Nourish, A Reflection

Whenever you go shopping, what do you look for whenever you shop for products? Well, one of the new trends that has just been emerging on certain organic foods is using the Fair trade symbol to show consumers that what they are buying is indeed fairly traded so that the farmers that make these goods will get the right amount of profits for their goods that they should be. In the film Nourish, this is one of the key and main points that are being emphasized in today's economy so that the farmers can get the profits they deserve. In my hometown, there is a small local Business, I have a bean, that is certified by the Fair Trade Association so that they can give farmers their equal amount. I have a bean is aimed at helping prisoners to get themselves out of jail in hopes that they can use this job as a platform to go back into the labor force.  It really is interesting to see how Fair Trade works  to be a bipartisan between the consumers and bean farmers around the world to make everyone be equal and get the profits that they deserve.

Another way of trying to get more involved with helping small businesses, or just local shops so that they too can be a certified Fair trade organization. One way of doing this is by going to local farmers market's, or food auctions. This is a main point that the film emphasizes due to the fact that by buying local in not just businesses but as well as farmers that you are helping support some of the locals so that they can continue to have an income. By doing this, it not only allows the cultural traditions of food markets to stay alive in small towns, but it also helps other in that they can keep traditions of harvests alive and well.

By participating in buying locally grown food, it tends to be fresher than normal, but with a higher price added to it. Having this higher price on goods can sometimes be a minor setback for most people who want to buy goods since prices drive everything in a market, but bear in mind that the extra money you are spending is going towards helping support your community. Most people don't take this into account when buying fresh items such as fish in an auction what could happen if these markets weren't available. Overall, the movie was good to help inform and show others what they can do to help make small changes to help their local economies if people were unsure of how they could help.

Happy Meal resists Decomposition

Over thanksgiving break, one of my main chores that I was responsible for was turning over a compost pile periodicially so that whatever was in it would decompose properly. Little did I know that like other things, Mcdonalds Happy meal's resists decomposition just as much as vegetables.When I first saw this, it definetly shocked me at how weird it was that something that we consume so often and maybe too much of cna affect our health so greatly. If a Happy meal resists decomposition, then how could it ever digest in our own stomachs? Seriously, how many preservatives, fillers does it take to make a food not only taste good, but just kill you in every way? There is seriously something wrong with society if you leave food out and it wont mold...then there is clearly something wrong with that food, not nature.I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Mcdonalds for a number of reasons, but knowing that meat wont get rotten or bread wont grow mold makes me have a few second thoughts on most of America's fast food, especiallly as college students who are alawys being rushed to do everything.We are alawys in a hurry and what better to eat than Mcdonalds? Cheap, affordable, and fast, but are the health effects even worth it to risk? Something is definetly wrong when your food doesent act right in ideal conditions, and its not just cause of global warming casuing the mold to "magicially not be there".

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101012/bs_yblog_upshot/mcdonalds-happy-meal-resists-decomposition-for-six-months

Into the Wild, A Reflection.

Being in a society can impose traditions, or events that can make some people more edgy to what they see happen to a society in a given time frame. In Into the Wild, one of the main themes that can be portrayed very well is rejecting to conform to society's own ways, so that one can be themselves and not be like everyone else. While watching this, one song that I had immediately thought of was Kanye West's Lost in the World where he talks about not knowing what to do as seen by the lines:

"I‘m up in the woods, I’m down on my mind
 I’m building a still to slow down the time"

saying that he needs to go back into nature to rediscover his own self, or find his mind.Also, he wants to have a stillshot, just like the one at the very end of the film.

You can listen to to song at the link below:
http://soundcloud.com/jdelmoral/lost-in-the-world-kanye-west


As I was watching this movie, this theme seemed to keep on reoccuring in many different ways and seemed very intrigueing to see how the main character Chris had first done everything according to society: ie get good grades, graduate from college, have a stable life....and then immideatly decided that this wasen't the way he wanted to live his life. He was seeking after something more powerfull than society could ever offer him, something that he if he wanted to get in touch with he would have to give up everything that most people consider valuable to expose himself to what most cannot get in touch with: God. In the begenning of the movie, one of the main quotes that can clearly represent this is the text that comes up on the screen and disappears: “Sometimes I wish I hadn’t met you though. Tramping is too Easy with all this money. My days were more exciting when I was penniless and had to Forage Around for my next meal… I’ve decided that I’m going to live this Life for some time to come. The Freedom and Simple Beauty of it is just too good to pass up.”.

While doing reasearch on Into the Wild, I  found out that Jon Krakauer had done tremendous amounts of work with writing about nature and climbing*, thus majorly influencing him to make this sort of film for almost a sort of rite of passage for a young adult right out of college. It is appealing how Mr. Krakauer had wanted to show everyone that you dont need to conform to society, you can find everything you need from God and in many ways such as in nature, and I believe that is what Chris has accomplished. By donating all of his life savings to charity, destroying every part of his identity, and almost starting would seem unimaginable to most, but for Chris, it worked. At the end of the movie, his sister says that whatever Chris has done, "Everything has to be said" and "Everything has to be done", so that other people can see what he was trying to show others. Having a college diploma to be successful, or have proof of an identity, or having money, you don't need any of that in life. By Chris burning everything that society considers valuable, it not only shows this, but also that you dont need any of that to be happy or be content. One of the major quotes from this movie that I think iterates this point is from Ron, the old man at the end of the film who genuinely loved Chris, and wanted what he had. Chris told him: "I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things." I feel that this quote sums up anonther key point that most people have a one-minded, narrow view of what things are, and we tend to forget that there can be two answers to the way we look at things. I feel like this is one of the few points that can be missed very easily since we tend to foget the other side of things, and that we should try to find a way to look at things differently. For example, most people would think you are insane if you were to burn money, or give away your life savings to charity, but to Chris that meant nothing compared to what he was hoping to find while in Alaska. I think Chris had died peacefully while making others think more about what had happened in his past and how greatly it had affected his views on society as a whole.

*http://www.randomhouse.com/features/krakauer/author.html