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Enviornmental Geography of Culvers Butterburger- Blog Post #4

     When we think about the environmental impact of a Culver’s ButterBurger, it’s tempting to focus just on taste or convenience. But, much like plastic bags in the video, this everyday meal has hidden environmental consequences that build up over time. The beef, packaging, and fast-food system around the ButterBurger all contribute to pollution and climate change. The biggest issue is beef production. It’s one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and water overuse. Add to that the packaging — wrappers, cups, lids — most of which are single-use plastics or coated materials that end up in landfills. Just like the video shows plastic bags cluttering land and waterways, fast-food packaging often does the same. It might only be used for a few minutes, but its environmental impact can last for centuries. (a) Global/National Actions:      At the global or national level, reducing the impact of meals like the ButterBurger would requi...
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My Meals Environmental Impacts

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       My meal items will be from a Culvers famous butterburger. Recently culvers was deemed the healthiest fast-food burger in Wisconsin! Let's look into how their beef patty and wheat bun impact our environment.     Culvers sources beef from U.S. producers mostly from states in the Midwest, where large-scale cattle ranching occurs. The wheat, again from Midwest farms, is eventually milled and baked into buns at commercial bakeries. Producing 1lb of beef can require up to 2,000 gallons of water, which is used for growing feed and for the cattle's hydration. However large scale cattle farming contributes to overgrazing, degrading soil quality. Feedlots can lead to soil and water pollution form the manure runoff. Feed crop monocultures reduce plant and insect diversity, as well as land conversion for ranching fragments wildlife habitats. As for wheat production, wheat requires less water than beef, about 1,000 gallons per pound. Conventional wheat farming of...
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Blog Post 2: Introducing My Meal

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 Yesterday for dinner I went to a place called Beans and Barley. I was impressed with their selection of fresh and balanced meals. I ordered a hot sandwich, which was the Cajun chicken sandwich, and came with chips and a pickle. The sandwich was on a pretzel bun, with rubbed grilled chicken, tomato, a big green lettuce leaf, and what looked like freshly made Cajun sauce. The chips were thick slices of potatoes lightly salted and baked. Packed a nice crunch. The pickle tasted real and not like something from cousin subs. It was really spicy, and really juicy. Was a great experience, and I recommend this place as they have many options to choose from.                                                                                     It looked similar to this--->
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Battle of the Bag- Blog Post 1

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       Not only is plastic waste effecting the lives of animals around the world, but worst of all our own species, humans. In Nairobi Kenya there's such an insane amount of plastic waste and what they call "flying toilets", that the ground and water has been riddled with disease, effecting the entire community's health. Nobel prize winner Gari Matai explains to us how the community is directly affected by this because of malaria. Obviously from watching the documentary we know that plastic bags do not biodegrade, so when it rains the bags fill up with rainwater. Matai explains to us further that mosquitoes breed in stagnant water, increasing the percentage of mosquitoes that carry malaria.       Kenya decided to take action on this issue after much devastation. They were able to pass a law banning thin single use bags and took action immediately. Going from market to market and raiding vendors for their plastic bags and providing them with sizabl...
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 Blog post #1, sorry for the delay
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