Final essay #2

The world we live in today is a horrible place that most of us are sheltered from by the luxuries we buy. Things never used to be this way. Before agriculture, humans only took from nature what they needed to survive. When agriculture came around, so did the need to control and manipulate nature because of the rising population. In modern times nature is continuously being destroyed. The human population skyrocketed when fossil fuels started being used heavily. With the human population so huge, agriculture needs some help from scientific research to feed everyone. Food in our culture is one aspect of a larger nightmare.
Food is becoming more and more unnatural. With the growing population people are looking for ways to produce food as quickly as possible and as cheap as possible. With this mentality, problems always occur. Corn, soy, wheat, and rice are the 4 main plants grown on farms. Corn is used in far more products than most people know. It is made into high fructose corn syrup which is used in all of the soft drinks. And corn is also used to feed the cows in the feed lots to make them get to slaughter weight the fastest way possible. They force the cows to eat corn instead of grass which is what they were meant to eat. The corn causes the cow’s health problems which get to their worst point just as they are slaughtered. In the slaughter houses, the conveyor belts are running too fast for the average person to handle let alone untrained illegal immigrants. They are treated badly and get paid very little. They often get cut by the knives they use and take drugs to help them stay focused. The worst part about food is the creation of fast food. People can order their salty, tasteless, greasy food and eat it while driving in their cars. Obesity and diabetes are just two of the various health related problems fast food has caused humans. All of this is made possible by the use of fossil fuels. Fertilizer, pesticides and the trucks used to transport the food all use oil. The world revolves around oil these days.
The larger nightmare includes oil, poverty, nuclear weapons, global warming, and corporations. There are conflicts in the Middle East and oil has something to do with it. Innocent people die because people want oil. While most people have food and a place to live there are always those who don’t. If world war 3 were to start because of an oil dispute I don’t think it would last very long because nuclear weapons would kill everyone in an instant. Global warming is destroying the planet because of humans. In the last century we have done more damage to the earth than anyone ever imagined could be done. Corporations only care about money, not how they affect everyone else. The workers might be mistreated, or the environment might be harmed, but everything is fine if they are creating profit.
There are many more destructive things on the earth and as long as there is oil to fuel everything, these things will continue. More corn will be grown, more cows will suffer their horrible lives, and more trucks will release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere helping global warming. Food in our culture is one more aspect of a larger nightmare.