Last night I watched Food Inc with Erik. It was really eye-opening, especially for someone who grew up in a farming community. I could understand someone living in the city not thinking about where their food comes from,but I grew up with friends who raised hogs and seeing my sister go off to de-tassel corn every year.
Once when driving through Iowa and Illinois Erik asked if he could eat the corn in the field. I knew he was just being silly, but still I answered, "No, most of the corn you see is feed corn." And he replied, "Where is the people corn?" That I didn't know. 18 years of living in this small farming community and all I knew about "people corn" was that our farmer friends usually gave us free bags of sweetcorn around July.
I could sum up the entire movie, and tell you all about the evils of the food industry, but I think you know, while you just don't know. Some of the stuff I learned was just amazing. How McDonald's changed the industry. Or how in Colorado you can't publicly say anything negative about the meat industry. Apparently the first amendment doesn't apply to your rights when you want to express your views on eating beef. I learned that Monsanto has a monopoly on the soybean seed. (Erik says they are the same company that invented Agent Orange.) That cows don't digest all that corn they are being fed. And you wouldn't believe the oil companies involvement in all this. Let's just say they are making a pretty penny by moving all that fed and food around.
I'm pretty concerned about being a conscience consumer. I know that our desire for cheaply made food is costing us our health and the lives of those in other countries. I know that eating fast food just helps pollute our earth a little more. (What I didn't know was how our illegal immigrant situation plays directly into this). I just didn't really know how bad it is and at whose benefit?
I recently re-read Rob Bell's Sex God (Read It!). The book talks about how sexuality is how we connect to each other, to God, and to the earth. We are definitely disconnected from everything. Sure, we have all this technology that God has given us the power to create, but are we really connecting? No. And because we are so disconnected from everything, we are polluting ourselves and our world. One of the points in the book talked about how we are so disconnected from earth (dirt) physically. Part of sexuality is being able to hold earth in your hands. Think about it. In Genesis 2 we are created from dirt. from earth. God breathes his breath/spirit into us. Then we are put into a garden to care for it. Our purpose was to care for this garden. And we blew it.
Because someone was curious.
Because somebody's helpmate just stood there and watched.
Because we became shameful and hid.
And the story is true because it shows how disconnected we become when we stray from our responsibilities
to God.
to the earth.
to each other.
And this gets me thinking about our food situation. If we aren't connected in anyway to what we put in our bodies on a daily basis, then why should we even care about who we share our bodies with?
Hello teen pregnancy.
STDs.
Abortion.
Brokenness.
Which brings us to the next part. Now what? How do we change the disconnections? Where does one start? (Especially one paying off tons of credit card (a disconnection from reality) and student loans.) How do you fix the earth on a budget?
Well, this is what I am doing now to connect to the earth and people. I recycle. I am biking whenever I can. It takes time, but I actually get to interact with people when I bike. I get to wave and say good morning to those out on their morning stroll. I save energy by unplugging everything I am not using. And I've started an organic container garden on my porch (called the Container Garden of Eden).
I'm planning on shopping at the Farmer's market when it starts in June. I love the farmer's market because you get to meet the grower and you get to walk around like it's a big festival every Saturday. My favorite part is when I get to walk around to see how much I can really get for a quarter. It's all about connecting.
My next step is to try to buy more organic foods. I think this will be pretty hard. I try to buy as few processed foods as possible. For health reasons I stick to the outside aisles of the supermarket. But I'm not sure I can afford to buy everything organic.
I don't eat meat. This started out as a single person/taste/cost thing, but now it will move beyond that. I just want my meat coming from happy cows. Maybe since I live in Wisconsin I will focus on supporting the local organic dairy farms. Each little bit helps.
If eating one small piece of fruit can totally disconnect us from everything, then why can't buying organic carrots at the farmer's market bring us back?
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