Serious Sustainability

[AMRADIO777]

learned a new word: abattoir

his topic is right on.

my husband and I want to start a diversified/sustainable farm...anyone have land in Hawaii they'd like to sell us...

[MiranUT]

My kid ate at McDonald's for the first time at 8 years old, got sick, constipated and had blood in his BM.

[306cas]

dont think i like what this guy is saying, cheep food bad hummm and im not sure but im sure here in Iowa we grow more than beans and corn

[MiranUT]

@306cas - Have you ever driven across the country?. It's not just Iowa - it's the entire Midwest: from Pennsylvania to Colorado, one huge field of beans and corn to feed animals that cause cancer. The tomatoes and lettuce come from Brazil.

[306cas]

@MiranUT im not saying these gmo's are good but fix that problem before you start with any thing else that is the real killer of the us, whaire i live there a lots of local organic farmers. and we have a weekly farmers market with the freshes every thing! My point is we dont need some fancy new ideas we need the old ones back. but what i call strip farming is a real problem, I guess i just didn't like this gentlemen s cure thats all

[MiranUT]

@306cas - I think that was his message. Go back to the small scale. Go back to solar-drive farming, whether in your own back yard or on small farms. Let the small producers into the distribution system. The huge farms getting corporate welfare have proven to be unsustainable.

[306cas]

@MiranUT i will agree with that

[migraine516]

Great video. One huge problem that stands in the way of these great ideas are huge corporations that profit off of our current system. It's not plausible to think that these monstrous money makers are just going to allow someone to come in and alter their cash cows, like school lunch programs, etc.

[MiranUT]

@migraine516 - You're right. It's hard to imagine. But real change is only going to come from below, from the people. Like to slow food movement, like-minded people need to get on the board of education in their community (even if they don't have kids) and push for a local food program so kids can eat real food. Actually, it has happened in some areas in the US. I saw clip about school lunches around the world, the US lunch looked disgusting. But Japan's are healthy & include a variety of food.

[alienodio]

this guy is totally wrong lol. its 2010 and food and oil are still relatively cheap!

[MiranUT]

@alienodio - Keep watching. Just as others warned in 2008, the food crisis will case unrest - as it has across Northern Africa and the Middle East. It won't be long before the double-headed beast of unemployment and high food costs rears its ugly head in the USA.

[sidsthirdeye]

as we take better care of our bodies we also take care of our planet...eat fresh, eat local and eat organic! (or juice it:) )

[lindseyerinchurchill]

Some of you obviously dont know the true cost of industrialized agriculture. When you sit down and eat your chemically laiden, highly processed food from who knows where does it make you feel good? I guess it probably does if low prices are all you care about. What about the environmantal costs of industrial ag like cancer caused from chemicals, pollution, decreased soil fertility, decreased biodiversity...? We only have 1 planet, we should take better care of it so it can take care of us!

[ErPo321]

@lindseyerinchurchill Agreed, but a key factor that no one seems to take into account is TIME. Im not saying it takes more time to live suatainability, but to adapt to it does. In some of the more ignorant population, they dont want to take the time to examine their food choices, tehy just want to eat. Even though organic food has 40% more antioxidants AND tastes better, it is slightly more expensive and thats where people come to a crossroads. Industrial food is cheap and it grows fast.

[ErPo321]

@lindseyerinchurchill But I do completely agree with you. The health problems are tremendous, and the environmental repercussions of this practice of industrial farming is irreversible. If we dont change soon, then a malthusian doomsday will come to a close

[truthtrekker]

Observe how the so-called Jews resurrected the devil, DAGON, as the one god.

The letters in the name DAGON are rearranged to read `one god`, Monotheism.

The `a` and `n` in DAGON spells, `an`. `An` means one. Then you have D-G-O remaining, which is rearranged as G-O-D.

The devil was then passed to you to worship as 'the One God`.

Be mindful then, that all forms of worship are devil worship and are forbidden by Nature.

The result of any worship is death.

Death is eternity in the Sun.

[royaltetley]

bmed, you aren't able to negate his arguments with any evidence, any facts. His books are littered with both, evidence and fact. All you're doing is bashing him without being able to negate his arguments. You seem like the bigger joke here.

[bmed19]

pollan is a joke. as an avid gardener he wants everyone to adopt a more down to earth method of food production, literally. he does not take into consideration the human labour, increased costs, and low yields asociated with such practices. small scale agriculture/gardening will always remain a luxury for those who can afford it

[PHenry500]

The yield difference between synthetically grown ag and organically grown is 2 tonnes per hectare.

Except, the machines which run a smaller industrial farm do not HAVE to run on diesel or petroleum-based fuels at all.

In Mexico and Central America, most farmers make their own biodiesel. New Holland now has a pre-production model 40hp tractor that runs on hydrogen fuel cells....

So what's your argument again?

[MiranUT]

@PHenry500 - Hemp would be much cleaner and more efficient than corn.

[PHenry500]

@MiranUT Yes, but not the most efficient. There are far better ways to make ethanol and biodiesel than hemp. Current testing of algaes shows a lot of promise and current production using region-specific crops yield much higher gallons:acre. In addition, biomethanol is a pure gasoline replacement, requiring no infrastructure or vehicle upgrades to implement. These are great short-term solutions that are much better than the b.s. politically-fueled corn ethanol we're saddled with now.

[resourcebasedeconomY]

THE VENUS PROJECT. COM

Learn, and think wisely!

[MrSkate4weed]

its a shame that the genius responsible for starting that project is in his final years...i hope an equally ingenious successor will continue his work

[524ej]

Michael Pollan takes a little from this book, a little bit from that news article and his experience from gardening to become an expert on how to change all the health, food and environmental problems of the world.

If he would do more research to "connect the dots" rather than his simplistic message sprinkled with the same impressive sounding adjectives and the same stories, he would be more believable. Don't forget he is a writer who makes his living selling article and speeches.

[bigsteelguy]

So what is it that we need to fix? The whole entire money system. Lets just get off of money completely lets see how a resource based system instead of a monetary system. Check out the Venus Project.

[russttu]

The era of cheap food is over? The era of cheap oil is over? Seems Pollan is wrong once again.

It seems that Pollan is always advocating for increased food prices just like most liberals will argue to increase oil taxes to keep oil high. Higher prices accomplishes what regulation can not. His attempt to reduce food production thereby increasing food prices is yet another measure used to control the individual. If they can make your food cost enough, they can completely control your diet.

[bmed19]

ur right. his calling for a return to more responsible agriculture will increase the cost of food through higher production costs and food shortages. he may not be part of a conspiracy but this is whathe is indirectly supporting.

we also cannot expect ppl to slave away as farmers. large scale agriculture is theonly way we can meet global demand fo low cost food.

[MiranUT]

@russttu - still think he's wrong? How much have food prices increased in the USA since this vid was made? Oil just hit another high. All commodities are up: wheat, rice, etc. Just saw a 20% spike in the cost of flour (at the supermarket) here in Japan - which has had deflation for a decade.

[dhead64]

@russttu You posted this two years ago. Looks like the joke's on you and your tea bagging ilk.