Morals of The Milagro Beanfield War :: Milagro Beanfield War Essays

Morals of The Milagro Beanfield War The Milagro Beanfield War, written by John Nichols, demonstrates several themes on life. They range from the interactions of the rich and the poor to the hot arid farming climate in New Mexico. All of which have significant importances in this famous novel. Perhaps the most important theme that is represented in this novel is the idea that people should do what is wright no matter the consequences. People are constantly faced with the choice of right and wrong. What they choose not only effects themselves, but everyone else involved. That is why being true to yourself is being true to everyone. "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? Yet if I am for myself only, what am I?"(p. 1). This theme carries the plot throughout the book. Milagro is a small agricultural town located in the hot arid state of New Mexico. Joe Mondragon, a man of his mid 30's, provided for his wife and two kids. He was a farmer, but a farmer with no fields. During the 1935 Interstate Water Compact, much of the water was transferred to big-time farmer's fields, like Ladd Devine. This would not have been a problem except for the fact that Joe's field was located on the west side of Milagro and all of the water flowed to the southeast side. All of the people of Milagro were unhappy about this change, but no one would say or do anything that would oppose the Devines. One day, Joe had had enough and tapped into the water supply. He knew that watering his father's field would cause problems, but he didn't care. Day after day Joe worked in his fields, preparing them for harvest. People from all the town gathered each day to watch Joe work. While Joe worked on his fields, the Devines worked on a plan to get rid of him. They did not like the idea that Joe Mondragon, a simple farmer, had not conformed to their ways. The Devines involved several various people in order to get rid of Joe, but all of these people could not stop Joe from obeying his morals. Bernabe Montoya, the Milagro town sheriff, and Sheriff Kyril Montana, a government officer, were assigned the duty of arresting Joe. They worked hard and diligently to arrest him, but time after time, they failed.

Food Inc Essay

The movie makes some really good points. The best point is that subsidized corn artificially lowers the cost of animal feed and high-fructose corn syrup. This creates a tax-subsidized economic incentive for people to choose fast food over nutritious options. Scrapping farm subsidies including corn would be a great idea (that the movie doesn’t propose). It has a good segment about how Monsanto is using intellectual property law to unfairly create a US soybean monopoly, suing farmers who never bought Monsanto seed and forcing them to capitulate because of the sheer weight of legal bills. But the movie descends into sensationalism. For example, it takes a sad case of a kid named Kevin who died of E Coli poisoning after eating a hamburger. It traces the industry’s response — which is to use ammonia to make sure that almost no E Coli survives — and criticizes its solution while playing ominous music in the background along with unanswered cries of anguish from Kevin’s mother. It fails to mention that (1) all E Coli dies when meat is cooked properly (2) using ammonia to kill E Coli is an ingenious idea that’s very effective (3) the food with the greatest risk of E Coli poisoning is organic spinach. It doesn’t mention how the fast food industry eliminated the use of hydrogenated vegetable oil, almost completely eliminating trans fat from fast food. It has a scene comparing the resources used by a free range cow farmer who has about 20 cows versus an industrial slaughterhouse that processes thousands — failing to mention that if the free range farmer produced cows on the same scale he would use 4x to 10x the resources for the same output. The movie takes an ill-advised stance against genetically modified food (google Norman Borlaugh). It makes several self-defeating arguments (like arguing that our industrially-produced food is infected and resource-intensive and that we should pay more to eat organic — which is actually much more resource intensive and more likely to be contaminated by bacteria because of the use of poop as fertilizer instead of nitrates). The movie makes some interesting points. But the whole â€Å"big business bad† thing is a completely useless attitude that is a constant source of irritation to me personally. People and businesses have, do, will, and should act in their own best interests. The question is which policies should be created to incentivize wise outcomes? Regarding Monsanto, the problem isn’t evil big business, it’s that the US should reform its legal system to act like the UK’s where if you sue someone and lose then you have to pay their legal fees. That would prevent Monsanto’s abuses of IP law (and would accomplish tort reform in medical malpractice).

African Elephant Facts

The African elephant (Loxodonta africana and Loxodonta cyclotis) is the largest land animal on the planet. Found in sub-Saharan Africa, this majestic herbivore is known for its remarkable physical adaptations as well as its intelligence. Fast Facts: African Elephants Scientific Name: Loxodonta africana and Loxodonta cyclotisCommon Names:  African elephant: savannah elephant or bush elephant and forest elephantBasic Animal Group: MammalSize: 8–13 feet tall, length of 19–24 feetWeight: 6,000–13,000 poundsLifespan: 60–70 yearsDiet:  HerbivoreHabitat: Sub-Saharan AfricaPopulation: 415,000Conservation Status: Vulnerable Description There are two subspecies of African elephant: savanna or bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) and forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). African bush elephants are lighter gray, larger, and their tusks curve outwards; the forest elephant is darker gray in color and has tusks that are straighter and point downward. Forest elephants make up about one-third to one-quarter of the total elephant population in Africa. Elephants have a number of adaptations that help them to survive. Flapping their large ears enables them to cool down in hot weather, and their large size deters predators. The elephants long trunk reaches food sources located in otherwise inaccessible places, and the trunks are also used in communication and vocalization. Their tusks, which are upper incisors that continue to grow throughout their lifetimes, can be used to strip vegetation and dig to obtain food. Habitat and Range African elephants are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, where they typically live in plains, woodlands, and forests. They tend not to be territorial, and they roam large ranges through several habitats and across international borders. They are found in dense forests, open and closed savannas, grasslands, and in the deserts of Namibia and Mali. They range between the northern tropics to the southern temperate zones in Africa and are found at the oceans beaches and on mountain slopes and elevations everywhere in between. Elephants are habitat modifiers or ecological engineers that physically alter their environments affecting the resources and changing the ecosystems. They push over, debark, break branches and stems, and uproot trees, which causes changes in tree height, canopy cover, and species composition. Studies have shown that the changes generated by the elephants are actually quite beneficial to the ecosystem, creating an increase in total biomass (up to seven times the original), an increase in nitrogen in the content of new leaves, as well as an increase in habitat complexity and food availability. The net effect is a multilayered canopy and a continuum of leaf biomass supporting their own and other species.   Edwin Godinho / EyeEm  /  Getty Images Diet Both subspecies of African elephants are herbivores, and most of their diet (65 percent to 70 percent) consists of leaves and bark. They will also eat a wide variety of plants, including grass and fruit: Elephants are bulk feeders and require an enormous amount of food to survive, consuming an estimated 220–440 pounds of forage  daily. Access to a permanent source of water is critical—most elephants drink frequently, and they need to obtain water at least once every two days. Elephant mortality is quite high in drought-affected regions. Behavior Female African elephants form matriarchal groupings. The dominant female is the matriarch and the head of the grouping, and the rest of the group consists primarily of the females offspring. Elephants use low-frequency rumbling sounds to communicate within their groupings. In contrast, male African elephants are mostly solitary and nomadic. They temporarily associate with different matriarchal groups as they seek mating partners. Males assess each others physical prowess by play-fighting with one another. Male elephants behavior is linked to their musth period, which typically takes place during winter. During musth, male elephants secrete an oily substance called temporin from their temporal glands. Their testosterone levels are as much as six times higher than normal during this period. Elephants in musth can become aggressive and violent. The exact evolutionary cause for musth is not definitively known, though research suggests that it may be linked to the assertion and reorganization of dominance. Reproduction and Offspring Elephants are polyandrous and polygamous; mating happens year round, whenever females are in estrus. They give birth to one or rarely two live young about once every three years. Gestation periods are approximately 22 months long. Newborns weigh between 200 and 250 pounds each. They are weaned after 4 months although they may continue to take milk from the mothers as part of their diet for up to three years. Young elephants are tended by the mother and other females in the matriarchal grouping. They become fully independent at the age of eight. Female elephants reach sexual maturity at about 11 years of age; males at 20. The lifespan of an African elephant is typically between 60 and 70 years.   Patrick Robert - Corbis  /Getty Images Misconceptions Elephants are beloved creatures, but they arent always fully understood by humans. Misconception: Elephants drink water through their trunks. Truth: While elephants use their trunks in the drinking process, they dont drink through it. Instead, they use the trunk to scoop water into their mouths.Misconception: Elephants are afraid of mice. Truth: While elephants may be startled by the darting movement of mice, they have not been proven to have a specific fear of mice.Misconception: Elephants mourn their dead. Truth: Elephants demonstrate an interest in the remains of their dead, and their interactions with those remains often seem ritualistic and emotional. However, scientists have not yet determined the precise cause of this mourning process, nor have they determined the degree to which elephants understand death. Threats The main threats to the continued existence of elephants on our planet are poaching, habitat loss, and climate change. In addition to overall population loss, poaching removes a majority of bulls over the age of 30 and females over the age of 40. Animal researchers believe that the loss of older females is particularly acute, as it impacts the social networks of elephant herds. Older females are the repositories of ecological knowledge who teach calves where and how to find food and water. Although there is evidence that their social networks are restructured after the loss of the older females, orphaned calves tend to leave from their natal core groups and die alone. Poaching has decreased with the institution of international laws prohibiting them, but it does continue to be a threat to these animals. Conservation Status The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies African elephants as vulnerable, while the ECOS Environmental Conservation Online System classifies them as threatened. According to the Great Elephant Census of 2016, there are approximately 350,000 African savanna elephants located in 30 countries. Between 2011 and 2013, more than 100,000 elephants were killed, mostly by poachers seeking their tusks for ivory. The African Wildlife Foundation estimates there are 415,000 African elephants in 37 countries, including both savanna and forest subspecies, and that 8 percent are killed by poachers annually. Sunshine Seeds/Getty Images Sources Blanc, J. Loxodonta africana. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T12392A3339343, 2008.Elephant. African Wildlife Foundation.  Foley, Charles A. H., and Lisa J. Faust. Rapid Population Growth in an Elephant Loxodonta Africana Population Recovering from Poaching in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. Oryx 44.2 (2010): 205–12. Print.Goldenberg, Shifra Z., and George Wittemyer. Orphaning and Natal Group Dispersal Are Associated with Social Costs in Female Elephants. Animal Behaviour 143 (2018): 1–8. Print.Kohi, Edward M., et al. African Elephants (Loxodonta Africana) Amplify Browse Heterogeneity in African Savanna. Biotropica 43.6 (2011): 711–21. Print.McComb, Karen, et al. Matriarchs as Repositories of Social Knowledge in African Elephants. Science 292.5516 (2001): 491–94. Print.Tchamba, Martin N., et al. Plant Biomass Density as an Indicator of Food Supply for Elephants (Loxodonta Africana) in Waza National Park, Cameroon. Tropical Conservation Scie nce 7.4 (2014): 747–64. Print.The Status of African elephants. World Wildlife Magazine, Winter 2018.Wato, Yussuf A., et al. Prolonged Drought Results in Starvation of African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana). Biological Conservation 203 (2016): 89–96. Print.Wittemyer, G., and W. M. Getz. Hierarchical Dominance Structure and Social Organization in African Elephants, Loxodonta Africana. Animal Behaviour 73.4 (2007): 671–81. Print.