Physci & Farming

The core curriculum here at U of C requires that we take some kind of physical science. Being a history major, the physical sciences aren't really my gig. However, Anne liked her Physci class last year and recommended it. So, this quarter I am taking The Dynamic Environment--it is kind of about the history of the earth and the rise civilization through the eye of a physical scientist. It is cool because it is a way of doing history that is completely different from what I am used to. I have learned about glaciers, climate change, hominid evolution, Mitochondrial Eve and today we started on the emergence of agriculture. I obviously haven't gotten that far into the subject after one day, but the emergence of domesticated crops such as wheat and corn is really interesting to me. It may seem kind of weird, but my interest stems from the food sensitivities that I have developed recently.

For over 10 years I have had headaches that I couldn't pinpoint to any specific cause---they aren't migraines, but they occur pretty much everyday and often make it difficult to concentrate. They aren't debilitating to the point of keeping me from work, but I sure feel a lot better and energetic when I don't have them! Anyway, for over ten years, I just kind of dealt with them. When I came to college, I developed a lactose intolerance which is relatively common for people as they get into their 20's. While I was sad to give up cheese and ice cream, I realized that my headaches seemed to have reduced in their frequency. I did a couple of experiments and realized that in addition to not being able to digest lactose, milk products did give me headaches. As I began to pay more attention to how I felt after eating different things, I realized that there were a number of foods that affected how my head felt. I react to soy products and pretty recently I have come to believe that I am sensitive to wheat and corn. As I have done more research, I have come to learn that milk, wheat, soy, and corn are four of the eight most common allergens. This is kind of where the interest in the domestication of crops and emergence of farming interest me. Because wheat, soy and corn have become such "essential" crops (they wouldn't have survived 10,000 years ago without the care introduced through farming), and because many farmers have government subsidies, there is an over-production of sorts. These foods find their way into pretty much all processed foods--for example, there is soy in cans of tuna and wheat in Twizzlers. Also, because most livestock are fed food comprised mostly of corn, the meat that we eat contains corn. Thee more I research about the food industry, the more I want to start a People of Praise farm in the fertile land of the Mississippi Valley where we grow obscure cereals and grass fed cows. There are a few books that my Physci professor recommended if we were interested in learning more. I thought I would share them with anyone else who might be interested in learning more.

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan

Also, a cool documentary that I watched in this class is about the different migrations that the first peoples made out of Africa to populate the earth. It traces the first peoples, who are related to the San Bushman of Africa, to Australia where they became the Aborigines. There are many other branches that would be to complicated to explain here. If anyone is interested in knowing about the journey of early humans, check out the website for the Journey of Man--you can even send in a sample of your DNA to find the actual paths that your personal ancestors traveled!