Fair trade and slavery. These are honestly not issues I know very much about. That's why I've been excited to write this particular post for a while now. My interest was piqued while working at a booth for the International Development Minor earlier this semester at BYU. We happened to be set up next to the booth for BYU's chapter of Free the Slaves. They were passing out flyers with the words "Got chocolate?" printed across an image of a delicious looking truffle. At the bottom was a statistic that cited some astronomical number of people in slavery to feed the world's demand for chocolate. Slavery. If that doesn't make you think about the impact of your food choices, I don't know what will.
Victoria and the letter-writing.
(Stay tuned for updates and revisions.)
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Animal Products and Impact
Ok, I promised this post a few months ago when I had just started the blog. Here it is. (Stay tuned for updates and revisions.)
On Farmers' Markets and Local Food
"Local food" is a buzz word. It's a movement that more and more people are talking about and "buying" into. As with any buzz word, people ought to be careful and hear both sides of the issue, not just the bubbly enthusiasts. And I intent to research this one out and present it fairly. But for right now, I'm just going to write my initial feelings on the phrase. You'll have to excuse me, but I'm definitely a bubbly enthusiast about this one. :)
(Stay updated for updates and revisions)
Farmers' markets and community
Sense of Place
etc
(Stay updated for updates and revisions)
Farmers' markets and community
Sense of Place
etc
"Living on a Shrinking Planet"
I recently attended this fantastic lecture at a symposium held at BYU by the Environmental Ethics Initiative. This was the keynote address. It was titled, "Living on a Shrinking Planet: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainably Meeting Human Wellbeing." A perfect match for the purposes of this blog? I think so. Check it out! I learned a ton.
http://kennedy.byu.edu/archive/lecture.php?id=2792
http://kennedy.byu.edu/archive/lecture.php?id=2792
Sustainable (Sea)food
This was one of the TED talks I watched just before starting this blog. Although it's about seafood specifically, it has a ton of great points about food sustainability in general. I've written a bit about the "protein problem" he discusses. I also love the way he talkes about "restorative food" and how food can be not just a commodity, but an opportunity to develop relationships - with people, with the earth, etc (if you've read my food & identity paper, these ideas may sound familiar).
I want to take a moment to highlight a couple of lines that he says in this video that perfectly reflect the reasons I'm writing this blog.
"Forget nuclear holocaust, it's the fork that we have to worry about." (4:08) Firstly, I'm writing because the food issues our world faces are serious. The systems we are participating in have disturbing consequences on human beings. These problems are not just going to go away. On the contrary, if we don't do something about them, they will continue to become more dire.
"Sustainability is complicated, but dinner is a reality that we all very much understand." (4:28) We all know our world is pretty messed up in a lot of ways. Sometimes those problems can seem too big for us to even dare approach. The food we eat, however, is something we can all relate to and control. It is a feasible way to begin to tackle enormous world problems.
"I expect a lot from food. I expect health, joy, family and community. I expect that producing ingredients, preparing dishes, and eating meals is all part of the communion of human interests." (7:16) It's not all about the doom and gloom. Sure, there are huge world problems associated with food, but it's also a joyous occasion! There is so much good that can come from understanding and dealing with food in a positive way. And the positive is really what I'm all about.
Therefore, I write the blog. Why? Because "there is no escaping that everything we eat has a global impact, so try and learn as best you can what that impact is, and then take the first step to minimize it." (8:37)
http://www.ted.com/talks/barton_seaver_sustainable_seafood_let_s_get_smart.html
I want to take a moment to highlight a couple of lines that he says in this video that perfectly reflect the reasons I'm writing this blog.
"Forget nuclear holocaust, it's the fork that we have to worry about." (4:08) Firstly, I'm writing because the food issues our world faces are serious. The systems we are participating in have disturbing consequences on human beings. These problems are not just going to go away. On the contrary, if we don't do something about them, they will continue to become more dire.
"Sustainability is complicated, but dinner is a reality that we all very much understand." (4:28) We all know our world is pretty messed up in a lot of ways. Sometimes those problems can seem too big for us to even dare approach. The food we eat, however, is something we can all relate to and control. It is a feasible way to begin to tackle enormous world problems.
"I expect a lot from food. I expect health, joy, family and community. I expect that producing ingredients, preparing dishes, and eating meals is all part of the communion of human interests." (7:16) It's not all about the doom and gloom. Sure, there are huge world problems associated with food, but it's also a joyous occasion! There is so much good that can come from understanding and dealing with food in a positive way. And the positive is really what I'm all about.
Therefore, I write the blog. Why? Because "there is no escaping that everything we eat has a global impact, so try and learn as best you can what that impact is, and then take the first step to minimize it." (8:37)
http://www.ted.com/talks/barton_seaver_sustainable_seafood_let_s_get_smart.html
Window Gardens and Collaboration
I love green. Since moving away from Tennessee and spending almost three years between some pretty deserty places (Utah, Arizona, and Central Mexico), I have missed my green rolling hills. Not only do I miss green scenic landscapes, I miss growing things! Growing my own food is one of the joys of Tennessee that I dearly miss, but it hasn't seemed like a particularly viable option in my Provo apartment. I would love to do something like this TED talk describes. A window garden would bring some needed green to my apartment as well as providing something tasty to eat. Crazy cool, right?
But what I found more important about this video is the collaboration that the talk describes. A lot of the message that I'm trying to communicate on this blog is that (1) we have the responsibility to make change and (2) we have the power to do so. The people in this story realized that "it's precisely when we hand over the responsibility for all of these things to specialists that we cause the kind of messes that we see with the food system" (around 1:35). If we want a better world, then we have to go out and make it, not wait for someone else to do so. And you know what the best part is? We can.
Open source collaboration is a fantastic example of how people can come together to do good. And there's so much good in the world if you look for it!
http://www.ted.com/talks/britta_riley_a_garden_in_my_apartment.html
But what I found more important about this video is the collaboration that the talk describes. A lot of the message that I'm trying to communicate on this blog is that (1) we have the responsibility to make change and (2) we have the power to do so. The people in this story realized that "it's precisely when we hand over the responsibility for all of these things to specialists that we cause the kind of messes that we see with the food system" (around 1:35). If we want a better world, then we have to go out and make it, not wait for someone else to do so. And you know what the best part is? We can.
Open source collaboration is a fantastic example of how people can come together to do good. And there's so much good in the world if you look for it!
http://www.ted.com/talks/britta_riley_a_garden_in_my_apartment.html
What's Wrong With Our Food System
Ok, now that I've posted one, I just want to share all the awesome food-related TED talks I've seen recently. I think I'll do a series of posts on that.
http://www.ted.com/talks/birke_baehr_what_s_wrong_with_our_food_system.html
I feel like this one will be a good way to start out: an 11-year old kid explains in simple terms "What's Wrong With Our Food System." It covers a lot of food topics (GMOs, CAFOs, local food, food education, etc) very briefly. I understand that it presents a simplistic view of the modern agibusiness system, and I definitely recommend looking more deeply into the issues. But it's a good intro at any rate.
One of the things I love about this message is that it focuses on kids' education about food. As adults, we have a responsibility to set an example that will show kids (our own as well as others') how to eat healthily for their own bodies, for the earth, and for society. We can create a culture in which these issues are taken seriously. And if we as a culture takes them seriously, we will find solutions.
(Side note: I loved hearing the shout-out to Sequatchie Farms, too - that's close to my home in Tennessee. My high school cafeteria actually gets their supply of grass-fed beef there. Hurrah for local!)
http://www.ted.com/talks/birke_baehr_what_s_wrong_with_our_food_system.html
I feel like this one will be a good way to start out: an 11-year old kid explains in simple terms "What's Wrong With Our Food System." It covers a lot of food topics (GMOs, CAFOs, local food, food education, etc) very briefly. I understand that it presents a simplistic view of the modern agibusiness system, and I definitely recommend looking more deeply into the issues. But it's a good intro at any rate.
One of the things I love about this message is that it focuses on kids' education about food. As adults, we have a responsibility to set an example that will show kids (our own as well as others') how to eat healthily for their own bodies, for the earth, and for society. We can create a culture in which these issues are taken seriously. And if we as a culture takes them seriously, we will find solutions.
(Side note: I loved hearing the shout-out to Sequatchie Farms, too - that's close to my home in Tennessee. My high school cafeteria actually gets their supply of grass-fed beef there. Hurrah for local!)
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