Food Inc. Pt 2

The second part of Food Inc. indulged us with a more fact based reading. They shot out many informative facts of corn ethanol, pesticides, climate change and the natural way of living with the environment. I found this section much more appealing. As a hospitality management major this topic is of great importance. Although I feel like I know much about this topic, a lot of this was new to me.

I did not know much about corn ethanol. I have read bits and pieces about it but never thought of it as a negative effect. Most of the media and opinions that I have heard on corn ethanol was positive, which backs up Robert Bryce’s argument that Americans think corn ethanol is good because of fuel independence. The idea of corn being green because it is from the earth seems to blindfold people from the truth. Corn ethanol contributes to “higher food prices, increased air pollution…, increased water consumption, and increased water pollution” (91). This section really opened my eyes and made me realize that I needed to read more than mainstream news. The scariest part about this is that with such a lack of knowledge on the subject, congress passed federal support and mandate. But with the amount of actual negative evidence we have found on the subject, we are unable to stop this production of lies.

The second thing that I found to be an eye opener was the fact that “producing and distributing food accounts for roughly one-third of the human caused global warming effect” (106). My research prospectus looked mostly at what the restaurants could do. I never really thought about what there producers could do. In all of my research I did not find anything that really highlighted the issue. With such alarming numbers, it’s hard to realize that from 2005 to 2008 “2,582 articles published on climate control… only 2.4% addressed the role of food production system” (107). If this is really a big issue, why is nobody being notified?

But, I really enjoyed the last section of the reading. His way of bringing people in tune with nature is very pleasant. He brings the reader into this world where we can live in tune with the world and by just gardening we can live harmonious with the earth. He explains a sort of trickling affect of goodness. By planting a garden we are “Reducing the carbon footprint…reduce your sense of dependence… and change the cheap-energy mind (175).” I laughed at the end of his paragraph on page 176 hearing the words of my mother the teacher saying, “time spent in the garden is time subtracted from electronic forms of entertainment” (176).