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“This,” cried the scientist “is your Earth’s darkest hour!”
” The time for all Who’s who have blood that is red, to come to the aid of their planet!” he said. “We’ve GOT to make noises in greater amounts! So open your voice lad! For every voice counts!” ~ Dr. Seuss
It seems everyday there is a some petition circulating on the web, popping up in my mailbox or getting reposted on Facebook. It can get a bit unwieldly but it’s a good thing in the end. Information is circulating and people are asking questions. It’s important we ask questions and demand answers but the next step is even more important – what we do with that information. Operative word? DO, as in take action.
I’m trying to keep informed, I want to be conscious about my actions and the impact of my choices. It’s daunting as hell. And confusing, there’s a lot of information out there and a lot of it is contradictory. That’s why it’s so important to be informed, seek to educate yourself about the things that matter to you.
Food matters to me. It matters because it has a direct impact on my health and well being. I learned early to be a conscious consumer regarding food. When I was a kid, I LOVED Granny Smith apples, I could eat them daily by the bushel. But for a while I didn’t get them that often. It turns out that the market was heavily supplied by South Africa and Apartheid was still around. My mother chose to not contribute her hard earned money to a regime she didn’t support. She could have spent her energy writing petitions and organizing boycotts but she didn’t have time to be a political dervish, she was a working mom of two small children and was studying to increase her marketability in the workforce. She did what was immediately in her control to exercise her political voice. I remember another sequence of changes with butter and margarine that become the foundation of my attitude to food. My mom and I LOVED bread and butter (another thing I could eat daily, by the loaf and the pound) but one day tubs of margarine showed up on the fridge shelf because she read something about cholesterol and butter. Not long after that there was some study or report on the negative aspects of margarine. In the end my mother took her own counsel and we reverted to butter. Butter came from nature and it had an ingredient list we could read and understand.
I want to know what I’m eating and I want to know what’s been put into my food. I want to know whether it’s there for my benefit or the the benefit and profits of agribusiness. That’s why the actions of a company like Monsanto worry me. (see link below for more info)
I’m a big advocate of reading the labels of the stuff you buy for consumption- especially the stuff you buy regularly. Try to find the stuff with a shorter ingredient list. Try to support your communities.
There really is no voice too small or any action without impact.
Related articles
- Local organic seed growers take on Monsanto in federal court (occupymonsanto.wordpress.com)
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