America Revealed - Food Machine

SaraLord

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Jun 23, 2010
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I think most of us are pretty mindful in the food and nutrition department and many are also ecologically aware of how we impact our environment.

Has anyone seen PBS' America Revealed - Food Machine? It is a kinder gentler version of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.

While I am vegetarian, I don't believe we all need to give up meat and that it's more important to consider where our food is from and what we do eat.

Thoughts?
 
I've not seen it but I share the thought.If you start paying attention to what you eat and where it's coming from (i found)you'll start eating better and healthier.But it's a fact that a lot of meat isn't good for you and takes way to long to digest.Most people eat to many of it and never use the nutrients it delivers...
 
I did get to see Food Inc which was very interesting and scary. I'm mainly vegetarian who occasionally eats fish to be sociable. One interesting point is to look at the packaging, the more pics of happy animals and farmers you see on it the more you should steer clear as it is there to disguise the fact that there are a lot of unhappy animals involved.

Neil
 
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Saw food inc.,I've seen similar documentaries,it's a shame what people do in the world today.Makes me really sad sometimes!!
 
Scientists say that if the bees go, we will also be gone in a few short years. It's hard not to get down about it, I just try to make little changes and be mindful. It's so hard to know if that's going to be enough.
 
Well, just by being barefoot runners we are rejecting the wastefulness of resources that go into running shoes only to be discarded 6-12 months later and probably end up in landfill. I wonder how may tonnes of running shoes have ended up this way since the running revolution in the 1970's. Back then there were only a few models to chose from, these days, if you are still inclined to buy runners, you are met with walls full of shoes and you have to make a choice. Luckily we don't have that problem now. I wonder if we can calculate what weight of shoes we have saved from being dumped since the BRS started. I would have bought 3 pairs by now so that must be 1kg at least. How's that for positive thinking!

Neil
 
Scientists say that if the bees go, we will also be gone in a few short years. .

Just want to point out that that isn't really really true. Scientists don't say that and it wouldn't happen that way. There are a lot of other pollinators out there and lot's of plants that don't depend on bees. NOT that it wouldn't be a huge disgrace and a tragedy in itself!

side issue/general statement on society: What kind of irks me is when we always have to put that selfish human spin on everything. Like, in order to get people to care about the bees (or any other animals or environmental issues), we have to come up with a way of making it a personal threat or nobody gives a rat's ass.

German chemical giant Bayer is looking more and more like the real culprit in the honey bee disaster, btw (and you all thought they only made Aspirin).
 
The industrialization of farming has turned our food supply into a travesty of corn syrup and tortured animals. We've roped bees into it and exposed them to the chemical disaster that is modern grain production.

On the other hand it's so much easier to get good food from people who care than it used to be, because so many are realizing it and making conscious decisions.

I guess the other shoe is dropping :)
 
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Willie with all due respect, I disagree with you. Maybe if we had subsistence farms the way we did a hundred years ago, the alternate pollinators might be up to the task, but with mile after mile of single crop farms that are exclusively dependent upon honey bees for pollination, we are in trouble. This does not take into consideration the likely link of pesticides and genetically modified crops to their demise, which factors may very well be affecting our health as well.
 
Sarah (also meant respectfully) - a huge negative effect possibly, probably, but "gone in a few short years" - no. I've looked into this pretty extensively and that's just not remotely realistic.

But then, if we as a species turn into the ones who destroy honey bees forever - we don't really deserve to populate the planet any longer. We should just blast ourselves into outer space forever.
 
I did get to see Food Inc which was very interesting and scary. I'm mainly vegetarian who occasionally eats fish to be sociable. One interesting point is to look at the packaging, the more pics of happy animals and farmers you see on it the more you should steer clear as it is there to disguise the fact that there are a lot of unhappy animals involved.

Neil

Interesting point. A couple of months ago, I posted on my FB a tongue in cheek statement about how they have pictures (drawings) of cows on dairy product packaging (milk, cheese, ice cream) but not on packages of hamburger.
 
Totally agree, I love the happy animals on the package metric. The products I find that fit our standards for how food should be produced, often have the simplest packaging. Maybe if they're spending their time and money on producing a good quality, low-evil product, there's not much to spare for happy cow pictures :)
 
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The real problem is ...THERE'S TOO MANY PEOPLE!!Nobody wants to say it out loud but that's the truth!
It's a difficult problem,but one that needs to be thought of...
 
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