“In times of great change the power shifts from all things big and goes back to the small. The power waivers in that which has become conglomerated, that which was built upon the old. Power reverts back to the individual. All truth can then only be found with the individual. Such it is in this time of greatest change in all history.” -Pila of Hawaii

“I give you both a blessing an a curse in the same breath. . .to be born in a time of change.” -Confucius

Amen Confucius! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our current reality. We are alive in one of the greatest times of change on our planet. Regardless of whether or not you believe in the prophecy of 2012 and all that New Age jazz, take a look around at all of the institutions that we have put our faith in that are collapsing around us (financial, religious, and governmental), causing us to once again find our own truth which is the true gift of what appears to be a societal collapse.

One of the systems which has been growing exponentially in the past 50 years which is now failing miserably is our food system. Just take a look around at how many Americans are obese, infertile, have heart disease, cancer and Type II diabetes. These were all extremely rare at the turn of the 20th century and now are extremely common. Food processing and conventional farming are major causes of all of these conditions and their prevalence in our culture is a sign that what has been created for our “convenience”, may actually bring about our demise. Unfortunately the governing bodies that we’ve entrusted with our health are not protecting us. The “blessing and the curse” that we are experiencing right now is that unless we stand up and take responsibility for ourselves, our fellow humans and the ecology of the planet, we may have nothing left to stand up for. The greatest threat to our way of life is not in Iraq or Afghanistan, it’s right in our own supermarkets and fast food joints. Let me explain. . .

 Last night I went to go see “Food Inc.”, a documentary about the industrialization of our food supply and the consequences it has on our health, the environment, animal cruelty and even human cruelty as in the exploitation of poor migrant workers. I’ve already read Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation” so what was presented was nothing new to me. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. To actually see the corruption of big business on the farming industry, to see cows standing in their own excrement up to their ankles, to see the tears in a mother’s eyes because her son died at the age of 2 from E-coli poisoning and our government is doing nothing to protect this from happening again, is to experience our food supply in an entirely different way.

Think about it. Do you actually know what’s in your food and how it was made? Do you know if animals or humans were abused to bring it to your table? Do you know if what you are eating has been genetically modified (GM) and that there are no long term studies on the effects of GM foods on humans? Do you know if the animal you are eating is a clone? Did you even know that in 2008 the FDA approved the sale of meat and milk from cloned livestock? (I actually didn’t know that and I’m truly terrified by it.) Do you know that if you are not carefully paying attention to the food you buy it may be closer to science fiction than food? The movie “Food Inc.” is a great place to start examining those questions. What you see will indeed be “a blessing and a curse.”

The whole movie was extremely informative but there were a few things that stood out for me:

1. Barbara Kowalcyk has devoted her life to passing “Kevin’s Law”, a law fighting to give the USDA power to shut down plants that repeatedly produce meat contaminated with E-coli or other deadly pathogens. This became her life’s mission after her 2-year-old son died from eating a hamburger that was tainted with E-coli (years of legal investigation revealed that the meat that caused her son’s death was recalled by the producer 2 weeks after his death). Kevin’s Law has yet to pass because the beef industry has such tight control of Congress. This seems like a no-brainer. If you are a producer of meat and your meat is tested and repeatedly shows up with bacteria that kills humans, you should be shut down. Not in America folks, at least not yet. People always ask me what I’m going to do when I have kids. “Jackie, are you going to be the pyscho organic mom?” You bet I am, and I’ll bet Barbara Kowalcyk wishes that she was. Conventionally raised meat is one of the most toxic things one can eat. Insist on grass-fed, free-range organic meat. Cows that eat grass and walk around outside in their natural environment do not produce tainted meat. Ever. It’s that simple. In fact they produce really healthy meat that builds your body and fights disease. Get to a farmer’s market or food co-op. Or if you want to be lazy order it online at www.grasslandbeef.com. There is really no good excuse not to get good meat.
2. Did you know that it is now illegal to publish pictures inside a meat-packing plant in some states where meat packing is big business? This is scary. Apparently the law-makers are afraid that if we saw what goes on inside a meat-packing plant we would be disgusted and outraged and boycott conventional meat. These pictures could cause a national panic. So let me get this straight, it’s widespread news when someone snaps a picture of Britney’s vagina, but we can’t see where our food is coming from??? People, it’s time for us all to wake up! If you know what’s going on with Jacko’s kids but you don’t know where your food is coming from, it’s time to reevaluate your priorities. On the flip side, organic biodynamic farmers like Joel Salatin that slaughter their poultry and meat in the open air, as humanely as possible and allow customers and journalists to watch, are called “unsanitary” by the USDA. With regard to food, the lawmakers and “experts” at this time in history are ineffective at best, deadly at worst. Again, it’s time to wake up, ask questions, make your own decisions and choices and drown out the financially-driven “experts”. (Good rule of thumb: biodynamic farmers are the true experts, most people wearing a business suit with clean hands are clueless when it comes to healthful farming practices)
3. The best way to stand for change is to vote with your dollars. The problems in our food supply are too many to be handled at the governmental level alone. Lobbyists are currently doing their best to keep the status quo. However, I do believe in the power of the free market and if we tell food producers what we want they will provide it because they want our dollars. Every dollar you spend on food either funds your health, our ecology, humane treatment of animals and fair treatment of farm workers, or it funds disease, the destruction of our environment, animal cruelty and the exploitation of the underclass. Tell the food producers what you want by purchasing organic produce (local if possible), wild seafood, and grass-fed, free-range organic poultry, meat, dairy and eggs. Limit or totally stop patronizing big chain fast-food restaurants (even Subway- Jared did NOT get thin eating that crap I don’t care what anyone says! OK fine-and even if he did lose weight eating Subway, the terrain of his intestines probably looks like a garbage dump.) Stop consuming soy (a hormonal dysregulator) in any form. Monsanto owns the patent of the genetically-modified soybean that makes 90% of all the soy products in this country. Our boycott of soy products will show big business that we will not stand for the patenting of life. Seeds are the intellectual property of Mother Earth, not agri-business conglomerates. By law, food producers do not have to label foods that contain genetically modified organisms. (umm maybe because no one would ever buy them. . .) If you are eating non-organic and processed food, there’s a good chance that you are eating GM food. If no one purchases this crap, they will stop making it. It’s time to put our collective feet down and stand up and say to the conventional food industry, “You may not treat us like this! We know the truth! We’re breaking up with you! It’s over!!!”

Go to www.foodincmovie.com to check movie times in your city. And if you live far from a city, I’m sure it’ll be on DVD soon. In the meantime “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “Fast Food Nation” will give you more than enough information on this topic. Power to the people!

Tweet This Post