What's wrong in our food system
Nowadays, everything is globalized. This means that we are constantly exchanging information, knowledge, music, visual content, and also goods such as food or clothes. With a lot of technology and transport, we have a very easy access to all kinds of goods, which makes us consume much more than what we need. Concerning food, we must know that to respond to the humanity’s demand, most of the things we eat aren’t exactly good for our health and for the environment.
It rarely comes from happy farms and the dark side of our food system must be seen. Harmful chemicals are used to make vegetables and fruits grow faster, and they end up ruining our fields. Also, we humans end up consuming part of those chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides) and it is definitely not good for our health since it can develop numerous diseases.
The fact is that our society is consuming too much: too much energy, water and all other resources used to produce food.
For example, meat causes more emission than all transports combined. Beef production uses 100 times more water than most vegetables do. With the whole globalization and easy access to it, we are eating 2 times more meat than we ate in the 1950s.
We should get conscient about this effect in our society, and worry more about our future. Buying from organic and local farmers, knowing where your food comes from is a way of taking care of the planet and of ourselves.
Great post, Roberta! This is very relavent to our class discussions.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that our society is consuming too much: too much energy, water and all other resources used to produce food. And we should buy organic food and local farm products. This is one of the best way we can do every day to care for ourselves and our planet.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that the way we choose at the grocery store dictate your health, they also dictate the health of the earth. Non organic foods are sprayed with extremely toxic chemicals that kill everything other than the crop itself. This includes the living organisms that a plant needs to grow and make the soil nutrient rich.
Moreover, growing food organically does not harm the surrounding community in which it’s grown. Unlike non organic practices, organics keep toxins out of the air, out of the drinking water and out of the soil. Farmers aren’t exposed to herbicides and pesticides all day; and if food is bought at the market where it’s grown, it reduces transportation costs and emissions.
In fact that everything ends up in the ocean. Whether the chemicals are leaching through the soil into aquifers below; being blown into nearby rivers and lakes; or simply running off into the ocean after the rain. The toxins sprayed on our food are made to kill, and will do just that no matter where they are.