Reading post 1

Not too long ago, Singapore was a fishing village. It was commonplace for everyone to locally grow or catch their food—be it meat, vegetables or fruits. I was born in the time period after—during the time of great technological advancements. I never saw farms or overcrowded fishing boats; instead, all food was acquired at the supermarket.

When I first came to the US and saw the locally grown produce at the farmer’s market, I could never understand why anyone would choose the locally grown fruits that had already been shared by insects over the perfectly sculpted deep red apples at the supermarket. This belief was however altered after reading Steven Hopp’s accounts about the detrimental properties of pesticides and herbicides. I now understand that these “perfectly sculpted” apples came at a great price, which would harm both my body and the environment.

One sentence that I found amusing was the way the author described the way desert creatures survived on “vapor and their own life savings”. This sentence frames the great hardships that desert creatures have to endure in a light-hearted way with great accuracy.