Reprogramming summer BBQs

In addition to changing your lightbulbs to more energy-efficient ones, you probably need to consider quitting your hamburger habit. Turns out that eating beef is a great way to contribute to global warming and other negative environmental impacts, not only because of the cow farts (methane is a very significant greenhouse gas!), but also because of the inefficiencies in transfer of nutrients up the food chain, the fossil fuels used in production and delivery of beef products, and the inordinate amount of nitrogen fertilizers used to grow the feed corn to feed the cattle. Even grass-fed organic beef has a significant carbon footprint (although it is 40% less than conventionally grown beef).

For more details go to "Meat is Murder on the Environment". Those grilled portobello mushrooms and egglplants might be a good environmentally-friendly substitute for those cow patties-between-buns on the grill this summer, and might even be better for you!

But you already knew that ;-)

Genetic creeps

A friend sends this in depth article about how Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops are contaminating conventional and organic crops across the country. This was wholly anticipated by ecologists--Mother Nature simply can't be controlled the way Monsanto would like. Pollinators, feral plants, the way natural selection can circumvent human technology to produce "super-weeds" all predictably will help the Monsanto genie out of the bottle. We have to ask ourselves why we are allowing this to happen; is it all for the bottom line that we contaminate our food sources? Read all about it in "Brave New Hay: Is Monsanto's genetic engineering erasing the line between what is natural and what is not?".

Global warming is also eroding the genetic diversity of our food plants. The FEED electronic newsletter provided the following blurb, that indicates to me that with genetic creep by GMOs, and genetic bottlenecks imposed by global warming, we are heading towards a "perfect storm" of problems with regard to maintaining flexibility within our food crops to respond to respond to erratic weather patterns, and increased drought conditions brought on by climate change.

"Global warming threatens wild relatives of food crops.
Global warming is likely to endanger the wild relatives of some of the world's most important food crops, according to a recent study. Using a simulation model, researchers at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research studied the effect of global warming on wild varieties of several crops, including peanuts and potatoes. They determined that 61 percent of wild peanut species analyzed and 12 percent of wild potato species analyzed could become extinct in the next 50 years. Plant breeders often tap into the rich genetic diversity of wild species for traits allowing crops to adapt to harsh conditions. Wild relatives can contain genes for valuable traits such as drought resistance or insect tolerance. If changes in climate drive wild relatives to extinction, farmers may lose the very genetic resources needed to help our food crops adapt to the same changes. For more information on this topic, visit Biodiversity International's web site."

What are we doing to our food sources? Where is the outrage?

A Common Sensical Food Bill?

Thanks to Chuck for pointing out a great article on the Farm Bill in the New York Times that was buried in the Dining In section on the 4th of July edition. The article, entitled "The Debate Over Subsidizing Snacks" , outlines the problems with subsidies in the current Farm Bill and how these subsidies contribute to our national obesity problem by making junk food cheap, and fresh fruit and vegetables expensive. There is actually a chance that a coalition of activists can turn around the Farm Bill (which should really be called the Food Bil!), despite the big money that conventional agriculture lobbyists spend to maintain the status quo subsidies.

The best thing we can all do is be aware of how important this Bill is to our health, keeping family farmers in business, and helping to heal the land that sustains us, and then do what we can to affect positive change.

An entertaining way to educate yourselves on some of these food and farm issues is to read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan, and watch some great documentary films that are making their way around the country--in addition to "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" featured in my last blog, try to see "King Corn" .

The Real Dirt on The Real Dirt on Farmer John

Happy 4th of July everyone (or at least all two of you that read my blogs!).

We had the happy honor of hosting Farmer John Peterson in Ojai for a special screening of the documentary of his life, "The Real Dirt on Farmer John". We screened it at the historical little Ojai Playhouse June 30 and July 1 (sponsoring organizations were Food For Thought Ojai, the Ojai Film Society and Slow Food Ojai/Ventura). Farmer John came out for Q&A after the film, and on both evenings, he received a standing ovation. Steve Grumette of the Ojai Film Society said he's never seen that happen over the decade or so that he's been showing films. We followed the Sunday screening with a special dinner at Ironpan Bistro featuring locally grown produce and sea bass from the Channel Islands (caught with hook and line). It was a terrific event, and I hope you have an opportunity to catch this film if it comes to your neighborhood.

"The Real Dirt on Farmer John" is getting rave reviews (New York Times, New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, to drop a few names). Despite this, it hasn't gotten the play in theaters that it deserves. Check out this blog on the Huffington Post, that discusses the film: "Why Isn't The Real Dirt Cleaning Up?" . Then again the film also opened the same weekend as Sicko and Ratatouille--two films I want to catch.

The Real Dirt offers us some hope in making our food and ag systems get on the right track in the US--a track that will also help alleviate the twin terrors of global warming and the growing health crisis associated with obesity.

But do enjoy those grilled hotdogs and hamburgers today!