ecoburgh

I've already posted a much smaller version of this on Twitter and Facebook, so it's kind of redundant, but I'm doing it anyway because I think it's just great.

Tonight as I drove to Subway to get a cheap dinner (finals = no grocery shopping and awful eating habits) and to the store to get a bottle of wine (finals = brain is fried), I listened to 91.3 WYEP, the only station worth listening to in Pittsburgh. This environmental program was on that I've never heard before, called the Allegheny Front, and it mentioned this eco-friendly store that's in the South Side. I Googled it when I got home, and ran across another eco-freak store in Lawrenceville. After browsing a bit, I found these awesome shoes on sale called Veja Volley.

I think they sorta look like my Onitsuka Tigers, but they are designed in Paris and made under strict fair trade, fair pay regulations with organic cotton and natural latex rubber from the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. The company goes through so much to make sure they are not only quality, but are made under conditions that do not exploit the worker or the environment.

BUT THIS IS THE KICKER: they are only sold in four stores in the United States: two in New York City, one in Los Angeles, and one in our very own Pittsburgh, at Equita on Butler Street.

Is it weird that this makes me feel like one might when seeing a son or daughter perform in a school play for the first time? I need to pat the city on its head or pinch its cheeks.

And Scariest Movie of the Year goes to...

Back to the Food Inc. post. Yes, I have seen the movie; actually I saw it earlier this fall at a lecture I had to attend for my global studies class, and never posted about it because I wanted to develop my opinions fully first (like most propaganda-doc's, such as Super-size Me or anything Michael Moore, it's a bit much to take in) so I wouldn't end up just rambling. Which.... I guess is sort of not in tune with the rhetoric of blogging... but... crap.

So now, as a punishment, I'm going to have to rely on my sub-par memory and what info I can glean from the Interwebs in order to talk about this.

In essence, the movie showcases the industrial, mechanized food industry, which is basically America's entire food industry. Wrapped up in this are several themes: the firm grasp corporate head haunchos have not just on what we eat, but on the federal regulatory commissions (FDA, USDA) in which we are supposed to place our trust, the ways in which farmers are being undermined and subjugated by laws and patents, the abominable health and safety regulations at these factory farms, the lack of worker's rights in meat factories, how much cheaper it is to buy unhealthy vs. healthy, devastating health effects of diseases like E.coli.... maybe now you realize why I was wary to write about it. I could spend a year. And wind up with a book. (And there already is one, so that's pointless.)

The movie is eye-opening, truly. It's honestly terrifying to realize how warped our food industry is, how far removed we as consumers are from the production of our food (do you know EXACTLY where a single thing in your fridge came from? What about the state? Or even the country?) and, perhaps most terrifying, that this is not a simple mistake. People in this industry are not sitting at their desks, eyes popping out of their skulls, hands glued to cheeks in an Edvard Munchian pose, screaming "WHAT HAVE WE DONE?!" Nah, they are just counting their bucks.

Looking back, I remember now that it was also the emotional impact that kept me from writing. I saw it only a couple weeks after I started this blog, and the effect of the movie was somewhat PETA-esque, in that it made me feel really really bad, but instead of just abstractly feeling bad for little baby chicks, I felt bad for my life. It was like someone ramming down my throat EVERYTHING YOU EAT IS BAD FOR YOU EVEN IF YOU THINK IT'S NOT and I was like, Jesus, I am not doing nearly enough. I mean I eat meat! And meat that is not from a tiny farm where I know for sure how the animal was raised! This was also before I started going to farmer's markets regularly, so I was like Okay so now simply buying fruits and vegetables is not enough, I have to track down where they came from. These feelings of inadequacy irked me. And I suppose that was the point of the movie: to scare you into eating healthier, or just being more conscious of what you're eating. And I totally support the latter part of that equation. I'm just not so sure about the path to it.

The one point in the film where I really remember being like Oh COME ON, was the beginning of a scene in which the words "Lifting the Veil" appeared on the screen. BUT, (and my memory may fail me a bit on the exact details of this one) right before "Veil" appeared the "e" and the "v" were switched so it said for a brief nanosecond, yes: evil. I don't think everyone noticed this, and I probably only did because I pay a lot of attention to words. And it doesn't really matter, I guess, in the larger context of the more important issues discussed, but I just sort of feel like, to me, this stuff is scary enough on its own; the facts alone are enough to make me change my lifestyle. Why do you need to insult our intelligence with the scare tactics?

So this pseudo-review ended up being more negative than I intended... most likely because the details of the movie have slipped from my consciousness but, like most things, the emotional impact has stuck with me. But in all honesty, I do encourage everyone to see it. Seriously. Just don't get hung up on negative feelings like I did. Focus on what they are actually, beyond the rhetoric, showing and telling you. Because it's really important for anyone who eats food in this country, and, unlike Super-size Me, it's not just about McDonalds--it's ALL food.

If you want to read reviews written by people who didn't wait three months, I found a list of them here. And check out Food Inc.'s website for more information. Photo from the review by the NYTimes.

Ezra Klein and Mark Bittman, chattin' away

Wow, since that post a few weeks ago in which I expressed concern that my blog was getting a bit too self-absorbed (due to laziness), I now realize it's getting a bit NYTimes-absorbed (due to laziness.) This is because I subscribed to Bitten and Well (both NYTimes blogs) and they show up on my Blogger dashboard every day. So now it's way easier to go, "Ooo that looks interesting, let me read it and post a short synopsis/opinion on it. Done and done."

Whatever, maybe I'll expand my blog horizon beyond the New York Times (even though they are probably the most fantastic, expertise- and quality-wise) but right now, I'm going to talk about them. Again. Because today Mark Bittman posted a couple of awesome video clips of him and Ezra Klein (economic columnist for the Washington Post... if you're a classmate and the name rings a bell, it's because Joel assigned something by him, though I can't remember what--but I bet it was something about the financial conundrum of mainstream media! Yeah, I know: get outta here!)



If you're not enticed already by the fact that it's just them, talking to each other via headsets and webcams, well then you apparently are not as easily amused as I am. I encourage you to watch it if you have the time. (It's delightfully casual and entertaining--especially when Mark's phone rings and he moves out of the shot for a moment to see who it is, leaving poor Ezra to look around and say something awkward.) But just in case, I will highlight what I think were the most interesting parts.

This first clip--which, slightly annoyingly, is not labeled or identified in any manner in the blog post--is mainly about Mark's beef (pun, yes) with vegetarianism. He says that if a vegetarian is so because he thinks meat is murder, but still eats eggs and dairy, then he is slightly "hypocritical" (I rather think of it as ill-informed) because male chicks and calves born on dairy farms are killed. Which I totally did not know.

Ezra then recounts a visit to a goat cheese farm, where they treated their animals very humanely, and how, when asked what happens to the male goats, the woman who ran the farm replied, 'Well, they go into the meat industry.' He laughs and says, "I love the way she put that ... as if they turn 18 and they get a suit and a tie and a briefcase.. they get sent to learn the meat business."

Although I of course chuckled along with them, there is a sinister truth behind this. And their criticism of vegetarianism is precisely what I meant the other day when I referred to the trendiness and almost elitism behind it, that is often lacking substantial reasoning. As Mark says, if your problem is really moral, go vegan.



This one is a debate on the plausibility of launching an assault reminiscent of the tobacco industry on the processed food industry, whereby junk food would be taxed, and those tax dollars would be used for education about healthy eating. Mark wants this, but Ezra argues that more efficient results might be wrought from simply removing the convenience of junk food. Once again, he gives a brilliant example: a vending machine that used to be down the hall from his office was moved, and now he no longer gets Diet Cokes everyday because he's not willing to go down the street to get one. So it wasn't a dying urge for soda that caused him to grab them before, it was "because it was easy."

I think this is so, so true, and I can give one glaring example in the college world (that may make a few of my friends squirm in their seats): meal plans. Having seemingly free money on your school ID, for the sake of convenience, can be an open invitation to indulge in Chik-Fil-A in the Cathedral Cafe everyday (although I am by no means saying you guys do this, so please don't shun me.) Now that I live off-campus and don't have a meal plan, I usually pack, or wait until I get home to eat, or go somewhere healthier, because no longer do I have the excuse of "Well, I have so many Dining Dollars left that I need to get rid of, so it's okay if I get it." It may take me a few extra minutes in the morning (literally, like only five) to pack, but I save both money and my waistline by doing it. A sacrifice I'm more than willing to make.