Seed Industry Structure 1996 - 2018 Phil Howard. All Rights Reserved.
“We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment.”
—Margaret Mead
In juxtaposition to Unit 1 this unit introduces students to what agro-industrial corporations are and how they work symbiotically with the agro-industrial farming of both plants and animals. They will also learn about how the combination of agro-industrial farming and distribution of its products is usurping arable land.
Bill McKibben’s “The Only Way to Have a Cow” and Rachel Carson’s “The Obligation to Endure” both examine unsustainable, unnatural farming methods – the former with regard to factory farming cows and the later concerning the farming of plants.
Identifying and explaining the cause/effect chains that ever-expanding destruction factory farming and single crop growing create, write an essay in response to the following prompt:
How are the farming methods of animals and plants explored by McKibben and Carson destructive to the earth and our lives?
This is not a comparison/contrast essay but the two selections can both be mentioned in the introduction as examples of farming methods not in compliance with the eco-system.
For assistance with this assignment read the Excelsior Online Writing Lab's guidance about cause and affect essay construction.