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legrande
Joined: 23 Nov 2010
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 Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 5:47 am Post subject: |
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| Reggie wrote: |
But here in the USA, food is transported vast distances, sometimes repeatedly due to processing, warehousing, etc.
In the rural county in Tennessee where I live, I'm one of three farmers in the entire county and each of us only grow on a small scale. I grow less than 50 acres. The other two are elderly and probably can't do it much longer and I'll probably be back in Korea this year. Few people here have small gardens. Keep in mind that this is some of the most fertile land in the world.
Most people here are overweight from eating too much food and most of it, over 95% for sure, is grown elsewhere...Iowa, California, Mexico, China, etc. I can sell most of what I grow, but it's not easy because most people would rather buy Oreos with food stamps rather than butternut squash with cash. 30% of people here are on food stamps. Everyone here with the exception of some families in trailer parks at least has a front yard. Even the small houses in the welfare housing projects have yards where the people could grow some of their food if they weren't lazy. But almost nobody in this town will lift a finger to plant seeds, fruit bushes, fruit trees, etc. Almost nobody has any chickens. No one keeps goats to milk and some of the cattle farmers buy milk in the grocery stores instead of milking a cow for their own consumption.
Things are so beyond effed up here in the USA. If a war was to break out in Saudi Arabia or if the dollar suddenly collapsed, I swear to god millions of Americans would starve to death as a result of their laziness and the breakdown of the corporate agribusiness supply chain in a scenario where oil is several hundred US dollars per barrel. Millions of people would die despite a vast abundance of arable land. Food shelves would be empty at the grocery store and people here wouldn't know what to do. They wouldn't have a clue. They would riot and eventually starve. |
Until the middle of the 19th c., most families were independant producers of food or goods/services. Then with the rise of factories/corporations owned by a few welathy elite, everyone was forced into wage labor. Organizations like the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations (along with individuals like JP Morgan) poured money into researching how primary, secondary, and higher education could be shaped and organized so as to more efficently produce a basically tamed, orderly workforce who come to view the economic disparity inherent in capitalism (where a few individuals control the majority of capital and means of production) as 'natural', or 'right', as well as shape students' perception of other students as rival competitors who must be cut down and bested in order to lay claim to the rewards offered to the "winner"; the Educational Testing Service (SAT, GRE) was a direct creation of Carnegie/Rockefeller money, and continues to be a major force which legitimatizes who is considered worthy and unworthy of an education and decent wage (although nowadays even an advanced degree isn't a guarantee of much).
So once control over the means of livelihood/production was wrested away from families and their communities by the richies, it was basically game over, and now people come over here so they can fight over who gets chosen to teach English to Koreans so they can convince a company that they are worthy to be paid a wage for their 14 hour-a-day labor, and can therefore buy all the goodies which will mark him as a superior world citizen, at least as long as he/she remains an obedient worker, and the section within the company that he/she is employed in remains relevant. It's all a tidy system, so long as you can view it from above. |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 6:23 am Post subject: |
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| Reggie wrote: |
| geldedgoat wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| How many more centuries is it until it's safe to live near Chernobyl? |
People live there now, and no noticeable increase in their risk of cancer has been found. I'm not sure about birth defects, though; have any of these people gotten pregnant since they moved back in? |
Fast forward to the 44:00 mark of this documentary: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/sex-slaves/ |
That seems to focus on a family that suffered as a result of the initial meltdown. I was speaking specifically of healthy individuals moving to Chernobyl now. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 7:33 am Post subject: |
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| Reggie wrote: |
Localizing production would be a huge step in reducing energy consumption. For many thousands of years, primative humans ate local food production and made pottery in their own villages. Now it's 2011 A.D. and most apples here in Tennessee are shipped all the way from Washington state and most drinking cups are shipped from China. These are just two examples among millions of examples of how large sums of energy are needlessly wasted when no sophisticated energy sources should be needed to produce or transport apples or drinking cups for consumers in Tennessee. |
The 10,000 mile salad, eh? You're right. We're extremely wasteful w/r/t energy and the system is very fragile.
| Quote: |
| Things are so beyond effed up here in the USA. If a war was to break out in Saudi Arabia or if the dollar suddenly collapsed, I swear to god millions of Americans would starve to death as a result of their laziness and the breakdown of the corporate agribusiness supply chain in a scenario where oil is several hundred US dollars per barrel. Millions of people would die despite a vast abundance of arable land. Food shelves would be empty at the grocery store and people here wouldn't know what to do. They wouldn't have a clue. They would riot and eventually starve. |
You are probably correct.
...
Localizing production would be more efficient and robust. It would also mean more culinary diversity and experimentation. Win-win. |
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legrande
Joined: 23 Nov 2010
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| Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 7:52 am Post subject: |
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| Localizing production would be more efficient and robust. It would also mean more culinary diversity and experimentation. Win-win. |
However, this would be encouraging people to be independant and help cement community solidarity, as well as blow up all the sweet deals that the gov't/corporations have with food producers from other countries who they can exploit for a cheaper price. A definite no-no for the big boys. Don't you want them to get that third yacht? |
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Space Bar
Joined: 20 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:03 am Post subject: |
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How about these fringe greeny loonies?
From 1999-2010, Greenpeace and Japanese anti-nuke activists fought against unloading plutonium at Fukushima. Unfortunately, a court allowed it to go ahead in 2010. Had they begun instead in 1999, there would have been TONS of plutonium spewing all over the place instead of the relatively small, though still extremely harmful, amount now.
Watch the video.
How Activists Prevented a Much Worse Disaster in Japan
How anti-nuclear activists, local people, and GreenPeace stopped TEPCO from using MOX plutonium fuel in the Fukushima reactor, from 1999... until 10 months before the meltdown
The video below, shows that ordinary people can, and must, do extra ordinary things, to prevent man-made disasters from occurring.
These things happen because of the inactions of the many, with the profit-motivated irresponsible actions of the few, yet people don't need to lead a life of apathy followed by misery and ultimately suicide.
Do something great with your life. Join an organisation like GreenPeace, or network with people around you, locally and globally. Find actions that need doing, and encourage yourself and others to become involved in saving the planet. You can have much fun while doing it, as well as adventure, make great friends, and live life more like it was meant to be.
compelling video at link |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 7:56 am Post subject: |
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| Andy Xie wrote: |
In the wake of the crisis, China has suspended expansion of its nuclear power industry. This was the right thing to do. Despite reassurances we've heard from many government officials, China should suspend the country's nuclear power expansion plan indefinitely and shut down existing plants located near population centers as soon as possible.
While many Chinese officials have assured the people that the nation's nuclear technology is safer than Japan's, I cannot stop thinking about the nation's other challenges in areas such as unsafe food, the world's highest traffic accident rate, and widespread product quality problems. When I stretch my imagination to the country's nuclear power plants, I'm terrified. |
The Chinese government cannot be trusted to handle processed milk, much less nuclear power. |
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ZIFA
Joined: 23 Feb 2011
Location: Dici che il fiume..Trova la via al mare
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| Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:26 am Post subject: |
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| geldedgoat wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| How many more centuries is it until it's safe to live near Chernobyl? |
People live there now, and no noticeable increase in their risk of cancer has been found. I'm not sure about birth defects, though; have any of these people gotten pregnant since they moved back in? |
Belarus, to the north, got a huge dose of Chernobyl's radioactive cloud.
In the area 50miles north of Chernobyl, the infant mortlity rate is 300% higher than the rest of Europe.
In the town of Gomel, only 15-20% of babies are born healthy.
Apparently there are 7000 babies dying of heart defects as we speak- they are on waiting lists for surgery that is too expensive.
Of course its hard to prove the link to chernobyl. But this area has a cesium rate 40 times the acceptable level.
The long term danger to humans of radiation, particularly related to cesium, is very serious and persistent.
After the Chernobyl accident, health problems- thyroid cancer, disabilitity and mental retardation in the region sykyrocketted. Minsk hospital now has the worlds largest thyroid treatment centre.
Warning: some disturbing images.
Chernobyl Heart
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/chernobyl-heart/ |
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