The defining moment in my life that shifted the way I was thinking...and brought me to ubuntu.
Great question. Tough to answer.
In the sense of living and breathing and working and playing.
I know people don't like these types of posts, but today, when organic beef & dairy in Canada is threatened by GM alfalfa, I had to rant.
I'm also in quite a bad mood about this, so not ready to hear my sarcasm or frustration? Or don't like my opinion? Don't read it. However, I'd rather be disliked for standing up for something I believe in and talking about it, rather than liked for keeping quiet.
Today I've felt on the brink of tears and utterly heartsick by what is happening in our world with GMOs. This is one of the biggest dupes that a company has pulled in the history of the world. And you better believe there are just a few pockets that are being completely FILLED by it.
What sucks? That some Canadian farmers feel under attack by this argument against GMOs, since it would mean they'd have to change their entire operation. But the truth is - we LOVE farmers. You grow the food of the world, for sure. More people should be like you. And we should all be responsible for coming to a solution that would work to change Canadian farming practices.
What's the worst? That enough people don't care about their own health enough to take a long hard look at the facts (and more importantly, the facts we don't know, hence why GM foods shouldn't be on our shelves anyways) to not let GM foods become a staple in Canada. We need to start talking about it more and thinking of solutions together. There should be town think-tank meetings on this and coffee shop chatter. Yet in many places, it's dead silent because we don't want to face the bad news.
What's the bad news? Huge CHEMICAL companies have taken over our food supply.
And the medical world.
The way I honestly view it? It fits up there in the level of crimes against humanity.
People say, "there's nothing I can do about it." But the truth is that YOU CAN do little things every single day that will eventually add up. Things like doing a bit of research, buying new brands and shopping at your farmers market (even then, you don't know for sure if it hasn't been affected by GM. Look for organic.) I'm not a purist by any means, but I try to be more educated in my purchase decisions. You can even plant a few herbs or veggies that you eat all the time so no one but YOU controls how they are grown. Step by step, day by day, it becomes easier to live a life free of GMO's. It just means committing to something that's bigger than yourself. It means making one small step everyday. It means caring.
The argument "But GMO's are the only way we'll feed the world."
That is such bullshit. I'm so tired of that argument.
Yes, the population is growing at an alarming rate. But there is tons of land that is unnecessarily used for so many other things than growing food.
And there is ample space all over the world for us to grow the food required to feed ourselves.
Would it mean changing diets possibly? Maybe.
Would it mean starting to care less about parking lots and more about soil conservation? Yep, likely.
But going back to growing our own food is one way to help feed the world.
Oh and the argument "We don't even know yet if GM foods are harmful!"
Yay. We don't know yet just how bad they are for us. Notice how many horrible diseases exist today that didn't even ten years ago? Or how much more prevalent allergies are? How many gluten free kids do you know? I had never heard of that term three years ago and now I can name twenty. I'm not only blaming that on GM foods, but man, we just said we didn't know what they've caused except I know they've only been around for about 20-30 years, and I've never heard of someone's grandmother being celiac. Freaky coincidence?
And from the research that has been done, I don't know. Crazy tumours and terrible diseases just don't seem like good "maybe this is what they do" results to me.
It might also mean that we have to re-think the way that we inhabit the earth. Do we each really need a three story home with five cars and two TVs and three laptops and four cell phones? Why do you think "snowbirds" fly south for the winter? Or why our ancestors followed the animals south during the cold season. To maintain a food supply? Makes sense. Can you pack up a three story home and everything in it each winter? Probably not. So perhaps let's look at living a bit simpler with the opportunity to adjust (I know everyone will think I'm completely nuts for this one. Yes I know my gypsy lifestyle won't work for everyone.)
Look I know the times have changed and not everyone has a job where they can follow weather patterns to wherever the animals roam or not everyone can grow their own food or some people legitimately need to be as busy as they are and cannot afford to do the research on this (that last one's a lie, everyone can do a bit of research on it). But maybe other solutions mean developing co-operative partnerships with the South for the cold seasons here? I'm not saying everything about technology is bad - hell transportation is necessary for me to see my family. Maybe we send them excess food during our growing season and they us, when they have it? It's really just about the making the point that there are a lot MORE solutions than injecting our food with chemicals to feed the world and relying on more and more stuff rather than the basics.
The other thing I've heard with GM foods is "We're going to be sustainable in feeding the world's population."
How can it be sustainable if farmers in poor countries around the world can't afford it? Did you know that you have to purchase new seed every year with Monsanto? How is that sustainable? What about synthetic fertilizers - they require the mining of materials that we're going to run out of? How does that solve a long-term problem? The real story is this: If Farmer A's crops blow into (organic) Farmer B's fields (oh so likely esp. with GM alfalfa) then Farmer B therefore gets sued? Sued? How is that sustainable?
Or the bees dying. Yeah. That should help us and our environment live a long and healthy life - let's kill the one organism that gives everything life!
I personally work with a group of farmers in El Salvador who have been stripped of their power to grow food for their families when they were forced to use Monsanto-and-friends seed, fertilizer, pesticides, etc. We are fighting now to get heritage seed back for them, to use organic fertilizers (like compost & manure, which is readily available from a natural cycle and need not be mined) and pesticides to take their power back so they can simply grow food to feed their families.
Oh, so when you said that it's going to help us feed the world, did you mean that GM foods will help NORTH AMERICANS feed the world? Because that's probably what some people are saying...but that's not a solution. That's another showcase of our greed, our ridiculous "we do everything best" mentality and a great example of caring about only one thing: not families or people or health, or actual sustainable solutions, but about the bottom line.
To be really honest, I'm sad and I'm sick and I'm scared for the future of our food supply that is controlled and dominated by a chemical company. Why shouldn't you be?
Oh, and if me being scared doesn't help, everyone believes Dr. Oz. See how Dr. Oz is trying to bring light to the subject by having the Director of GMO OMG on his program here >>
And watch the trailer below. At this point, this documentary doesn't surprise me at all. Hey, if a few years from now we finally get some studies where they say GM foods don't hurt you at all and can be naturally sustained, call me crazy and bring on the apple-that-doesn't-turn-brown and the food that doesn't rot. Until then, please leave the choice up to me.
I'm also in quite a bad mood about this, so not ready to hear my sarcasm or frustration? Or don't like my opinion? Don't read it. However, I'd rather be disliked for standing up for something I believe in and talking about it, rather than liked for keeping quiet.
Today I've felt on the brink of tears and utterly heartsick by what is happening in our world with GMOs. This is one of the biggest dupes that a company has pulled in the history of the world. And you better believe there are just a few pockets that are being completely FILLED by it.
What sucks? That some Canadian farmers feel under attack by this argument against GMOs, since it would mean they'd have to change their entire operation. But the truth is - we LOVE farmers. You grow the food of the world, for sure. More people should be like you. And we should all be responsible for coming to a solution that would work to change Canadian farming practices.
What's the worst? That enough people don't care about their own health enough to take a long hard look at the facts (and more importantly, the facts we don't know, hence why GM foods shouldn't be on our shelves anyways) to not let GM foods become a staple in Canada. We need to start talking about it more and thinking of solutions together. There should be town think-tank meetings on this and coffee shop chatter. Yet in many places, it's dead silent because we don't want to face the bad news.
What's the bad news? Huge CHEMICAL companies have taken over our food supply.
And the medical world.
The way I honestly view it? It fits up there in the level of crimes against humanity.
People say, "there's nothing I can do about it." But the truth is that YOU CAN do little things every single day that will eventually add up. Things like doing a bit of research, buying new brands and shopping at your farmers market (even then, you don't know for sure if it hasn't been affected by GM. Look for organic.) I'm not a purist by any means, but I try to be more educated in my purchase decisions. You can even plant a few herbs or veggies that you eat all the time so no one but YOU controls how they are grown. Step by step, day by day, it becomes easier to live a life free of GMO's. It just means committing to something that's bigger than yourself. It means making one small step everyday. It means caring.
The argument "But GMO's are the only way we'll feed the world."
That is such bullshit. I'm so tired of that argument.
Yes, the population is growing at an alarming rate. But there is tons of land that is unnecessarily used for so many other things than growing food.
And there is ample space all over the world for us to grow the food required to feed ourselves.
Would it mean changing diets possibly? Maybe.
Would it mean starting to care less about parking lots and more about soil conservation? Yep, likely.
But going back to growing our own food is one way to help feed the world.
Oh and the argument "We don't even know yet if GM foods are harmful!"
Yay. We don't know yet just how bad they are for us. Notice how many horrible diseases exist today that didn't even ten years ago? Or how much more prevalent allergies are? How many gluten free kids do you know? I had never heard of that term three years ago and now I can name twenty. I'm not only blaming that on GM foods, but man, we just said we didn't know what they've caused except I know they've only been around for about 20-30 years, and I've never heard of someone's grandmother being celiac. Freaky coincidence?
And from the research that has been done, I don't know. Crazy tumours and terrible diseases just don't seem like good "maybe this is what they do" results to me.
It might also mean that we have to re-think the way that we inhabit the earth. Do we each really need a three story home with five cars and two TVs and three laptops and four cell phones? Why do you think "snowbirds" fly south for the winter? Or why our ancestors followed the animals south during the cold season. To maintain a food supply? Makes sense. Can you pack up a three story home and everything in it each winter? Probably not. So perhaps let's look at living a bit simpler with the opportunity to adjust (I know everyone will think I'm completely nuts for this one. Yes I know my gypsy lifestyle won't work for everyone.)
Look I know the times have changed and not everyone has a job where they can follow weather patterns to wherever the animals roam or not everyone can grow their own food or some people legitimately need to be as busy as they are and cannot afford to do the research on this (that last one's a lie, everyone can do a bit of research on it). But maybe other solutions mean developing co-operative partnerships with the South for the cold seasons here? I'm not saying everything about technology is bad - hell transportation is necessary for me to see my family. Maybe we send them excess food during our growing season and they us, when they have it? It's really just about the making the point that there are a lot MORE solutions than injecting our food with chemicals to feed the world and relying on more and more stuff rather than the basics.
The other thing I've heard with GM foods is "We're going to be sustainable in feeding the world's population."
How can it be sustainable if farmers in poor countries around the world can't afford it? Did you know that you have to purchase new seed every year with Monsanto? How is that sustainable? What about synthetic fertilizers - they require the mining of materials that we're going to run out of? How does that solve a long-term problem? The real story is this: If Farmer A's crops blow into (organic) Farmer B's fields (oh so likely esp. with GM alfalfa) then Farmer B therefore gets sued? Sued? How is that sustainable?
Or the bees dying. Yeah. That should help us and our environment live a long and healthy life - let's kill the one organism that gives everything life!
I personally work with a group of farmers in El Salvador who have been stripped of their power to grow food for their families when they were forced to use Monsanto-and-friends seed, fertilizer, pesticides, etc. We are fighting now to get heritage seed back for them, to use organic fertilizers (like compost & manure, which is readily available from a natural cycle and need not be mined) and pesticides to take their power back so they can simply grow food to feed their families.
Oh, so when you said that it's going to help us feed the world, did you mean that GM foods will help NORTH AMERICANS feed the world? Because that's probably what some people are saying...but that's not a solution. That's another showcase of our greed, our ridiculous "we do everything best" mentality and a great example of caring about only one thing: not families or people or health, or actual sustainable solutions, but about the bottom line.
To be really honest, I'm sad and I'm sick and I'm scared for the future of our food supply that is controlled and dominated by a chemical company. Why shouldn't you be?
Oh, and if me being scared doesn't help, everyone believes Dr. Oz. See how Dr. Oz is trying to bring light to the subject by having the Director of GMO OMG on his program here >>
And watch the trailer below. At this point, this documentary doesn't surprise me at all. Hey, if a few years from now we finally get some studies where they say GM foods don't hurt you at all and can be naturally sustained, call me crazy and bring on the apple-that-doesn't-turn-brown and the food that doesn't rot. Until then, please leave the choice up to me.
GMO OMG Trailer from Compeller Pictures on Vimeo.
Sources:
DavidSuzuki.org
http://geneticroulettemovie.com/
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