I bet you can guess what’s heating up the planet…
Those pesky cows, pigs, and chickens! Don’t forget what feeds them either…we’ll put that corn and soybean crop on the s*^# list too.
Sure we all play a role in melting the poles and fine tuning our weather to the extremes, but you know who the real devils are? The animals! Or at least that’s what Anne Lappe says in her 352 page book Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do about It. Here’s what the experts thought…
“‘nature mentored, restorative, regenerative, resilient, and community empowered’; and a diet to reduce carbon and cool the planet. ‘Put plants on your plate,’ she advises; go organic, avoid packaging, eating out, and wasting food.” – Publishers Weekly
“Lappé decodes food labeling, dissects Big Ag‘s greenwashing tactics, and offers seven principles of a climate-friendly diet in an impeccable, informative, and inspiring contribution to the quest for environmental reform.” - Booklist
Frances Lappe, Anne Lappe’s mother states, “Hope is not what we find in evidence, it’s what we become in action. ” Lappe Jr.’s action is inspiring. By writing a book about the how the individual can improve their world, she has made a lasting contribution to society. The only recommendation I can give her is a little more reality and a lot more
F O C U S
Give me more food and agriculture than I can handle. Give me a planet full of agriculture. I feel like it is a broad enough topic to keep us rolling for 352 pages. Instead, Lappe gets a little carried away with green washing and the non-agricultural swings of climate change.
After reading Micheal Pollan‘s Omnivores Dilemma, I felt this was lacking the gung-ho-ness of Pollan’s piece. I thought that Diet for a Hot Planet had a girlie tone. Maybe it was a meek style of writing… I don’t like this author as much as pollen or the author of the Fast Food Nation. The only thing different has been sex. This female voice, while trying to be informative, doesn’t depict the picture as clearly as the other two. Aside from gender, maybe it has something to do with experience as well. From a writing perspective, I prefer a set style…all the way into a narrative or all the way an informative piece, but combining the two is hard. Lappe was trying to tackle both. She had the experience of traveling to the other countries that would have made great personal examples. She could have spun it similar to how Pollan described his experiences. Then she also had great research to backup her claims. Facts such as these “To transport just one year’s supply of out-of-state tomatoes to just one state, New Jersey, takes enough fossil fuel to drive an 18-wheeler around the world 249 times.” were interesting. The mix of the two was just off. Here were some of my notes from the readings…
The first chapter showed a utopian aspect versus Mt.Mordor. The feel between the casino and the farm, while not very well developed, allows a good example of how this author is trying to come across.
INTERESTING FACT: The idea while there aren’t necessarily MORE of CO2 or a particular gas. The impact is the mainstay factor. The one compound SF6 was 22,800 times the multiplicative affect of CO2! What the heck!? Where do I found that chemical and how can I get it off our planet?
Difference = “scope of scale of production.” Fundamentals still the same.
The look into processing, distribution, consumption, and waste goes back to what the guest speaker Craig (farmers market) was talking about.
Industrial Revolution roots — duh.
Kudzu metaphor, overgrown even though attempts to stop erosion. It was a story of patriotic Kentucky ideals turned into a pest. Will this happen with our GMOs? We think we can control them, but that is not the reality of it.
I want to read a book that looks into the economic solutions to the problems we have been talking about there must be a way to overcome this “it’s just money” hump. Examples of how other systems work well. We talk and talk AROUND money. Let’s UNDERSTAND it. The solution lies in creative, highly applicable, money saving solutions.
Food companies have product and they have location. There is nothing stopping Smithfield from giving to other countries or expanding into them. The thoughts behind the expansion in Poland and in other areas makes me afraid of the pigs. GMOs could go that far as well.
Examples: Haiti, not just going into a community and give it to them, because that actually takes away from society and local economy. It is a crutch that is taken away as soon as we leave. In Croatia they gave clothes that are not suitable to the culture. Therefore, they don’t serve the need that is there. Something ambiguous instead?
How much to we make off GMOs as a nation?? This would be an interesting fact to find because it would show are stance as a country. What is best for the nation?
Another great idea would be the making of models to demonstrate the effects that a health system would have if McDonaldilization standardizes regions. The variability would be in system. I’d like to look for research that does this and uses computer models to predict effectiveness. It would be complicated because you would have to look at common themes between first world regions and emerging problems that mirror the United States.
Composting discussion addressed proper composting in Athens. You can also use worms to make your organic material into dirt. Free worms at the dump/land fill! Organic farm trip soon, also Farm 255 visit.
Two important features of making the world a better place…
- Mindfulness –> in the moment
- Commitment –> into improving ONE aspect of your life
Once you get that ONE aspect down, move onto another.
Nevertheless, I found enjoyment in reading about the different aspects of agriculture. I had no idea about a lot of the different farming methods she brought up. Also, the integration of individual action (although not offering any surprises) was nice to offer personal solutions.
Finally, I liked what she said in the beginning, “Move over hummer, say hello to Hamburger.” The book was good in that it provided an introduction to a few new things and synthesized what we had already learned into the context of global warming.
Posted on March 9, 2012
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