Claudia Stuart

No, I had not heard of “silvopasture” before now. Silvopasture is “the intentional combination of trees, forage plants and livestock together as an integrated, intensively-managed system” (aftaweb). I think that the biggest advantage to silvopasture are the silver cultural benefits. These benefits include nitrogen-fixing forage species, pasture fertilization and animal manure, which all help improve the soil and tree nutrition. Grazing controls competing brushy species and reduces fire hazard. Competition between trees is less at the wider spacings employed with silvopasture. The result is greater timber yield.

One Drawdown Food Solution that I researched on was #4 of the Pant-Rich Diet, “I will enjoy x meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.” What I found out while researching what could be done for the challenge was that decreasing large scale meat production, which in turn, would significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming (Meatless Monday). There is a decent amount of energy that it takes to produce meat products for us to consume. The most interesting fact that I learned was “[o]ne ¼ lb. of beef requires 425 gallons of water to produce” (Meatless Mondays). 425 gallons of water is equal to one day’s worth of water to hydrate 1,700 people, or fill 10 bathtubs (Meatless Mondays). This is something that I found interesting because it was something that was never really discussed in school or at home, but by doing more meatless or vegan meals could help things like the Flint, Michigan problem over time.

After the use-by date, product quality is likely to go down much faster and safety could be lessened. The sell-by date is aimed at retailers, and it informs them of the date by which the product should be sold or removed from shelf life. The best buy date is a suggestion to the consumer on which date the product should be consumed by to assure ideal quality. (ScienceDaily)

By learning and knowing the difference between the use by, sell by, and best by dates, it helps to make better decisions when it comes to buying and eating food. It empowers me to pay more attention to the dates on products while at the store. Also, on top of this, to consume products within a certain time, especially when I am at school and on my own without anyone else to help me get through food that I buy from on campus or from the supermarket. Since I am on my own, I get smaller milks and other foods to use by the date, and get fruit on campus when I want it instead of buying a lot of fruit at once and letting it go to waste. 

Works Cited

“The Difference between 'Use-By' 'Sell-By' and 'Best-By' Dates.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 15 Apr. 2015, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150415203336.htm.