Reflection #1: Jan. 28th, 2018 - Exploration
The articles me and my partner researched so far elaborate on the conflicting messages about drinking cow’s milk, which involve health, environmental, and economic consequences. With guidance from Ms. Park, we were also able to observe opposing motives found within these consequences that were held by the scientific community and the dairy industry. The motive of the scientific community is to prove that milk is not entirely beneficial as the dairy industry believes (only to progress dairy milk sales). Therefore, our topic expanded into what now became a focus on these motives and how they contribute to conflicting messages about drinking cow’s milk. Some of the consequences we discovered included additives planted into cow milk by the industry (a health issue), government subsidies given to the industry (an economical issue), and the living conditions of dairy cows and how they also affect the conditions of milk (an environmental issue). To provide an example on how the opposing motives surround these consequences, the article “Are Milk Advertisements That Claim Links Between Milk And Weight Loss Misleading?” indicates that the scientific community is one step closer to proving that the claims of milk advertisements (which are sponsored by the dairy industry) are false, since the press has already begun to circle upon this hypothesis. This means that the dairy industry must stick to their motive, even in spite of this hypothesis spreading further. It would also be worse to deceive milk consumers while knowing fully well that they are.
Reflection #2: Feb. 1st, 2018 - Exploration Of Research
As we examine deeper into our research, we have been able to connect what we have found to the five generalizations under conflict. The motives of the scientific community and the dairy industry are represented through the generalization “conflict is composed of opposing forces.” “Conflict may be natural or man made” is shown with all of the consequences being man made. Such as, the false health claims that are advertised in milk advertisements, the production of milk causing the loss of natural habitat to maintain cows, and methane, a greenhouse gas partly produced by the dairy industry, found in cow’s milk. “Conflict may be intentional or unintentional” is displayed from the motives of the scientific community and the dairy industry as well as the consequences being man made for intentional purpose. The fact that the dairy industry and farms are seeking to improve the welfare of their cows can be applied to the generalization “conflict may allow for synthesis and change,” as it will affect all of the consequences. Such as, the more accurate health claims will be, the less subsidies that will be needed, and the less methane that will be produced. Lastly, “conflict is progressive” can be observed through the use of a timeline of the advancement of the dairy industry (which also determines how the demands of milk have changed over time). Therefore, this demonstrates how the demands of milk affect all of the consequences. Such as, the lower the demands of milk meaning the more spoofed health claims of milk in milk advertisements will be, the more subsidies the industry will receive, and the harder they will have to work (more maintenance for cows and more habitat loss). Concludingly, this is done for the same reasons: to continue the industry’s progression in dairy sales, and to instead send setbacks to the scientific community in the course of performing their motive.
Reflection #3: Feb. 14th, 2018 - Exploration Through Creativity
My group is planning to design the features of a milk carton as our trifold background. Along with it, we would like to add a syringe and a spoon as if they are replacing the straw(s) in the lid of a carton. To verify that they connect to our conflict topic, The syringe with a hand pulling on it will represent the scientific community extracting the milk to study it. the spoon will have a hand pouring it, which will represent the dairy industry planting additives into the milk. To make sure we successfully complete these components of the project, we will divide our time into separate tasks, meaning my partner could be tracing the letters that make up our driving question, or that I could be creating the realistic features of a milk carton and placing them on our board. Throughout the process of brainstorming these ideas, I learned that my ability to work with others was becoming more agreeable and yet stronger in terms of thinking hard on such things (that I saw ran smoothly). I was very glad to see this development, as it could apply to more than just Symposium.
