Our food system isn’t just making the world’s population sick; it’s making the environment sick. When we eat a hamburger, fries, and a soda, or even a green smoothie, it is hard to imagine the vast web that produced that food, and its potential to heal or harm humans, the environment, the climate, and the economy. We are insulated from the implications of our diet by the anonymity of our food. Where was it grown? How was it grown? What is the health of the soil and the impact of how the food was grown on nutrient levels in the food? Who grew it? What are their working conditions? What resources were used to grow it? What impact does our food have on our soils, our water, the biodiversity and survival of insect, animal, and plant species, the oceans, pollution, climate change, our health, and our long-term economic well-being as individuals and nations?
For many, the link between what we eat and its effect on the planet seems distant. You probably don’t think about climate change, agricultural practices, or the potential for the extinction of our species when you chomp down on your dinner. It would be overwhelming. But each of us should know the food web we live in. We can no longer be complacent in the anonymity of our food.
Learning what we have done to create these problems and what we have to do to solve them is essential to our collective future. I wish this were just hyperbole, but sadly it is not. This is not so much about saving the planet as about saving humanity.