Although the industrial food revolution of the last
century promised abundance and an end to hunger, in many ways it has delivered
the opposite. Over 800 million people
(around the world) go hungry every year, and 16,000 children die every day from
needless hunger.
The industrial farming revolution of the last century –
particularly the introduction of chemical pesticides, monocultural production,
and confined animal feedlots – has made farming one of the world’s worst
polluters. In the United States alone,
the country is blanketed with billions of pounds of pesticides.
Industrial farming also has the dubious distinction of
being one of the world’s biggest contributors to greenhouse-gas emissions. Our petroleum-dependent farming eats up oil
faster than you can say “Gulf War”, using ten calories of fossil fuel for every
calorie we produce.
Even worse, as industrial farming pollutes our
environment, it also pollutes our bodies.
Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on exposure
to environmental chemicals indicates that most of us walk around with a
significant “body burden” of chemical residues, many from farm chemicals.
Devouring the fast food, junk food and fake food that
saturates our supermarkets and restaurants has led to a host of health problems
as well, from obesity-related diseases that lead to premature death, to certain
cancers and neurological and hormonal problems that are associated with the
chemicals used in our fields. Our
fake-food culture is also largely to blame for nearly 76 million foodborne
illnesses, which lead to more than five thousand deaths every year.
Yes, the twentieth century may have seen the fastest
revolution in our dietary and agricultural practices in human history, but
around the world, citizens (eaters, farmers, policy makers, researchers, and
health advocates) have also fostered a different sort of revolution in food and
farming, one that holds real hope.
Indeed, this new century may see a revolution in food equally startling
to the twentieth century’s – only this one will be much better for us. Oh, and it will taste much better too.
Source: ‘World Changing: A User’s Guide for the
21st Century’, Abrams, New York (2005), Edited by Alex Steffen.
|