HUMANITIES 11

“Eating is an Agricultural Act?” The Ethics of Food and Eating

The food Project asked us to examine the sources of our food. Taking a look at the ethical constitutions of various food chains available to the modern human forced us to analyze our own roles and desires regarding food and its global impacts a.k.a. defining our own ‘food ethic’. The Food ethic project coincided with my ideas from the Philosophy unit we did last quarter wherein I changed my diet. I concluded that my philosophy project should have a legitimate positive impact. One way I thought I could do this was to stop purchasing meat from industrial manufacturers. Reading ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ this quarter enlightened me to the way ethically farmed cattle is raised and since then I have changed my food ethic to include sustainably farmed beef. The other day I enjoyed some James Ranch beef in fact. I was also really pleased to find grass fed milk in the supermarket- which I never would have reached for before reading Pollan’s book because it is a tad more expensive. This I think was a huge take away for me from this project- responsible food costs more…. and it is worth it!

Reading ‘The Omnivore's Dilemma’ and watching ‘Fed Up’ I was shocked at the abundance of corn and corn based sugars until learning about the different types of fats and sugars in chemistry helped me to understand their versatility and therefore their worth in food production. It was interesting to recognize that a certain compound was chemically valuable and entirely another to see how its worth impacted the earth’s systems and the lives of the people who produced it. I think the true interdisciplinary part of this project came for me when I started my internship at Adobe House Farms. At my internship I am learning how a plant goes from a seed to a packaged item ready for sale- all on one small piece of land. My favorite part is meeting all of the people who are connected to and invested in the farm. I am becoming part of the local- organic food chain described in ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’.

I feel like I was asking these questions when I became responsible for feeding myself. The ‘Food Ethic’ project gave me a lot of answers about the general branches of food delivery and even more questions about the future of food systems and agriculture. This project has left me feeling more equipped to responsibly procure my food and be a little better global citizen.

Philosophy Project

So my first philosophy project was actually my decision to go vegetarian. I wanted to make sure my project had a real positive impact on the world. Since we studied existentialism and accepting absurdity I was suddenly aware again how rare and beautiful life actually is and my short time in which I have influence over it. I guess the question I asked myself was ‘How am I affecting the world negatively right now?’ And one answer among many was that I supported the mass manufacturing of animals.

Then I was inspired to make an art piece out of these two sheets of paper which read ‘this page intentionally left blank’ on an otherwise blank white sheet of paper. After reading Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Cat’s Cradle’ I thought that that was a very Bokonistic way of describing existence. I thought that the pages by themselves were kind of ignoring the elephant in the room which is the astounding beauty and diversity of life, so that is what I tried to represent in a gold-framed collage in the center. I put one page on the left to represent what is before birth and one page on the right to represent what comes afterlife.

I think this unit really helped me synthesize the thoughts I have been having about my existence my whole life. I was able to see how my opinion had evolved from being a militant atheist to becoming an open-minded agnostic to having a spiritual awakening and I had to try to reconcile these into one cohesive philosophy about life. I had to accept that there are gaping holes and some very mushy parts in the meaning of life. I look forward to maybe finding something which will answer these unknowns but I am totally fine always being answerless as I am today.

Some questions not answered but spurred from this study of philosophy are…

Should we continue making AI if we know there is a possibility of creating consciousness?
If we do create consciousness, does that make us god? Who gets to make the rules?
Is it a ‘good’ idea to extend our consciousnesses beyond our bodies’ lives?
Is it possible to be a completely moral person on an earth of 8 billion? In such a big world the probability that you are somehow doing harm to someone somewhere is high.