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Five things to think about whether you're considering a lifestyle change or not. Words by Autumn Parham
Infographic by Zachary Cordisco & Connor Goicoechea
While many of us know the famous Finding Nemo line, “fish are friends, not food,” others don’t see how the shark is closely representative of the human. We are powerful at the top of the food chain, with two thumbs and can do whatever we want. Killing other living, breathing, and thinking organisms is wrong. Though many living creatures can think, and even dream, they do not posses the vocal cords necessary to communicate their lack of desire to be, you know, killed for your meal.
The sad story behind that ham or roast beef sandwich is the process in which they prepare the animals to be consumed. As if slaughtering wasn’t harsh enough, the short life that many beloved farm animals face are filled with abuse. Confined to small dimensions of a cage or a pin, many animals are beaten senseless, thrown haphazardly or even moved forcibly by forklifts. Many baby pigs are taken, and castrated, without anesthesia and as for male chicks, they are immediately thrown into grinders, rendered useless because they are incapable of producing eggs.
Many brands of packaged meat, such as Tyson, have been tested to reveal that they contain bacteria known to cause stomach pains, fever, and everyone’s personal favorite — diarrhea. It is very common for meat to be contaminated by feces, other bodily fluids, and even blood. All of this occurs during the meat preparation process.
There are some people who consider themselves ‘green’ and environmentalist. By forgoing meat, individuals actually have the opportunity to help the earth as a whole. The meat industry is a large contributor to climate change, due to the pollution and waste that comes from their plants and slaughterhouses. According to PETA, it is more effective to adopt a vegan lifestyle, rather than switching to a ‘greener’ car.
A common misconception is that vegan and vegetarians go without eating, and spend most of their days crying in corners with celery sticks. This is wrong, and many people who argue they simply “love meat too much,” haven’t been exposed to new alternatives being offered. A vegetarian or vegan can still remain alive and well without the consumption of meat. There are even imitations of chicken and beef made with soy that still have a similar taste. Come on, they even have dairy-free icecream. It’s also time to break the common misconception that broccoli is the only option, a lot of tasty snacks are vegan; including milk’s favorite cookie, the Oreo.
While many see vegans and vegetarians as drastic people who wish to convert everyone, there are some who simply encourage everyone to try their lifestyle, even for a week. The decision to become vegan or vegetarian has a positive impact on not only animals, but the universe as a whole. The true difference between a non-meat eater and a vegan/vegetarian is simply the way they view things. 17 INSIGHT
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Words by Davis Goicoechea
Infographic by Zachary Cordisco
Brazil’s economy is in fragile standings, to say the least. The country recently entered a recession, which can be linked to things like construction of venues for the 2014 World Cup. Unemployment is at a five-year high of 7.5%, not to mention the inflation rate of 10%. Also, the country’s president, Dilma Rousseff, submitted a budget that included a deficit nearing ten billion dollars, not only showing the true debt of Brazil, but also showing Rousseff’s lack of motivation to change things — more on her later.
Rio’s dirty water is obviously a big problem. There are multiple accounts of American, and other Olympic athletes getting sick while training at venues like Rodrigo de Freitas in Brazil. South Korean windsurfer Wonwoo Cho was hospitalized in August 2015 with symptoms including dehydration, and vomiting, among other minor symptoms. The sewage-filled water isn’t the only risk of catching sickness in Brazil though. The Zika virus has been flooding the news since January. Originating in Uganda in 1947, the virus has spread to Africa, Asia, and across the Pacific to the Americas. There are more than 20,000 people in Latin America affected by Zika currently, and there is no cure or vaccine available. Although this mosquito-driven (though it can be transmitted maternally and sexually as well) disease causes only mild symptoms like rash and fever, it has potential to do much more damage. Transmitted by the same species of mosquito that carries Dengue Fever, the Zika virus is believed to be linked INSIGHT 20
to microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with unusually small heads, often meaning their brains will never fully develop. Brazil has reported over four thousand cases of microcephaly in 2015, staggering compared to the 147 in 2014. Zika is also believed to linked to Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the human body’s immune system attacks the nervous system, leading to problems like paralysis. Brazil has also seen an increase in GBS. What else is notable is that cases are coming in for otherwise healthy people, aged in their twenties and thirties. GBS is much more common for people in their sixties or later. Also, GBS is usually treated and prognoses well. Yet, the cases that continue to pop up in Brazil and other Latin American countries show people still having problems with GBS half a year after being diagnosed. The symptoms in general seem to be more severe as well. Olympic Games have been cancelled before, but never for something like this. Perhaps it would be in the best interest of all humans to put aside entertainment in order to reduce the mass-spreading of a disease that is not only little-researched, but could be causing major problems from infants all the way up to seniors.
Dilma Rousseff is under a lot of scrutiny these days. Her approval ratings are at an all time low — eight percent. Both her early life and presidency are filled with controversy. Since 2012, many public service employees have gone on strike, especially university professors. Rousseff remained inflexible though, believing private sector jobs deserve priority of government attention. This caused millions of students to miss classes for months. More recently, in March 2015, millions of Brazilians took to the streets to protest Rousseff’s impeachment because of her involvement in the Petrobras scandal. Petrobras is a state-controlled oil company, and Rousseff served on the board of
directors from 2003 to 2010. During this time, Rousseff supposedly practiced ‘graft’, which is when a politician intentionally misdirects funds intended for public projects in order to maximize private-interest benefits. Although no evidence has surfaced, Rousseff is believed to be at the center of ‘Operation Car Wash’, which included twenty-seven people and twenty-two billion dollars worth of contracts. There was also two billion dollars worth of bribes paid to executives at Petrobras (appointed by Rousseff ). The company then rewarded the highest construction contracts due to their business, yet, these contracts costs were extremely inflated.
Rio’s government is racing against time to make the games more accessible to people. There’s plans to build a thirty five mile extension to the subway track, that would run from the city’s center to the Olympic Park. With just six months left until the games on August 5th, this project is still lacking nearly $250 million needed for completion. It gets worse though. There’s no backup plan if the subway extension doesn’t go according to plan. How will
hundreds of thousands of people get to the games everyday? These looming questions become scarier and scarier as the games approach. The subway is set to open the first of July — that is, if the necessary money somehow becomes available. So even if the subway did open on time, according to what little plan seems to be in place, there’s only a month’s worth of time to sort out possible issues that will likely arise out of the new transportation system.
Summer Olympic Games revolve heavily around this resource. Guanabara Bay has events like sailing scheduled, yet the Associated Press performed nearly half of years worth of investigation, which found the water, “chronically contaminated,” revealing levels of viruses and bacteria from human sewage that are...unsafe? Any variety of negative terms could be inserted. Obviously this is no condition for Olympic athletes to play sports in. The other site, Rodrigo de Freitas Lake, is even more polluted, at fourteen million to 1.7 billion adenoviruses per liter of water. If plans to completely clean up these venues aren’t funded, the water won’t ever reach safe levels. As the Games close in on us, it truly is terrifying to see aquatic venues at such a low condition. 21 INSIGHT
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You hold in your hands (or on a table or bed or some sort of sufficiently flat surface) the latest iteration of INSIGHT Magazine. We hope that you’ve enjoyed it; not only is this issue the result of a tremendous amount of hard work, but also a representation of a student publication over a decade in the works (with origins as the Artemisia, the former yearbook of UNR dating back to the 1800’s). We are extremely proud that, for the past three years in a row, INSIGHT has had the honor of placing in the top five at Associated Collegiate Press’s Conference in their Best in Show category. Thank you for supporting us. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. If you’re interested in getting involved with us, send an email saying so to editor@insightunr.com. Thank you, -Editor-in-Chief
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