Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Exploration Nine - Chris Cheeseman

The most important theme in Fresh is that our current practices in the food industry are completely contradicting nature and as a result we are harming ourselves and our environment. One individual states that "It is our responsibility as stewards of the earth to respect the design of nature." We as a society must work to change the methods that we produce our food. It is stressed in the film that in order to do this we need to change our mindset in other areas. This film reminded me a lot of Barry's thoughts on local economies and his criticism of certain facets of capitalism. Our mindset is to produce plenty and to produce as cheap as possible. Our society is obsessed with amassing money to purchase things that we refuse to provide for ourselves. The film makes several good points regarding popular myths about organic farming. It acknowledges that organic food is more expensive but notes that it is not so expensive that it would break your bank account to purchase it. We can provide enough food organically to feed the world and we do not need to rely on industrial farming to feed ourselves.

The film provided a lot of evidence to support its themes. In several instances people talk about the high amount of antibiotics and chemicals used in industrial practices to fight diseases and pests. They state that it is only necessary because of the large amount of product in such small spaces. A major side effect to this practice is that we strengthen bacteria strains and pests in the process. It's simple evolution. Organisms adapt  to survive. Our place at the top of the food chain has hypnotized us into trying to cheat nature and as a result we have created larger problems for ourselves.

I believe that the shift to more organic practices is possible. One step that we can take towards this shift is to promote organics in as many ways as possible. Programs like the one at the supermarket shown in the film would be a huge step towards this change. Also, educating people at an early age as well as pushing adults to watch films like Fresh to give them a better understanding of the issue. Everyone with space for a garden and a few hours off each day could begin to integrate organic practices into their lives.

7 comments:

  1. It is scary to think about how much food that we eat that has been treated by anitbiotics or drugs that we really should not consume. All of these drugs can not be healthy for a person to eat.

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  2. I think its important that more people become aware of the problems industrialized farming can cause for the environment and i think the film did a good job at expressing the dangers it causes.

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  3. You really have to weight the options when buying organic vs. non-organic. Organic might cost more, but you get more nutrition out of it where as the stuff grown and produced in the masses with aid of chemicals lack the same nutrition. Besides, the taste of organic is much better.

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  4. I really wish it were so easy to switch to more natural healthy food. But with such big business around, it's hard to imagine how it could happen. Though, it would be so much more effective and inexpensive to switch. The state of where the power lies in the industry is very obvious, though, and need to be righted.

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  5. I wish people would see that the benefits of spending a little more for organic food now could possibly save them money in the long run as far as health problems go. Just like it was said in the movie, something about you will pay for it somewhere along the line.

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  6. I agree with you on promoting organics more becaues after watching the moive i was motived buy the way they were growing food great post.

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  7. I really like the tie in to Wendell's ideas, taking a good look at the way our nation has come to function and how it is we have found ourselves in the current predicament.

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