Ethical Challenges & Potential Solutions to Global Food Sustainability: Do You Know Where Your Next Meal is Coming From?
Have you ever wondered what is involved in bringing the food that you eat from “farm to table?” If you are like most people, you give little thought to this, but when you do, it only involves figuring out when you are going to do the grocery shopping for the week or month—-if you are lucky enough, that is, to afford to.
Did you know that millions of working Americans don’t know where their next meal is coming from? That’s right…here in the richest nation in the world, “America,” one-sixth of its people don’t have enough food to eat, even though to you and me they may appear overweight or obese. Their obesity may not be due to lack of willpower around food, that is often mistakenly believed, but instead to only having access to too much “cheap” and non-nourishing food, because that is all that is available for them today, thanks to the way our agricultural system is subsidized.
I urge you to read this remarkable “National Geographic” article exposing “The New Face of Hunger: Why Are People Malnourished in the Richest Country on Earth.” Also, check out a previous blog post that I wrote on this subject, America Ranks Third in the World for the Epidemic of Malnutrition: aka Diabetes. What Are We Doing About It?
What’s the answer? Can Monsanto save us? I think not, but I will let you be the judge by reading this “National Geographic” article: “The Next Green Revolution: Science Prevented the Last Food Crisis…Can It Save Us Again?”
In addition, I challenge you to invest some time in actually learning how the food you eat actually gets to market. I was recently challenged to learn about this in a doctoral bioethics nutrition class I am enrolled in, and I must admit that my naive eyes were greatly opened, and realized that….
…..the buck stops here!
That means I have a responsibility, being a healthcare professional in the field of nutrition, to educate my clients and the public on this ethical dilemma that the world is facing. We can no longer ignore it and brush it under the rug in hopes that it goes away. Instead, it’s time for us to start making changes in our own lives in how we purchase food and even the type of diets that we consume. The world is in crisis and it’s not someone elses problem….it’s OUR problem.
Are you willing to be part of the solution?
Another remarkable “National Geographic” article that I urge you to read is: “Carnivore’s Dilemma: Is America’s Appetite for Meat Bad for the Planet.” This is an another eye-opening education. What’s the solution to what eating meat is doing to our planet and to us? Read my class assignment HERE to get my take on it.
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