ORPHE Blog

It’s currently winter where I live. Meaning it’s dark, damp, cold, and cloudy pretty much everyday. I hate to admit it, but I think most people will stand with me when I say, I really have no interest in going outside in this weather; let alone going for a hike. So when I set off to one of my outdoor classes yesterday, I can’t say I was too excited about going out in the cold for two hours. We arrived at a wilderness area around 3:30pm and it was already beginning to get dark. I was freezing cold, as was the rest of my class, and I wouldn’t have argued if my professor were to cancel class right then and there. But, I’m really glad he didn’t.

After a few minutes of chatting, my professor told us we would be going on a solo hike today. Normally we do labs and fill out worksheets about different topics of study related to the area we are in, but not yesterday. He set us off one at a time down three different trails. He waited about 30 seconds in between each person to avoid us running into each other, and the two things we had to do while we were hiking were not speaking and just taking it all in.

I think this was one of the first times I’ve truly appreciated a professor. He knew we probably weren’t going to learn anything new and he didn’t want us to. He just knew that most people, like myself, don’t take the time to go for a hike in the dead of winter as most people don’t want to. But wow I had an amazing time. I can’t even remember the last time I went on a hike alone or even the last time I went for a hike without speaking at all; it was incredible. Sometimes I feel like as a society, we feel like everything has to be a social event in some way or another. And sometimes I feel like we’re so scared of being alone that we don’t take the time to spend quality time with ourselves, outside of our homes.

There isn’t much here that I’m intending to “teach” anyone who’s reading this. I just want you to think about how amazing it feels to go on a hike in ideal weather, and instead of shunning any idea of going out in the crappy cold, maybe just consider it at least. I never would have chosen to go on that hike, but now I already want to go out again. In fact, that’s where I’m heading after I post this.

It’s so easy to get down in the winter blues, it happens to so many people. You don’t want to leave your house, it’s cold, it’s dark, it’s just depressing outside. But just that small amount of time I spent outside yesterday, it brightened up my whole week. Call it what you will, but nature has a sneaky way of healing you when you think you’re out of options. And as hard as it is to get out of bed and to go out into the cold, you only make it harder on yourself by staying in.

I’m not going to say the love of Mother Nature kept me warm, I was freezing cold. I could barely speak because my chin was completely frozen. But guess what? Afterwards, I went home, sat in front of my space heater, and warmed up. And just like that, the freezing feeling was gone. It’s just that easy, seriously! So, try not to think about how cold you’re going to be in the moment, you’re going to have a way to warm up afterwards. Then, before you know it, you aren’t even thinking about how cold you were; you’re reflecting on how much you enjoyed getting outside.

So, all I’m saying here is…GO OUTSIDE! Pick yourself up, put on your thickest layers, and go take a deep breath of fresh air. Wherever you are, just please trust me on this one. I know you may not want to go outside in this weather, I didn’t either. And if my blog post couldn’t convince you, take a look at these pictures I took while I was out. Then try to remember how you felt at whatever time you were spending the most time outside. Venture to your closest forest, park, desert, jungle, whatever’s close by and just take it in. It’s worth it.

When you’re at the grocery store, there have probably been a few times when you’ve seen the phrase “Non-GMO”. But what does that mean? What is GMO? Where did it come from? GMO stands for “genetically modified organism” and it refers to plants, animals, and other organisms whose genetic material has been altered in some way, shape, or form that does not occur naturally. But still, what does that mean and why are we doing this?It starts back when farmers planted the first genetically modified crops 15 years ago and their use has skyrocketed since then.

Genetically modified crops account for a whopping 92% of the U.S. soybean crops and more than 80% of corn and cotton. This means that as much as three-quarters of the processed foods in U.S. grocery stores—soda and hotdogs, bread and frozen pizza—contain ingredients from genetically engineered plants. In fact, the United States is the primary country of genetic engineering accounting for 53.5% of the genetically engineered crop market worldwide.

To put this into perspective, we’ll look at the AquaAdvantage salmon. Typical farmed salmon tend to be 13 inches long and 2.8 pounds; however, the genetically engineered, AquaAdvantage, salmon averages around 24 inches and 6.6 pounds. This is obviously much larger than a typical salmon, and it’s all thanks to genetic engineering. Outside of the obvious benefit of genetic engineering our food, increased food supply, genetic engineering also helps crops to build an increased resistance to pests and disease, as well as the ability to grow in harsh climates and taste better. On top of that, it’s FDA approved!

Now, you might find yourself thinking, “wow GMOs are really great!”, but don’t speak too soon. We are talking about altering the genetic material of living organisms, these benefits cannot come without risks.Genetic engineering is still a fairly new concept, so we don’t know too much about it yet! Think about all of the stigma revolving around vaping for a second, one of the biggest concerns around it is the fact that we don’t know all of the risks; this is exactly the same case with GMOs. There’s the potential for the introduction of new toxins and allergens, as well as the potential for old diseases, such as the potato famine, to resurface if one small detail of these genetically modified foods were to be misplaced. On top of all of this, GMOs could lead to over-farming and over-grazing as well as soil pollution from the amount of pesticides used. Genetically modified foods are, in a way, super-foods. They have been given abilities that they were not naturally born with, which can cause them to be resistant against pesticides leading to an overuse. The cherry on top is that the FDA is not required to disclose whether or not something was genetically engineered at this time.

So you may think you’re eating all natural foods or all organic foods, but the reality is you may not be, and you probably aren’t. But there’s no need to be worried about it. The fact of the matter is, we don’t truly know everything about everything. Almost everything has the ability to cause some sort of health risk, even the laptop I’m writing this on right now. So, keep eating what you want, keep doing what you’re doing, don’t get all stressed out because now you feel like you have to check all of your labels; it’s okay! My sole purpose of writing this is to help you understand what all those labels are about, because I know I used to see them and not think twice about it.

Do what you will with this information, and next time that fish looks a little bigger than you remember, you’ll know why!

Sources

https://www.sites.ext.vt.edu/newsletter-archive/cses/2000-02/risks.html

https://www.audubon.org/news/food-thought-environmental-risks-and-benefits-genetic-engineering

https://www.fishfarmingexpert.com/article/aquabounty-year-very-successful-despite-9m-loss/

Hiking Alone…in the Cold

What is genetic engineering?