What are the disadvantages of being in the “troubled middle”?

When you are in the troubled middle, you are not necessarily making any change to yourself that could benefit/ change something that needs attention brought to it. For example, if it is true that we may run out of oil in a few decades and it is announced that people need to stop consuming certain products in order to milk the last bit of oil on Earth that we have while another energy source is being found. While you understand that people currently need oil to run their homes, cars, and food, you do not know what to do, so you decide not to take action whether it be to reduce oil consumption or to just outright use more because you do not believe in such a hoax told by the system. Since you are not making any changes to the way that you consume oil in your life, you are not proactive to the change; you are not necessarily making things worse, but you surely are not making it any better. It is also rough being in this middle because since you understand everything that is wrong with a situation, you may tend to beat yourself up over knowing and not doing anything.

What are the advantages of being in the “troubled middle”?

When in this troubled middle, you are not simply black or white in a certain situation. You are able to recognize the right and wrong. Herzog says how this can make someone more aware and have a higher step than those who are black and white– someone who already has their mind made up with no sign of change.

But what about those black and white people of the troubled middle? Herzog describes them as one-sided considering they already have their minds made up. But just how long have they been made up for? It may be a little strong to just assume such one-sidedness. What if the person was once in the troubled middle, highly considering all of the facts and taking them in and recognizing their implications? I feel as though it is tough to just assume, as Herzog does, that the black-and-white-sided people are not as educated on a subject. They may have been in the troubled middle for ages just taking in any information possible to gain more knowledge.

What good comes out of growing your own food?

In “Called Home” by Barbara Kingsolver, she explains how she and her family had to move from Tuscon on to a farm because the town was not bountiful in natural resources. In such environments as the hot deserts of Tuscon, it is hard to grow bountiful livestock without having rich and fertile soil. When you grow your own food, you do not get food that is shipped in from a different state miles away by a refrigerated delivery truck. This means that all of your food is fresh. Another advantage is that you know exactly what is put into your food. Recently I watched a documentary called “Rotten”. The first part of the documentary was dedicated to the honey business. During this, I found out that there was a ban for honey that is imported from China due to an added chemical that can be fatal if ingested in certain quantities. The U.S. ended up having to put a ban on this kind of product. A few years later, a shipment of honey came in from a foreign country. As control tests were done on this honey, it was found out that the honey had come from China and contained the fatal chemical that had been banned. Many products like this honey slip through the cracks for years, making their ways to people’s dinner plates. But when you grow your own food, you are able to know exactly what goes into everything and why. Along with this line, especially in America, processed foods contain many additives such as high fructose corn syrup. These kinds of additives are high in bad sugars and fats which cause many health problems in people.

What are Herzog’s views on our relationship to animals?

Herzog feels as though our relationship with animals is logic defying. He also thinks that our relationships with animals are emotionally complicated and that there are many consistencies with them as well. Lastly, he thinks that our relationship with animals is morally problematic.

What are the critiques of the industrial food industry?

• too much oil
• too much water
• unbalanced food culture
• too many bad calories
• health effects
• animal welfare

What are some ways that people could fix these problems?

For animal welfare, animals could be kept in larger spaces, or at least keep fewer animals in such a small space to let them roam. For using too much oil, companies could stick to only selling locally instead of shipping across the country and even across the world. This would make it so that less oil is being used for shipping products. For the bad health effects, companies could consider using natural sweeteners instead of using things such as artificially made sweeteners. People also could become more educated on what is actually going into their foods. If they knew what each ingredient was and what the effect is on their body then maybe more people would veer towards buying more nutritious foods.