Post by Jinsei on Apr 6, 2008 11:12:59 GMT -5
I think I originally posted this at United Jedi, then again at Unified Jedi, now I'm reposting it here. It was posted to show how we're all connected in this world, but now I'm thinking it also applies greatly to conservation efforts, as transporting all of the ingredients takes up so much time, energy and money just to get them to you.
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I'm going to use something as simple as a cheeseburger to show how we're all connected.
Let's say that you live in Florida and go grocery shopping for the ingredients needed to make a cheeseburger. You'll probably pick up something like - hamburger meat, buns, cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise, and pickles.
The meat comes from a cow that has been processed for its meat in Indiana. It fed off of the grass, drank the water, and was raised by a farmer that you've never met. After it died, it was cut apart and divided into its usable portions by a butcher you'll never meet. It was then packaged, delivered hundreds of miles by various truck drivers until it finally reached your grocery store.
The buns came from dough which is made of grain, eggs and milk. The grain grew in Kansas from the soil, absorbed sunlight, and was watered by both man-made methods and the rain. Humans harvested the grain and grounded it into flour.
Chickens in New Mexico laid the eggs that were gathered by humans, packed into cartons, and carried by a driver thousands of miles to reach the bread factory.
The milk was produced by cows in Missouri. The cows were milked by a human, processed and bottled, then shipped the distance by yet another driver to the bread factory.
These ingredients were kneaded and formed into dough by more humans and eventually baked by fire to form the buns that you plan to eat.
The cheese came from a farm in California. It too started out as milk that came from a cow that was milked by a person. It was processed into cheese and shipped with several drivers the thousands of miles to reach your grocery store.
The tomatoes for the ketchup were grown in Mississippi, shipped to Oklahoma, and combined with various ingredients... including salt from Utah. It was blended together and bottled, then shipped to your grocery store.
The mayonnaise is a combination of eggs harvested in Nebraska and vinegar distilled in Colorado.
Cucumbers were grown in Florida and picked by people who sent them to a pickling plant where they were soaked in vinegar from Georgia, then bottled and sent to the grocery store.
You purchase all of these items, take them home and use the grill to make them into the cheeseburger that you've been craving. You don't normally realize that you're eating the burger because of the hard work of hundreds of people from all across the country, stretched out over years of growing and raising the pieces of the puzzle that are combined to form your dinner.
Just something for you to think about the next time you decide to eat a cheeseburger.
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The Cheeseburger
I'm going to use something as simple as a cheeseburger to show how we're all connected.
Let's say that you live in Florida and go grocery shopping for the ingredients needed to make a cheeseburger. You'll probably pick up something like - hamburger meat, buns, cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise, and pickles.
The meat comes from a cow that has been processed for its meat in Indiana. It fed off of the grass, drank the water, and was raised by a farmer that you've never met. After it died, it was cut apart and divided into its usable portions by a butcher you'll never meet. It was then packaged, delivered hundreds of miles by various truck drivers until it finally reached your grocery store.
The buns came from dough which is made of grain, eggs and milk. The grain grew in Kansas from the soil, absorbed sunlight, and was watered by both man-made methods and the rain. Humans harvested the grain and grounded it into flour.
Chickens in New Mexico laid the eggs that were gathered by humans, packed into cartons, and carried by a driver thousands of miles to reach the bread factory.
The milk was produced by cows in Missouri. The cows were milked by a human, processed and bottled, then shipped the distance by yet another driver to the bread factory.
These ingredients were kneaded and formed into dough by more humans and eventually baked by fire to form the buns that you plan to eat.
The cheese came from a farm in California. It too started out as milk that came from a cow that was milked by a person. It was processed into cheese and shipped with several drivers the thousands of miles to reach your grocery store.
The tomatoes for the ketchup were grown in Mississippi, shipped to Oklahoma, and combined with various ingredients... including salt from Utah. It was blended together and bottled, then shipped to your grocery store.
The mayonnaise is a combination of eggs harvested in Nebraska and vinegar distilled in Colorado.
Cucumbers were grown in Florida and picked by people who sent them to a pickling plant where they were soaked in vinegar from Georgia, then bottled and sent to the grocery store.
You purchase all of these items, take them home and use the grill to make them into the cheeseburger that you've been craving. You don't normally realize that you're eating the burger because of the hard work of hundreds of people from all across the country, stretched out over years of growing and raising the pieces of the puzzle that are combined to form your dinner.
Just something for you to think about the next time you decide to eat a cheeseburger.