Exploration 8

  I think one of the important things this documentary talked about was the dark side of the food industry. On the outside, it seems like what they're doing is the best way to do it. It doesn't really seem flawed and no body really thinks about whether it is flawed or not. I like how this documentary reveals the kind of impacts that industrial farming has. Not just to the farmers, but to the environment, food, and the people eating the food. I think the film does a good job at showing the behind the scenes of the food industry. I thought it was interesting to learn about where your food comes from and how it was raised or made. I also liked the explanations the organic farmers made about why the industrial method of farming has so many negatives. One farmer said, "Treat the herbivore like and herbivore and everything will fall into place". Even though this seemed like common sense, I think it does a good job at explaining how a lot of problems that occur with industrial farming can be fixed. I think it's like trying to fix what isn't broken. The way nature works is already working well, so why try to change it?

I decided to research a little more on monoculture farming. I learned that some of the flaws that monocultures have can be quite devastating. Using only one species of crop every year without any variation could be very disastrous. Even though we use pesticides, one strand of super pests or weeds could wipe out an entire harvest very quickly. Before watching Fresh, I saw the movie Interstellar. The main conflict in the movie was about how humanity is on the brink of extinction because the food was slowing running out and the earth was literally dying. I think this documentary really showed how realistic that future could be. I realized that if people continue to used monoculture techniques to farm that this future isn't too distant.

I thought it was interesting to hear about aquaponic systems. I think it was interesting to learn about the negatives that come with aquaponics. Everyone normally only talk about how good it is. The few negatives that aquaponics comes with are actually a pretty big deal. It reminds me of how industrial farming has it's benefits, but it also has many negatives with it. When something seems very good on the outside, there are probably something very bad on the inside also.