to global warming, but I didn't realize how bad vegetable farms could be. This definitely made me want to shop local so I could talk to the farmers growing my foods and understand their farming practices.
There are no factory farms in my county, but there are farms in all the counties surrounding mine. Most of the farms are dairy farms and chicken farms, which I mostly knew about. I've driven past many farms nearby and they didn't seem to be huge farms. I have also taken tours of some of the nearby farms and the farming practices seemed to be much better than I think the farming practices are in many other parts of the country. One farm in particular talked about only giving their animals antibiotics when they were sick, but would never give them prophylactically. The farm was relatively small (around 250 goats and 60 cows) and learning about their farming practices encouraged me to buy their products whenever I see them at the farmers market.
I currently compost but not in my own house or yard - the city of Berkeley has a composting bin as part of our trash service. Prior to this I did not compost because I have lived in a small apartment with no yard for a very long time. I am happy that Berkeley has a composting program. When I live somewhere that I have space to compost I definitely will! Both of my parents have composted just about my whole life and I have seen first hand how much better a garden can grow when it has good soil to grow in!
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