WARNING GMOs INCLUDED

In our final unit of our Food class we focused on percent changes and GMOs. In this action project I present my opinion on GMOs and why they should be banned. I present some facts on how they negatively affect communities, farmers, and the environment. I really enjoyed this unit because we gt to see some great field experiences, like one to the Green City Market. I hope you enjoy.

Food: GMO Debate- IF from GCE Lab School on Vimeo.

95% of the United States’ grown sugar beets are genetically modified along with 94% of soybeans also being genetically modified. Soybeans are a large part of the American diet, so having this alarming amount of genetically modified soybeans brings up risks that can still be solved. GMOs should no longer be put into the diets of the global population. GMOs are expensive to both the farmer and the people buying it. GMOs make food desserts more common while also creating monocultures.

Genetically modified foods can be very expensive for farmers and various buyers of the foods. Farmers are sinking into debt with their equity decreasing and their debt levels rising 5.2% in 2017. Growers first sign a contract with a company that will sell their food but the equity rates keep getting lower and lower so the farmers fall into debt and they can’t leave the contract otherwise they won’t get paid. Genetically modified food is also affecting consumers of the products. Most foods that are genetically modified tend to be unhealthy, which is difficult for families to deal with. When you are a low income family your number one choice would be to buy food that is both filling and cheap instead of the expensive and small. The filling and cheap foods are so mass produced that the small healthy foods need to compete against the mass produced unhealthy foods. Still being a low income family you eventually need to cope with the unhealthy diet and obtain expensive medication. None of this would be necessary if GMOs were banned in food products.

GMOs can also cause food deserts where it can be difficult to obtain healthy foods. Food deserts typically exist in low income areas where people don’t have the money to buy locally grown food that isn’t just genetically modified foods that have been stuffed with preservatives. The low income areas usually obtain their food from cheap places that is filling and cheap, like I mentioned in the last argument the filling and cheap meals aren’t local and aren’t healthy causing these families to be unhealthy or overweight. GMOs lead to food deserts because genetically modified foods get put into low income communities so they have lower prices than organic food. Organic healthy food doesn’t sell at high prices when you can still get inorganic GMO food at low prices in low income communities, therefore making unhealthy food deserts.

Genetically modified foods are also creating monocultures. Monocultures are when one type of plant is being grown way too much and if a disease were to happen then it could possibly destroy that entire species for a short time period. GMOs cause monocultures by creating a high demand for one type of food like corn. This high demand of corn is making farmers grow more corn; the more corn grown the higher the risk of a disease wiping out the large amount of GMOs. Potatoes in Ireland fell due to a monoculture in the 1840s and the Irish starved because of it; this will most likely not happen as drastically as it happened to the Irish but it will impact us if corn gets wiped out. Corn is in everything from pop tarts, batteries, magazines, and cereal. Monocultures definitely will not be helping out our global food system.

This graph represents the rising amounts of corn being grown in Iowa compared to other foods. Orange represents the total  amount of cropping land corn is taking up. This data is only taking place in the years of 1956 - 1962. The percentage of total cropping land being occupied by corn is at 60% in 1956 an it had gone up to 64% in only 6 years; this is a percent increase of 4%. Both percentages show that we already have over half of all the pants being grown into a monoculture.

"Graph" IF 2017

A common argument use among GMO supports is that using GMOs are cheaper than growing organic food. It may at first seem this way but there are actually a lot of underlying cost to farmers. Farmers are buying GMOs, pesticides, and herbicides to grow the best plants. The more we implement GMOs into our food the more costly it gets for farmers. 

Genetically modified food should no longer be dispensed to the public because even if it is labeled it will inevitably be the number one choice for a lot of lower income people. These low income people suffer from both an unhealthy diet and can’t travel to get a better one when living in a food desert. Above all genetically modified foods are still being used today, but the underlying truth of the damage it has caused has greatly affected everyone. GMOs need to be removed from the shelves of stores and in the hands of fast food companies and replaced with local organic foods that are safe for everyone. GMOs need to be removed from food for the betterment of our low income communities and to lower the risk of a food wipe out.

Food, Inc. By Robert Kenner, Robert Kenner, Robert Kenner, Richard Pearce, Eric Schlosser, Eric Schlosser, Melissa Robledo, William Pohlad, Jeff Skoll, Robin Schorr, Diane Weyermann, Elise Pearlstein, Elise Pearlstein, Kim Roberts, Kim Roberts, Michael Pollan, Michael Pollan, Gary Hirshberg, Joel Salatin, and Mark Adler. Dir. Richard Pearce. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2017.

Weise, Elizabeth. "Genetically engineered foods Q & A." USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, 28 Oct. 2012. Web. 29 May 2017.

"Assets, Debt, and Wealth." USDA ERS - Assets, Debt, and Wealth. N.p., 17 Mar. 2017. Web. 29 May 2017.

Secret Agent Leavening

In Our second action project of out Food class we studied and experimented with cooking to learn about how leavening agents react with bread along with learning and experiencing new math concepts. I really enjoyed how we got to make and cook the bread ourselves, which made it completely reliant on ourselves.(made it a learning experience) I hope you enjoy.

Leavening Agents
IF

Partners: JN DS
May 11, 2017

Our job in this action project was to make bread using different leavening agents and compare how much they rise. One loaf is using yeast (control) as a leavening agent, another is using the sourdough starter (experimental 1), and the last one is using baking soda (experimental 2). These leavening agents would help us answer the research question: Which leavening agent is the most effective when it comes to making the dough rise? I hypothesized that the baking soda loaf would rise the highest because it is a chemical leavening agent that wouldn’t take much time to rise and I’ve had experience with seeing the difference in rising between baking soda and yeast. Baking soda is a chemical leavening agent while yeast is a biological leavening agent. Chemical agents are live and release CO2 as a chemical reaction, while yeast is alive and eats glucose to put out CO2 as a waste.

Calculations

These are the calculations we made for transferring the original recipes for making each loaf of bread. The change factor for converting the sourdough to our one loaf was x ¼. For baking soda, it was all the same. Yeast change factor was x .25.

Sourdough (experimental 1)

Flour:10 divided by 4 = 2 ½ cups of water
Water: 4 cups divided by 4 = 1 cup of water
Salt: 3 ½ teaspoons divided by 4 =  ⅞  teaspoons
Starter: ¾ cups divided by 4 = 19/100  cups (3 tablespoons)

Baking Soda (experimental 2)

Flour - 3 ½ cups x 1 = 3 ½ cups
Salt - 1 teaspoon x 1 = 1 teaspoon
Baking soda - 1 teaspoon x 1 = 1 teaspoon
Buttermilk - 2 cups x 1 = 2 cups
Sugar - 1 teaspoon x 1 = 1 teaspoon

Yeast (control)
Yeast - 1.5 tablespoons x .25 = ⅜ tablespoons
Water - 3 cups x .25 = ¾ cups
Flour - 7 cups x .25 = 1.75 cups
Salt - 1 tablespoon x .25 = .25 tablespoons

A few different variables came into play while making the breads. I constructed a table show the different variables that needed to occur to fit the needs of the recipe.

Variable	Control Group (yeast)	Experimental Group 1(Sour Dough)	Experimental Group 2(Baking Soda Bread)
Flour type	All purpose flour	All purpose flour	All purpose flour
Dough rise time	4 hours	15-60 minutes	5 min
Oven temperature	450 degrees Fahrenheit	500 degrees Fahrenheit	450 degrees Fahrenheit
Bake time	25 - 30 min	2 hours or 120 minutes	40 min
Dough amount	7 by 5 by 2.5	6 ½ by 4 by 2= 52 inches 3	8 by 8 by 2.5
Other			BUTTERMILK

Procedure

Sourdough:
1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Mix all the ingredients together except for the salt
3. Knead dough for 10 minutes
4. Let dough rise for 15 - 60 minutes
5. Bake dough for 35 minutes

Baking soda:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Mix all ingredients together
3. Let the dough rise for 5 minutes
4. Bake for 40 minutes

Yeast:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Mix ingredients together
3. Let dough rise for 4 hours
4. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes

Results

Sourdough: After baking the sourdough, the bread crust ended up being really hard and had to be cracked open. The inside of the bread was also very tough but felt moist like play dough. Despite both the outside and inside of the bread feeling like a play dough filled rock, it didn't look burnt at all. The inside was the same color as whole wheat bread and the outside looked like it could've been white bread. (photos below) It was 3 inches tall and tasted really salty because we had accidentally put in 3 extra tablespoons of salt into it.

 "Bread" IF 2017

"More Bread" If 2017

Yeast: The yeast leavened bread ended up looking somewhat burnt, and was pretty under cooked on the inside. The bread tasted pretty normal, but of course still gave off a crispy burnt taste. The final height of the bread ended up being 3 inches tall also.

Baking soda: The baking soda bread overall tasted really good. The texture wasn't super soft nor super tough. The outside of the bread was really crispy and almost crunchy like a baguette. It tasted as plain as bread could get, this seems like the type of bread that needs to be served along with something else. The final product of the baking soda bread ended up being only 2.5 inches tall.

"Baking Powder Bread" IF 2017

I created a graph to see the difference between the original volume and the final volume after baking the breads.

"Graph" IF 2017

Nutrition     

These are the calculations for how much daily nutrition you get from sourdough bread along with the total percentage of how much nutrients the bread provides.The average adult should have the following amounts in each of the following categories. The second list shows the percentage of calories, carbohydrates, fat, and protein are in the bread in percentage form according to the daily average adult nutrient intake.

calories- 2000
carbohydrates- 100 grams
fat- 78 grams
protein- 56 grams                  

calories - 1123/ 2000 = .56 x 100 = 56.15%
carbohydrates - 24/ 100 = .24 x 100 = 24%
fat - .75/ 78 = .0096 x 100 = 0.96%
protein -  30/ 56 = .53 x 100 = 53%

Conclusion/ Analysis

Overall we created some bread that was pretty good and was also not super amazing. The sourdough bread that our group had baked turned out really under cooked on the first attempt and really salty and hard on our second attempt. The bread on the first attempt tasted like sourdough but the inside of the loaf was not cooked completely. We only had time to have two attempts so we analyzed the outcome from the second batch because the first attempt was because of an effect on the leavening agents, while the second mistake didn’t affect the leavening agents. I hope to never make the same mistakes again when baking bread, I'm just glad that the data that came out of the experiment is still valid and wasn't effected by the two attempts. Next time I plan to pay more attention to what I'm doing and what my group is doing to make sure it is going right.

My hypothesis was correct, the baking soda did turn out to have the most growth of 1.5 inches. It had the most growth from it's original height compared to the yeast which had grown 1 inch from it's original height, and the sourdough which had grown only .5 inches from it's original. This makes sense because baking soda is commonly used to make lighter/ more fluffy foods, like chewy cookies or lemon margarine pie while yeast and sourdough is not. 

Growing a Guerrilla Garden

In our first unit of our new class Food we focused on what plants do to survive, the chemistry of plants, and calculations to focus on what would would be good plants for a garden. This unit really showed me how important some small plants are to this huge world of 7 billion people. I really enjoyed learning through this unit and going on a field experience to learn about how it is to supply food that is locally grown. More on the science side of this unit, we learned about how plants take in nutrients, how plants work together to "co-evolve", and what plants defend themselves along with hurt each other. I hope you enjoy.

"Raised bed" July 31 2007 Srl 

Plants might not seem to be the most exciting type of organism in the world, but they certainly do pack a punch when it comes to defending themselves, attacking others and overall fighting for survival. In order for plants to survive a healthy life in a garden they need the right amount of growing area, other plants in the area that work well with the plant, and the necessary nutrients they need to live.

This garden will be in the North side of Chicago in my front yard and will be outside with the elements to support it along with me caring for the plants. My garden will be in the front portion of my house, this portion is 6 ft x 4 ft so I have a total of 24 sq ft to use for my garden of ten plants. I decided to put these ten plants into my garden: beets, beans, carrots, cauliflower, eggplant, corn, celery, garlic, lettuce, and onions. The most important plant in this garden to help out all the other plants are the nitrogen fixer that is the beans. All types of legumes (beans are legumes) are nitrogen fixers which means that the nitrogen needed for the plants gets to those the easiest and quickest, allowing the other plants to take more nitrogen from microbes. Plants that stand tall like the corn are excellent for the beans to grow up, the relationship/symbiosis for the corn and the beans is mutual-ism because they are both helping each other survive.

Also while learning about plants’ survival and companionship we read the book One Straw Revolution and learned from the author (Masanobu Fukuoka) about his natural farming methods. Fukuoka's methods included not using any pesticides, herbicides, mechanical plowing, and chemical fertilizer. For my garden I should be able to bypass using the pesticides, herbicides, mechanical plowing, and chemical fertilizer; my garden wouldn't require any of these potentially harmful methods. My garden is only 24 square feet so plowing wouldn't be necessary and I wouldn't want to be eating the chemicals from the plant. I should be fine going all natural like Fukuoka.

Now to get more focused on the math and science part of creating a garden and growing plants for the garden. I plan on planting a garden in my front yard in the area that is 72 in x 48 in which is an area of 3,456 in squared, which is more than perfect for planting more than 10 plants. I also included three different containers (Bucket, box, and bottle) that I could grow plants in; with one of the containers having the total volume of 283.73 inches ( cubed, another one having a volume of 265.46 inches cubed, and the last one having a volume of 753.05 inches cubed.This means the total volume of them all is 1,302.04 inches cubed.

Calculations:
Pi x 4.25 squared x 5 = 283.73 in cubed Total = 1,302.24 in cubed
Pi x 3.5 squared x 8.25 = 265.46 in cubed
Pi x 5.75 squared x 7.25 = 753.05 in cubed

I also found that the total surface area of the three containers was 975.08 inches squared. Another important step to keeping a garden alive is making sure your plants are getting the right nutrients. I found I had a few unbalanced nutrients in my soil so I knew that I needed to change and monitor my planting soil. These calculations showed be how much of each nutrient I needed to add according to the size of my garden.

Nitrogen = 7 lbs /100 sq ft = 1.68 lbs for 24 sq ft
Phosphorus = 5 lbs/100 sq ft = 1.2 lbs/ 24 sq ft
Potassium = .5 lbs / 100 sq ft = .12 lbs/ 24 sq ft

I really enjoyed doing this project because it really showed me the power of plants and why they are so important to our society. If one plant species like corn gets wiped out we won’t have magazines, Twinkies, skateboards, or beef. I would really love to implement a garden into our home, and after doing this project I think I will, especially after getting so informed about plants and what they need to live. I might not be able to follow the exact garden plan I had shown earlier because I might not have the necessary resources to build my ideal garden.