The Nation’s running a forum titled “One Thing to Do About Food,” featuring suggestions from activist-minded foodies.
What to do? We’ve got lotsa ideas here. Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, and Wendell Berry, poet and novelist, point to consumer knowlege and activism as deciding factors.
Marion Nestle (NYU prof.), Troy Duster and Elizabeth Ransom (both sociologists) focus on kids. Marion wants to end “all forms of marketing foods to kids–both visible and stealth,” while Troy and Elizabeth want schools to adopt a “engaged learning approach through agricultural production and consumption.”
Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, wants people to pay attention to the Farm Bill, which he things should be called the Food Bill.
Environmentalist Winona LaDuke sez we need to recover a cultural relationship to food. Carlo Petrini, founder of the International Slow Food Movement, wants to focus on gastronomy, making food good, clean and just. Vandana Shiva, physicist-ecologist, argues “Citizens’ food freedom depends on biodiversity.”
As for farming: Peter Singer has a simple solution: “Don’t buy factory-farm products.” Eliot Coleman argues for organic farming. Jim Hightower sez food should be “agrarian, small-scale and local.”
Def. worth a read — Just pick an action to focus on and try not to get overwhelmed :)















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