Good morning folks.
One of the regular features I would like to have in Source Green is a review section, focusing on sustainable books and videos. Every book and video that is here will be read, viewed and reviewed by me personally. There is a lot of fantastic information out there, and I can’t wait to dive into this stuff. To kick off the review section, I give you Food Inc..
Food Inc.
Must see. MUST SEE. In case you weren’t paying attention when you read the first two sentences, you must see this film. What I love about this depiction is that the current state of our food industry was not presented as the result of some fiendish plot to control the world, but rather as a food revolution fueled by America’s appetite for fast food.
There is a fast food restaurant on almost every corner in America, providing inexpensive, tasty food. There is a supermarket in virtually every community, stocked with an incredible variety of food. Behind this bountiful facade though is a very purposefully hidden assembly line system that has a lot of questionable means that are ultimately justified by the end of feeding the world. What Food Inc. does best is examine the costs of this system, not as a judge, but as an interested party just looking for the truth.
Here are the primary “questionable means” that Food Inc. examines:
- The unhealthy concentration of power in the hands of a few large multinational companies, and what that has meant in terms of toothless regulation, lax legislation, and “food libel” laws.
- The nonlocalization of of the industry and the resultant transportation and refrigeration costs
- The “assembly line” jobs created by an assembly line industry, and the resultant exploitation of “illegal” immigrants
- The omnipresence of heavily subsidized corn in every major product category in the grocery store
- The gross maltreatment of the animals that become our food
- And last but not least, genetically modified food crops…this may be the scariest one of all
This movie completely changed the way I look at food, and is essential knowledge for everyone, not just green freaks like me.
Love to all,
Millard
