Sustainability Winter 2009 Class 17 Jeff Fletcher

Logistics 1 on 1 meetings today –If missed last time, be sure to see me after class to reschedule Reminders for next time: –Read Omnivore’s Dilemma Ch. 8 and 9 –HW 5 due next class –Guest Speaker: Tom Ricciardi

Discussion on King Corn What did you learn? Most memorable facts? Does it change the way you look at your food? How much of your spending goes towards food? –Groceries vs. eating out? Earl Butz effort to end hunger vs. “Subsidizing Happy Meals not Healthy Meals”

Corn and Corporations Cargill and ADM buy 1/3 of corn in America 3/5 of grown corn goes to feed animals in factory farms “Industrial thinking over logic of evolution” 4 companies butcher 4/5 cows in America

Diseases From Food Besides diseases of overconsumption and bad diets Most common foodborne infections (from CDC) –Bacteria: Campylobacter, Salmonella, and E. coli O157:H7CampylobacterSalmonellaE. coli O157:H7 –Viruses: Norwalk and Norwalk-like viruses.Norwalk –Occasionally foodborne, infections by Shigella, hepatitis A, and the parasites Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidia, tapeworms. Shigella hepatitis AGiardia lamblia Cryptosporidia Foodborne toxins –pesticides, herbicides –Natural toxins: Bacteria grow on food: Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium botulinum. Harmful even after cooking and bacteria have been killedClostridium botulinum Other: poisonous mushrooms; poisonous reef fish Fungi that grow on foods, e.g. peanuts

Biological Reproduction Differences Basic Transcription and Translation of DNA into ProteinBasic Transcription and Translation of DNA into Protein Bacteria –Most scientists consider this LIFE: a living organism Viruses –Some scientist consider this LIFE, many don’t Multi-cell parasites –GiardiaGiardia –TapewormsTapeworms

New Form of Disease Causing Agent Protein Structure (e.g. Hemoglobin)Protein Structure Hemoglobin Prions (proteinaceous infectious particles)Prions Stanley Prusiner first coined the word and first proposed that these infectious proteins were the cause of the disease scrapie in sheep and more importantly Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Prusiner also proposed that the way that this protein multiplied was not though genetic information like DNA or RNA, but rather through the conformation change of normal proteins into rogue proteins. Affects nerve cells in mammals –Cannot Kill –Not neutralized by digestion, cooking, even normal autoclaving –Kills nerve cells, but slow process

Consequences of Cheap Corn Policies? In groups construct a causal diagram –Include as many details as you have time for Both positive and negative effects Capture as many of the intermediary steps as possible Example: Cows eating corn –What are upstream causes? Farmers get paid more the more they grow, more corn on market drives down price, cattle raisers go for cheapest calories. More subtle: USDA grades corn fed beef higher –What are down stream consequences? Cows get sick (bloat, acidosis), need antibiotics, increased resistance, increased human disease, need for more expensive antibiotics More subtle: acid environment causes E. coli and other bacteria to evolve to be acid resistant, so if humans eat these bacteria are not killed, leads to more human infections