Post by Joann on Oct 16, 2008 20:37:37 GMT -5
Vhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?ei=5070&emc=eta1
Here is another beautifully written and insightful essay by Michael Pollan. It takes the form of an open letter to the new president. He makes clear, in case somebody hasn’t noticed, that our agricultural system runs on fossil fuel and that American processed food is a catastrophe. This food is the direct cause of our major diseases and until our food is reformed our health care costs will remain out of control.
Pollan believes that high oil costs provide an opportunity for making the switch to solar powered local agriculture, which he now finds to be not only feasible but essential to national security. He makes the very important point that we must promote the re-establishment of local abattoirs. We must also stop pandering to commercial interests and remove sodas from Food Stamp eligibility(!). He proposes that we discontinue use of the term ‘junk food’ in speaking of stuff that isn’t food at all.
Pollan remains conflicted about meat consumption. On the one hand he urges the reintegration of animal and plant agriculture so that we can recapture the natural efficiency of manured cropland and grassfed grazing animals. Yet he still speaks of grazing animals as making a huge and inevitable carbon “hoofprint” and once again offers his suggestion that everyone have at least one meat free day each week for the sake of their own health and that of the planet.
Perhaps his years as a vegetarian inhibit him from fully endorsing meat even though by following his own logic, once local integrated agriculture is in place, it can no longer be argued that plant crops are “greener” than animal crops. As for meat being a threat to health, if the animals were naturally reared, the research evidence for unhealthfulness lacks substance.
I will take this occasion to once again observe that there are no more ruminants alive today than grazed the earth in any past era and yet the carbon and methane balance remained stable. Blaming cattle for any part of our atmospheric problems merely distracts from the true causes and leads to absurd ‘quick fix’ ideas.
Pollan makes a powerful case for seizing the current moment to revolutionize agriculture. He astutely observes that while there are alternatives to oil, there are no alternatives to food.