OMNIVORES DILEMMNA
1: Pg. 65- The corn plant has colonized how much of the American continent?
120,000 square miles of the American continent.
2: Pg. 66-67- How have America’s food animals undergone a revolution in lifestyle?
widely dispersed farms to live in really populated animal cities.
3: Pg. 67- What is a CAFO?
a CAFO is the Concentrated Animal Feed Operation.
4: Pg. 67- What happened to the all of the farmland once the animals left? Where did all of the corn go?
The farmland that was once for the animals were used to grow more corn. The corn went in places like the paddocks, pastures and barnyards that used to be animal territory.
5: Pg. 68- What is the idea of a closed ecological loop?
The idea of a closed ecological loop is that waste ceases to exist.
6: Pg. 68- What are the two main problems with animal feedlots?
Animal feedlots cause fertility problems where it must be remedied with chemical fertilizers and a pollution problem.
7. Pg 70- What is the coevolutionary relationship between cows and grass? Explain.
The cow and the grass relationship is one of nature's under appreciated wonders. It maintains the grass by preventing trees and shrubs from taking all the sunlight. The grass in return supplies lunch to the cow.
8. Pg. 71- Why would pastures become “the great American desert” without ruminant animals?
Without cattle around, the pastures wouldn't be able to grow any crops in the arid regions. These regions would require large amounts of irrigation, chemicals and erosion.
9. Pg. 71- What gets a steer from 80 to 1,000 pounds in just 14 months?
The tremendous quantities of corn, protein and fat supplements and an arsenal of new drugs got a steer from 80 pounds to 1,000 pounds.
10. Pg. 71- Why is weaning the calves the most traumatic time on the ranch?
The cows that are separated for weaning causes the calves to mope and bellow for days.
11. Pg. 73- What is the only reason contemporary animal cities aren’t as plague-ridden or pestilential as their medieval human counterparts?
The only reason contemporary animal cities aren't plague-ridden or pestilential as their medieval human counterparts is because of the modern antibiotic.
12. Pg. 73- “So if the modern CAFO is a city built upon commodity corn, it is a city afloat on an invisible sea of _______”
petroleum
13. Pg. 75- Why is corn fed meat less healthy for us?
Humans have not adapted to ruminants that eat corn. These ruminants also had to adapt to eating corn.
14. Pg. 75- What practice of feeding cows led to the “Mad Cow Disease”?
Feeding cow parts back to cows caused mad cow disease.
15. Pg. 77- How are we choosing which cows we want to select to breed?
We are choosing which cows we want to select breed based on eating a large amount of corn they would eat and if they can efficiently convert it to a protein without getting sick.
16. Pg. 77- What is the #1 ailment found with cows fed on corn? Why- explain.
The #1 ailment found with cows fed on corn are bloat. The fermentation of the rumen produces a lot of gas which can be trapped if a slimy layer forms. The rumen inflates and presses against the animal lungs.
17. Pg. 78- What is acidosis and what does it cause in the cow?
When the stomach of an animal is acidic. It causes the cow to go off their feed, pant and salivate excessively and eat dirt. It can also lead to diarrhea bloat, rumenitis, liver disease and weakening of immune system.
18. Pg. 78- What percentage of cows at slaughterhouses are found to have abscessed livers?
Between 15 and 30 percent of feedlot cows are found to have abscessed livers when in slaughterhouses.
19. Pg. 78- What is the leading causes of the evolution of antibiotic resistant superbugs?
Antibiotics that end up in animal feeds are leading to evolution of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
20. Pg. 79- What chemicals are found in the “manure lagoon” on CAFO’s?
Chemicals found in manure lagoon are nitrogen and phosphorus, heavy metals, hormone residue and persistent chemicals.
21. Pg. 80- How many pounds of corn does it take to make 4 pounds of beef? What is the ratio for chicken?
It takes 32 pounds of corn to make 4 pounds of beef. The ratio for chicken is 2:1, or 8:4.
22. Pg. 82- How has the new strain of E. Coli (O157: H7) evolved and what is the problem with it? How can this problem be fixed?
The new strain of E. Coli has evolved to have a new acidic-resistance. The problem is that they can shake off the acid bath in our stomachs and kill us. It can be fixed by to reverse acidification.
23. Pg. 82- How are the costs associated with the CAFO’s externalized? Explain.
They are externalized based on environmental costs. There are things that are not added in the cost of buying corn. These costs include spraying fertilizer and pesticides and using water to grow these corn. If these externalized costs are included, corn would be a lot more expensive.
24. Pg. 83- Discuss the path of corn backward from the corn fields and discuss the implications.
The corn starts in the fields a monoculture under rain of pesticide and fertilizer. The nitrogen runs off into rivers and lakes. The fertilizer needed to grow the corn finds itself all the way to the oil fields. The implication is that it takes a lot to grow corn and growing corn has a lot of consequences to it.
25. Pg. 83- How much of America’s petroleum usage goes to producing and transporting our food?
1/5 of all of America's petroleum goes to producing and transporting food.
26. Pg. 84- If a cow reaches his full weight- how much “oil” will he have consumed in lifetime?
The cow would have consumed 35 gallons of oil to reach his full weight.
27. Pg. 84- “You are what you eat” is a truism hard to argue with, and yet it is, as a visit to a feedlot suggests, incomplete, for you are what what you eat eats, too. And what we are, or have become, is not just meat but number 2 corn and oil- Discuss.
The quote is saying that not only we eat the meat from the cow, but we are eating what the cow ate in it's lifetime up until the point of being put into a slaughter house. If we are eating a cow, then we are also eating 35 gallons of oil and hundreds or thousands of pounds of corn. If we are what we eat, we are meat, oil and corn.
120,000 square miles of the American continent.
2: Pg. 66-67- How have America’s food animals undergone a revolution in lifestyle?
widely dispersed farms to live in really populated animal cities.
3: Pg. 67- What is a CAFO?
a CAFO is the Concentrated Animal Feed Operation.
4: Pg. 67- What happened to the all of the farmland once the animals left? Where did all of the corn go?
The farmland that was once for the animals were used to grow more corn. The corn went in places like the paddocks, pastures and barnyards that used to be animal territory.
5: Pg. 68- What is the idea of a closed ecological loop?
The idea of a closed ecological loop is that waste ceases to exist.
6: Pg. 68- What are the two main problems with animal feedlots?
Animal feedlots cause fertility problems where it must be remedied with chemical fertilizers and a pollution problem.
7. Pg 70- What is the coevolutionary relationship between cows and grass? Explain.
The cow and the grass relationship is one of nature's under appreciated wonders. It maintains the grass by preventing trees and shrubs from taking all the sunlight. The grass in return supplies lunch to the cow.
8. Pg. 71- Why would pastures become “the great American desert” without ruminant animals?
Without cattle around, the pastures wouldn't be able to grow any crops in the arid regions. These regions would require large amounts of irrigation, chemicals and erosion.
9. Pg. 71- What gets a steer from 80 to 1,000 pounds in just 14 months?
The tremendous quantities of corn, protein and fat supplements and an arsenal of new drugs got a steer from 80 pounds to 1,000 pounds.
10. Pg. 71- Why is weaning the calves the most traumatic time on the ranch?
The cows that are separated for weaning causes the calves to mope and bellow for days.
11. Pg. 73- What is the only reason contemporary animal cities aren’t as plague-ridden or pestilential as their medieval human counterparts?
The only reason contemporary animal cities aren't plague-ridden or pestilential as their medieval human counterparts is because of the modern antibiotic.
12. Pg. 73- “So if the modern CAFO is a city built upon commodity corn, it is a city afloat on an invisible sea of _______”
petroleum
13. Pg. 75- Why is corn fed meat less healthy for us?
Humans have not adapted to ruminants that eat corn. These ruminants also had to adapt to eating corn.
14. Pg. 75- What practice of feeding cows led to the “Mad Cow Disease”?
Feeding cow parts back to cows caused mad cow disease.
15. Pg. 77- How are we choosing which cows we want to select to breed?
We are choosing which cows we want to select breed based on eating a large amount of corn they would eat and if they can efficiently convert it to a protein without getting sick.
16. Pg. 77- What is the #1 ailment found with cows fed on corn? Why- explain.
The #1 ailment found with cows fed on corn are bloat. The fermentation of the rumen produces a lot of gas which can be trapped if a slimy layer forms. The rumen inflates and presses against the animal lungs.
17. Pg. 78- What is acidosis and what does it cause in the cow?
When the stomach of an animal is acidic. It causes the cow to go off their feed, pant and salivate excessively and eat dirt. It can also lead to diarrhea bloat, rumenitis, liver disease and weakening of immune system.
18. Pg. 78- What percentage of cows at slaughterhouses are found to have abscessed livers?
Between 15 and 30 percent of feedlot cows are found to have abscessed livers when in slaughterhouses.
19. Pg. 78- What is the leading causes of the evolution of antibiotic resistant superbugs?
Antibiotics that end up in animal feeds are leading to evolution of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
20. Pg. 79- What chemicals are found in the “manure lagoon” on CAFO’s?
Chemicals found in manure lagoon are nitrogen and phosphorus, heavy metals, hormone residue and persistent chemicals.
21. Pg. 80- How many pounds of corn does it take to make 4 pounds of beef? What is the ratio for chicken?
It takes 32 pounds of corn to make 4 pounds of beef. The ratio for chicken is 2:1, or 8:4.
22. Pg. 82- How has the new strain of E. Coli (O157: H7) evolved and what is the problem with it? How can this problem be fixed?
The new strain of E. Coli has evolved to have a new acidic-resistance. The problem is that they can shake off the acid bath in our stomachs and kill us. It can be fixed by to reverse acidification.
23. Pg. 82- How are the costs associated with the CAFO’s externalized? Explain.
They are externalized based on environmental costs. There are things that are not added in the cost of buying corn. These costs include spraying fertilizer and pesticides and using water to grow these corn. If these externalized costs are included, corn would be a lot more expensive.
24. Pg. 83- Discuss the path of corn backward from the corn fields and discuss the implications.
The corn starts in the fields a monoculture under rain of pesticide and fertilizer. The nitrogen runs off into rivers and lakes. The fertilizer needed to grow the corn finds itself all the way to the oil fields. The implication is that it takes a lot to grow corn and growing corn has a lot of consequences to it.
25. Pg. 83- How much of America’s petroleum usage goes to producing and transporting our food?
1/5 of all of America's petroleum goes to producing and transporting food.
26. Pg. 84- If a cow reaches his full weight- how much “oil” will he have consumed in lifetime?
The cow would have consumed 35 gallons of oil to reach his full weight.
27. Pg. 84- “You are what you eat” is a truism hard to argue with, and yet it is, as a visit to a feedlot suggests, incomplete, for you are what what you eat eats, too. And what we are, or have become, is not just meat but number 2 corn and oil- Discuss.
The quote is saying that not only we eat the meat from the cow, but we are eating what the cow ate in it's lifetime up until the point of being put into a slaughter house. If we are eating a cow, then we are also eating 35 gallons of oil and hundreds or thousands of pounds of corn. If we are what we eat, we are meat, oil and corn.