FamilyTraditions

Lexie did a wonderful job presenting about her religion and what exactly they eat and the rules.  I was surprised how many rules there are and thinking I would have a hard time keeping track of them! 
 


My family is mostly German but we do not have any specific German traditions that we follow or special foods that we eat.  However, on Christmas morning we have a tradition of a breakfast that contains cinnamon rolls that my mother makes every year (this is not her recipe but one I had found online)!  They are delicious and probably on of the things I look forward to!  Being on the topic of tradition and Christmas, my brothers, sister, and I collect pieces of the Nativity Scene.  This is the first gift of Christmas that we open together.  I have always loved this tradition because I can one day have a full Nativity to set out in my house.  This specific tradition is very special to me and I want to continue it with my own family on day.

Effects of Climate Change

Prior to Dr. David Karowe's presentation, I have never been fully informed on climate change and how it can affect our agriculture.  Agriculture is an important sector of the U.S. economy and provides with much of our crops and food.  About 40% of the Earth's surface is used for cropland and pasture.

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Agriculture is much dependent on the climate .  Recently, while the earth has been warming, the solar irradiance has been decreasing.  To keep the earth the way it is, we must find a way to may the land more productive.  I found it interesting that about 25% of the land is too dry for agriculture and cannot be irrigated.  Most widely grown crops are wheat, rice, and corn provide 2/3 of protein that is eaten by humans.  About 450 million of the world's poorest people depend entirely on agriculture.  This can relate to our many discussions about hunger in America.  According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, it estimates that 1.02 billion are hungry worldwide.  I thought that this statistic was insane!
   Unfortunately, despite the growing season, climate change has decreased global yields  of wheat and corn since 1960
Wheat (-10%)
Corn (-5%)
The future warming depends on greenhouse gas emissions. Much of the world is likely to experience much more frequent and stronger droughts by 2060s.  Severe rainstorms have become more common, a 40% increase in Southwest Michigan since 1948 which will result in flooding.  Flooding is also likely to reduce further yields. 
In US Midwest , the probability of a flood even that destroys more than 20% of yield is predicted to double by 2030

·         How can we minimize climate change?

-          We can change the future by implementing multiple solutions that already are available.

-          Weatherize your house: weather-strip, adequately insulate attic, and replace single-pane windows with triple-pane windows.

-          Buy a more fuel-efficient car

GTA Cluckin Bell Commercial

Prior to Joe and Casey's presentation on Wednesday, I never have considered that food is incorporated within video games and there is a deeper meaning behind it.  After viewing the violent and vulgar video games that they have shown, especially Grand Theft Auto (GTA), I was appalled.  I know that little kids play these video games, and in my opinion I think that it is inappropriate.  GTA is recently rated #10 in the 12 most controversial video games  around in our generation today.  I am sure that game makers (if I even used that term correctly) will be producing more.  These video games portray violence as "okay" in the minds of innocent young children.  In the video game, if one dies or if they kill someone, the game simply restarts.  In real life this is not the case.
 



After Casey and Joe assigned us a project to look deeper into the meaning in most Cluckin Bell commercials, I have found one that I feel, holds a lot of racial issues and was created by a GTA player.  I could not find it so the youtube video would be placed on here, just click on the link below.

Cluckin Bell Commercial

After I have watched the commercial, I noticed that the black male was the customer and the restaurant was white dominated.  After the man had consumed the Cluckin Bell food, he instantly became fat.  Then the video shows a group of people, almost like they are the head of this fast food chain, lifting their arms just like the Hitler salute that is so famous.  In my opinion, the black male was being considered like the Jews in this commercial during WWII.  Instead of starving him, they were fattening him up with the greasy food, eventually giving him a heart attack due to the high cholesterol and killing him that way.  These commercials are ridiculous and I can not believe that they are shown on a video game!