Review of Documentary: Diet for a New America

Summary of Diet for a New America

Diet for a New America was a documentary on how food choices are affecting our health, life, and our earth. This movie was by John Robbins. The documentary started by talking about heart attacks and major diseases and why they are directly correlated to what we eat. In the 1990's heart attacks were the number 1 cause of death. Research showed that this was because of a buildup of fat and cholesterol in the arteries. After this discovery, the correlation of what you eat and what it does to your body started to come to attention. China did a study of fats and diets and found that when you ate a low fat diet, there were lower rates in breast cancer and colon cancer; 2 of the leading cancers in the United States. The documentary then talked about how developing countries are now scared that they will become more like us, where meat will become the main course of meals.

A large portion of this documentary was dedicated to raising animals and what they have to do with our eating. The documentary talked about how when raising animals, they are kept in very small areas, so that they cannot move so that their muscles become soft. In feed lots, cattle are confined and fattened; instead of grass to fatten them, they are fed grains. A big thing that happens with all of the animals, is the manure that they produce. The manure can leak into ground or streams which is harmful to the community. The manure can have fertilizers in it which contain nitrate in them which is a very harmful substance. When talking to the residents of the community, this was an issue that many residents definitely were concerned about. They were nervous that birth defects in children would happen because of them drinking the water or the moms drinking it during pregnancy. They were also nervous about neighbors who still drank the water after knowing that it could be contaminated.

Concepts that Challenged my Thinking

This documentary definitely had some moments in it that made me think. The first one was when discussion came up about us in comparison to other countries in our meat intake. The fact that one serving of our meat is approximately 5 servings in another country blows my mind! Even more than that, being that this documentary took place in the 1990's, I am sure that our portion sizes have gotten even larger since then. The next time I have meat, I will for sure look at it and take into account the amount of it that I am eating. Another thing that I was kind of amazed at was when Robbins was in the classroom and talking about turning grain into ground beef. 12 pounds of grain could turn into 12 loaves of bread, or 52 boxes of corn flakes. However, when it was turned into ground beef, only 1 pound could come out of it! That is crazy I think! We could get so much more use out of it I guess if we turned it into things that can go farther. A statstic that shocked me was that 80% of grain is consumed by animals, and not humans. I love my meat way to much to ever give it up, however I will definitely start thinking about it before I eat it, and I'm going to cut WAY back on it!

Terms

So I know that most of these are kind of common words, but I wanted to get true definitions for them because I think that they are important.

Atherosclerosis: A disease affecting arterial blood vessels.
Saturated Fat: A fat, most often of animal origin, that is solid at room temperature and whose fatty acid chains cannot incorporate additional hydrogen atoms. An excess of these fats in the diet is thought to raise the cholesterol level in the bloodstream.
Cholesterol: A lipidic, waxy alcohol found in the cell membranes and transported in the blood plasma of all animals.
Feedlot: A confined animal feeding operation which is used for finishing livestock prior to slaughter.
Contaminated:To soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by by contact or association.

Additional Links

The first link provided is a website about John Robbins and all of the work that he has done. It talks about the books he has written and has a question and answer forum that is kind of neat.
The Food Revolution

The second link that I found useful was an article form the New York Times from 1990 that was about the Chinese study on fats and diets.
Huge Study of Diet Indicts Fat and Meat

Review of Reading 27: Seeing Green: Knowing and Saving the Environment on Film

I thought that Seeing Green: Knowing and Saving the Environment on Film was a very interesting article. It began, by explaining to us why mass media was so important and crucial in getting the world about environmental problems and solutions out there. I enjoyed the part right away in the article when it stated "In other words, we can be told that rain forests are disappearing at alarming rates, but the often-cited statistics (Picture taken by Ashley Penrod) are not as compelling until one has actually seen the destruction." I think that this is important, because it shows how until we, as humans see something, we don't really believe it usually. This is the reason why documentaries and films are so important, because it shows us what's going on in the world and not just hear about it.

The Fantasies of Natural History Film
This section of the article talked about how environmentally committed documentaries include wildlife and natural history films. It starts by talking about two books, both of which challenge the notation. This section talks a lot about how Americans probably think that and expect nature films to be like the real thing, when in reality they are very "made up" and not very well portrayed, much so like a fantasy. Most films on wildlife are focused on Darwinian topics or on animal relationships. Because of this portrayal, it can be hard to have boundaries between the use of these films as entertainment or for the sciences as an educational tool.


Framing Environmental Degradation
This section of the article discusses how films go about showing the deterioration of the environment. It said that most of the time, it's easiest to establish a problem briefly, while all the while examining the solutions. It gave an example of keystone species in an area, in which they are indicators of a healthy ecosystem, because they require more space and more resources. The article gave two examples of films that talk about degradation. In the movie, Since the Company Came, a Malaysian logging company has been cutting and exporting tropical limber. In the film, they talk to the loggers, the townspeople, men and women, and get their thoughts on what the logging is doing to the culture and environment. The film depicts women who are not for the logging for the purposes of wanting clean water and wanting to continue to be able to eating fish from the water. The loggers themselves often said that they were thinking about the future and how this would effect their lives. The second film, Second Nature: Bulding Forests in West Africa's Savannas, focused on how they differed from the normal narratives and broader aspects of environmental degradation. A quote from the book said that the film "uncritically place blame on local ecological mismanagement and overpopulation" rather than thinking about the problem in a more worldwide tone.

Visualizing Green Crusades
Films often raise questions of how and what strategies will work to help us to save the environment. Save the Panda and The Rhino War are both documentaries which use images of wildlife, music, and dramatic story lines of destruction and redemption to get peoples attention. The article stated however, that they both brought a new aspect to the film, a person who is trying to help save the animals and their environment. "These films confirm two basic points famliar to natural history film audiences: (1) that proper conservation is to set up pakrs managed by experts and patrolled by armed guards, supported by efforts to educate locals about natural resources while keeping them separate from each other; and (2) that individuals, with the appropriate knowledge (science) and equipment (radio transmitters and guns) can make a difference." I think that in saying that, the films are trying to show that anyone can go out and make a difference and help, all you need is the proper equipment and training. Another type of film that is used is "green primitive." In these films, it is shown that we can live in harmony with nature. They often create romantic visions of what the environment and its surroundings can be like. The problem with these types of films, is that the people in it claim to represent the agency and often deny the voices.

My Thoughts
I thought that this article was very intereresting to read. It showed that we do need documentaries and films on the environement and environment related topics, but how and what to put in them is still very contraversial and may not always be relevant to what we actually need in them. I really liked this quote from the article, "So there is growing realization that conservation is not simply about what kind of nature activists imagine or know they want to preserve or restore; it is also an important arena in which they, explicitly, project and reimagine community, political-economic relationships, and social justice." With this growing knowledge, hopefully we will be able to see a really effective way of getting the word out about the environment and how we can help it! There has to be a way that we can get out the important topics and show the need for them. This article definitely made me open my eyes to the fact that we need to find these ways as soon as possible.

Some Terms
nonmediagenic mechanisms: I couldn't find nonmediagenic... but I found medagnic, so I'd just put the word not in front of it to take place of the non.
Not attractive and appealing to viewers and readers of the news media

archetypal: A stereotype or oversimplification

Environmental Degradation: The deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife.

Matrilineage: Line of descent as traced through women on the maternal side of a family.

I found this website called, The Environment A Global Challenge, that I thought was pretty cool. It talks about Environmental degradation, something that I'm interested in! Check it out!

Welcome to Heather's Healthy Environment!

Picture Taken By Ashley Penrod

Hey there! My name is Heather and I am a Community Health Education major and a Psychology minor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. This blog is going to focus on the environment and health! Mostly, about why the environment is good for your health and a necessary part of keeping you healthy!

There are 5 possible types of posts on my blog. They include:

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Reviews
5. Share and Voice

If you notice at the bottom of this post, the categories will be listed as labels. This post is has been labeled with all five kinds of posts. You will also see the number of each kind of post in my Labels Gadget at the top of the page. All post titles from now on will begin with one of the categories above.

The members of my web group are:

1. Steve @ Steve Goes Green
   
2. Christen @ Christen's Environmental Health
   
3. Kaileigh @ Kaileigh's Nature Log
   
4. Kathy @ Choh's Changing Environment
   
5. Shar @ Shar's Virtual Environment
   

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