Annotated Bibliographies (Senior Project)

"San Diego Zoo's Animal Bytes: California Condor."Welcome to the San Diego Zoo. 21 Oct. 2009 .

The California Condor has its biggest threat from humans by the destruction of its habitat, hunting, and lead poisoning. this site gives plenty of information on the habitat of this creature and how it is being helped so that the condor isn't endangered anymore. It also gives a variety facts about the condor which we can use so that we have basic knowledge and can craft questions to our interviewee about the condor that we may not be able to find the answers to online.

"San Diego Zoo Conservation Research." Welcome to the San Diego Zoo. 21 Oct. 2009 .

This site is good because it various links to different articles written by the San Diego's Zoo Conservation Center about the condor and how it is being reintroduced into the wild. They also give information on how they are helping to provide a path way that can help this animal from becoming extinct. This site also provides descriptions of projects they are currently working on to help the bird be safer when released back into their natural habitat.

"NPCA | California Condor."National Parks Conservation Association | Protecting Our National Parks for Future Generations. 21 Oct. 2009 .

I liked this site because it gave information about how the condor is trying to survive in their own habitat. It gives lots of facts and even provides a brief history about the condor's living arrangements and how i cares for its young. Basically, I really like this site because it gives lots of facts that we will need to know in order to do our project.

"California Condor Reintroduction Program in Big Sur California." Big Sur Chamber of Commerce, Big Sur Lodging, Accommodations, Camping. 21 Oct. 2009

This site is informative and it provides information through informative videos. This site solely focuses on the history of the condor and how it is relevant in the native american culture. There is a video on this site that is dedicated to lead affecting the California condor. I think we will be able to get plenty of information from this site.

Fair Trade Essay


With today’s global food industries, there are many things that may concern the nation. We focus on our food quality, what it does to us on the outside and some of us, if wise, are concerned with what it does to us on the inside as well. When it comes to food, we all have our different standards which sway us to purchase our food from different sources. Some of us choose organic from a farmer’s market while others may go with industrialized, genetical modified produce from the grocery store. Whatever it may be, many of us don’t take the time to think about where the food was grown and the daily tasks and trading farmers did to get that food to you. The act in which a farmer sells his goods to a retailer without tax, a fixed amount, or other restrictions is called free trade. Free trade is good because it helps farmers earn a fair price on their produce and it enforces environmental laws and labor rights by providing a relationship between the farmer and it’s retailer.

Farmers and farm workers benefit from fair trade in several ways. One being the labor conditions. Farmers that are involved in fair trade organizations are labor enforced which means no child labor and reasonable work hours. They receive a fair living wage and safe working conditions. According to Trans Fair Trade USA, another benefit farmers working with fair trade is that they democratically get to determine how much their revenues will be.

The difference between conventional supplying and fair trade is that with conventional supply there are many unnecessary middle men involved which allows the farmer to not receive a fair price on their produce. They get a lower price because according to the site “Green America” conventional suppliers go through at least eight different divisions before it finally gets to you. With fair trade, they eliminate as many of those divisions as possible which Green America counted as a difference of four.

Not only in the U.S, but individuals from other countries don’t make enough money from their produce. In an article I read about a cocoa farmer in Ghana she doesn’t nearly make enough to support her family by selling her cocoa beans to the Ghanaian government. This results in her being cheated out of her hard work and get little for it. Herself and other cocoa farmers decided to band together to make their own company which sells the cocoa beans and in turn, makes them well over what they were making before and the excess amount of money goes to making improving their community.

One type of farming that benefits from fair trade are the small scale farmers. Small scale farmers have made an impact on several areas in the U.S. According to SPIN-farming (sub-acre plot intensive) “farming as a small business in cities and suburbs and attempts to remove the two largest barriers for new farmers--land and capital”. By doing this it ensures that farmers are more passionate about their farming while promoting sustainability and entrepreneurship. The local buyer benefits from this because he or she knows that what they are getting are healthy, non commercial, industrialized crops.

The arch-rival of fair trade and the local small scale farms are factory farms. Factory farming use commodities such as feed, fuel fertilizer, and pesticides to produce their crops. With industrial agriculture, the focus is on how much is produced rather then the quality of them and keeping the cost of production low while doing so. Although cost of food is low when we purchase it, there are many downsides to this way of farming. One being the sue of pesticides, according to the ucusa.org site it states: “Farms that grow one or two crops inevitably invite pests and usually require heavy doses of insecticides and herbicides to control them.” By consuming pesticides it harms our body. The EPA says “pesticides block the body's uptake of nutrients critical for proper growth and wreak havoc on development by permanently altering the way a child's system functions”. Some experts even go as far to say that it may disrupt the development of a child’s central nervous system.

Another disadvantage to industrial farming is the way the animals are raised. Unlike the imagery of a red barn with cows roaming freely, its quite the opposite. The EPA states that an animal will live up to 45 days in a confined space with no vegetation or grass. There is a large number of a specific type of animal that are stored closely with one another. Within a confined space, that means no fresh air or sunlight for these animals. Also, rather then using the manure as a compost for the soil, it is mixed with the urine and outside water and either stored under the facility or in an air lagoon outside. This releases fumes that poison the air, pollute the water, and release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

With industrial agriculture, this usually leaves one cooperation to decide and run how the farm which includes production, materials used to grow the crops, and control over the animals within that farm area. This also forces smaller local farmers around them to work with the industrial farm under a contract which forces them to raise and grow their crops the way they would on the larger industrial farm.

The good news is you can make a difference in this process by supporting the fair trade products. Instead of buying the normal industrial food, opt for the purchase that's labeled “fair trade certified”. It can be found among various products such as vanilla, olive oil, sugar, coffee, bananas, and others. This will support the smaller local farms while at the same time benefiting your health by knowing that you are consuming food that is pesticide free. The farmers from the small scale farm would be happy as well.


* "Cool Planet - Fair Trade in Action, Cocoa farmers in Ghana." Oxfam GB - leading charity working to end global poverty. 14 Oct. 2009 .

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"Factory Farming." Sustainable Table. 14 Oct. 2009 .
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"Industrial Agriculture: Features and Policy | Union of Concerned Scientists." Homepage | Union of Concerned Scientists. 14 Oct. 2009 .

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"Pesticides and Food and other health resources - FamilyEducation.com." Family Life, Child Development, Nutrition, Teen Health & School Safety - FamilyEducation.com. 14 Oct. 2009 .

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Petrucci, Joe. " The Neo-Agrarians: Small-scale Farming, Large-scale Economic Impact ." Keystone Edge: Home . 14 Oct. 2009 .

* "Green America's Fair Trade Program: Economic Action to create a just global economy." Green America: Economic Action for a Just Planet. 9 Oct. 2009 . http://www.greenamericatoday.org/programs/fairtrade/>.

* "Green America:Fair Trade:Fair Trade Products." Green America: Economic Action for a Just Planet. 14 Oct. 2009 .

More Annotated Bibliographies

"Green America's Fair Trade Program: Economic Action to create a just global economy." Green America: Economic Action for a Just Planet. 9 Oct. 2009 . http://www.greenamericatoday.org/programs/fairtrade/>.

This site is about fair trade and what it is. The site is for a program called “Green America”, it helps ensure that the farmers are involved in the market that their product is being sold to and makes sure that they get a fair price, while at the same time making sure labor laws are enforced and environmental standards are kept up. This site gives information about prices for the farmers, where the money goes and what it supports, and how it affects the buyers and sellers.

"Farm Pollution and Waste." The University of Reading. 9 Oct. 2009 <www.ecifm.rdg.ac.uk/farm_waste.htm/>.

This site gives information and graphs about the use of farm waste and how much we have. It also talks about what happens to the waste and why it is bad for Earth. It also demonstrates how the pollutants in the waste travels in a cycle and gets carried throughout different parts of the area, such as how it can get into the water. Some sources of the waste, according to this article, are pesticides, fertilizers, waste milk, organic matter, and others. This is a good site because it provides plenty of information on the waste from farms.

"Why is deep tilling bad for your garden soil?." Helpful Advice & Tips for Your Organic Garden. 9 Oct. 2009 .

http://www.organicherbgardenonline.com/organic-gardening/why-is-deep-tilling-bad-for-your-organic-garden-soil-18/

This article is talking about the bad effects of deep tilling with machinery your soil. It gives the good examples of why tilling your soil may be a good idea and it also gives why it’s a bad. According to the article, when you deep till your soil use machinery you cut up your soil but you also cut up the worms in the soil which is an essential part of good organic soil. It also gives an example of how you can till your soil but do it in a way that your soil remains “healthy”.

Farmer in Chief Reflection

After reading the article I thought it was very thought provoking. Although he brought up many good points on why we need to change our eating habits or the ways to go about changing our food resources, I thought the solutions he provided were very unrealistic on a large scale. I think the main reason why people don’t particularly care about where their food comes from or how its made is because they are uninformed. I think in order to get food to a place where it is more natural instead of industrialized the first step we need to take is to inform the public and make it more aware such as promoting it through commercials like the “non smoking” people do. I think the best we can do right now is inform people. During the discussion in class, much was brought up about people having their own garden so they can grow their food and cook it themselves and in turn be more “healthy”. To me, that seems unrealistic because I feel not everyone is going to want to plant their own garden or maybe not everyone cares about the health risks that come with eating fast food everyday. The main problem with trying to fix the food industry and making it more organic and healthy is that people are going to do what they want, and what they want is connivence. If they have the money then I’m sure they would much rather go out and buy a meal then spend two hours making it.

Another point that he made in the article was about the cost of shipping food to different places in the world. In the article I remember him talking about how they catch fish in Alaska, send it to China to be filleted, then send it to California to be bought and consumed. That is very impractical. My question is why do they do that? Why can’t the fish be filleted here? I’m sure there are people in the U.S that know how to fillet a fish. I would think that the cost to do all that labor here in one country would be cheaper then sending it to another and back.

I agree with his idea of teaching younger children how to make more health conscious decisions when it comes to food. I think what we need to do is teach the future generations because they are the ones that will see more of the after effects of our actions now and maybe be able to stop them. Investing money in school programs so that they can teach children in school would be a good way to get children learn about this. Or maybe not even teaching them how to grow a garden but rather how to pick the more healthy choice while in the grocery store buying food. Either way think its the future generations that we should be informing.

After all this reading I feel like I read stuff that I already knew. Unfortunately, I probably won't be planting a garden anytime soon but I think I will definitely teach my children to be more healthy when it comes to food.

Questions From the Garden

-How is the irrigation system coming along?

-Are there any gophers that can eat our plants? If so, what are we going to do about it?

-When are we going to begin planting?

-What if our plant doesn't grow fast enough?

-What if our plant doesn't grow at all?

-Do we have all the tools needed already?

-Is the shed securely locked?

-Is it true that the canopy of a tree is also how far the roots grow?