Earth Day Speech
Posted on April 22, 2008 - Filed Under Food, Reviews
Today (April 22) was Earth Day in the States (which explains why I hadn’t heard much about it when my Canadian friends were talking about it), so I actually ended up celebrating it twice! Our planet is worth it though! 
Today, TGH and I were fortunate enough to go see Michael Pollan speak in Massachusetts today. He is the author of several books including, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” and more recently, “In Defense of Food.”
Mr. Pollan was a good public speaker and some of his ideas were things I had already heard about - like how you should shop around the periphery of the supermarket for the healthiest foods and produce because most of the food in the middle of the store is the processed, subsidized food. And the things I hadn’t already heard really made a lot of sense. He discussed how the earth, the soil, the animals, and our food all have a relationship and how grass fed animals are not competing with us for food since they are eating something we wouldn’t be eating anyway.
Another topic was how we really don’t know as much as we think we do. For instance, years ago, science created margarine in an attempt to make a healthier substitute for butter since saturated fat was seen as the devil. LOL. But we have since learned that the hyrdrogenated margarine and its trans fats are actually more lethal than the saturated fats we were originally concerned about. When we try to create “designer” foods or isolate nutrients from food, we often find that they don’t work the way we think they should. They seem to work best as part of the whole package they originally came in. Who knows what we will find 20 years from now? But there does seem to be some safety in following the diets our great grandparents ate, when the diseases of today weren’t so prevalent.
He also discussed mass production of crops for fuels, foods, etc. and how our food today is not nearly as nutritious as it used to be 100 years ago because the soil is getting depleted, how the most healthy cultures seem to have the most varied diets, and how the “Western Diet” is the most likely cause for a host of diseases in addition to obesity. There were many great points.
I really enjoyed his speech and he had a lot of charisma as he entertained questions from the audience after the talk. It was a lot of food for thought and much of it agrees with my thinking that we would be better off if we could slow our pace down more, process less, and use technology in smarter ways but not necessarily for mass-production or for greed. I think it would benefit humans, animals, and our earth. Anyway, it was a great thing to attend on Earth day I thought. If you want more information, please check out his books. “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” was published in 2006 so that one may be available from your local library. And if you get a chance to see him speak, check him out! Here is a link to his speaking schedule - I see he is going to also speak in Auckland, New Zealand - wonder if some of my Kiwi buddies can get to see him?
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17 Responses to “Earth Day Speech”
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Hi Teeni! A friend of mine has read that book and it’s on my list to read. That’s so great you saw him speak!
I like butter best, but also promise & smart balance; what do you use?
and wouldn’t it be nice if there were neighborhood gardens for produce and if people were able to buy most of their produce etc. locally? it would also decrease our carbon footprint, which is a big drawback with the cattle industry as well.
this is interesting discussion teeni!
I like butter best over margarine also. Also, I don’t use a lot of it but when I do use oils and fats in cooking, I choose olive oil, and coconut and palm oils. I hardly use any of the other “vegetable” oils any longer as I’ve learned that they easily go rancid and can introduce more free radicals into your body.
Oh, he did also discuss a bit about the local farmer’s markets and such too. I’ve always liked the idea of getting my produce that way and there are a couple of different farmers markets in neighboring towns around us in the good weather. And TGH and I are hoping to expand our own produce garden as well as learn to compost, so it’s all kind of exciting. It really was a great speech and I took notes and all too but I couldn’t cover everything here - I don’t want to steal all his material. LOL.
I’ll have to check out this book, it’s right up my alley
I posted in honour of Earth day but apparently I missed ours so I am borrowing from my US friends today;-)
LOL. Yay, Kami! My earth is your earth and my earth day is your earth day. Borrow as you like.
Very interesting Teeni. I’ve heard nothing about Earth Day here, but def one to celebrate! Auckland is hours away from me, but in Hannah’s neighbourhood I think
Ooooh. I bet she’d enjoy it. And even if not, if she is interested, I’m sure she could get her hands on the books.
Yes, definitely one to celebrate!
I did the one hour of no electricity thing back in march.
I recycle, and I abhor processed foods. That’s why my home made pizza is such a big hit.
I really do appreciate homemade stuff. Another interesting point that Mr. Pollan made was that people don’t cook at home anymore. Families don’t sit down to dinner. Advertisers market to each individual member of the family and it results in each member wanting something different for dinner and because we are now so busy that we all eat in different shifts, etc. It is so true! And he went on to say that we get flattered by thinking how busy we are, but in reality it only takes a few minutes to cook simple nutritious meals or to pour some milk over a bowl of cereal in the morning so it really is kind of demeaning for commercials to always show people rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off in the morning, grabbing a breakfast bar or a Go-gurt or some other foolish processed food. All this talk about food - I want some of your pizza now.
Ooh! Thanks, Teeni. I’ll have to check his stuff out since Im into the food awareness nowadays.
And yes, I cook dinner at least 6 times a week at home. Very rarely do we eat out. That’s helping, yes?
Yes, you actually do a lot better than many families by eating at home that many times a week. I think it’s great and sooooo much better for your health. Which is good cuz i want you around for a looooong time, buddy!
I miss cooking will have to check that book out!
Hopefully you’ll be back to cooking soon!
Wow sound like tons of goo info! Seems to be in line with my thinking also.. I can’t wait to start growing my own veggies again- yum!
Oh, I’m with you. I just started my veggie plantings - the seeds are in my porch waiting to sprout! I’m so excited for home grown veggies!
I hope you know how much i want to be?
i have decided that my current car, will be my last one that runs solely on gas. My next one will either be a hybrid or run on biodesil, damn the cost..
Wow! Great earth day resolution! The whole gas situation irks me so dang much that I would seriously consider going back to school to learn how to design a vehicle that runs on water or hydraulics or ANYTHING that isn’t gasoline. Grrrr!
Tons of saving the Earth info.. Love it… Right on the smart use of technology…. We have to have balance in the things we do… Let’s do things for the greater good and not for our selfish intentions….
Well, hello Zeniamai and welcome to The Vaguetarian Tea Room. I totally agree with you. You would have liked the speech I went to!
I cook everything from scratch and only use organic foods. I very seldom go down the middle aisles of the grocery store. I even make my own sprouts but have had trouble finding alfalfa seeds.
My father was the one a long time ago that told me to use butter and never margarine. I don’t even think he knew why but he knew it was the right thing to do.
Owning a health food store I had to set a good example. My problem was portion control. I ate well but just too much of it.
You are so right about rancid oils. Anything that has oil in it including nuts and seeds should be refrigerated. Olive oil is just about the only oil that doesn’t need refrigeration. That’s the only oil I use in cooking.
And all the hormones you get in dairy and meat along with antibiotics. It’s scary.
Another bad thing is what you put on your skin. You absorb about 60 % of it into your blood stream. These are toxic chemicals that the FDA has no control over. Parabens which are in just about everything you put on your skin are preservatives. They are finding them in high concentrations in the breast tissue of women with breast cancer. Go to http://www.ewg.org It is an awesome website about the environment. Go to the Skin Deep section. They have tested almost 10,000 bath and body care products for toxic chemicals so you can see what’s good and what’s bad.
I’ll stop now. You hit one of my passions here and I could go on and on and bore you to tears.
Ah, Joan - you could never bore me! I’d listen to you all day! But it’s funny because this has also become one of my passions. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, and having survived a mastectomy, chemo, and radiation, I am very interested in all of these things from the food we eat to the things put on our skin. The hormones especially concern me as my cancer was hormone receptive. I was even making my own soap for a while too. I haven’t done as much with it lately because I’ve become a little wary of tea tree and lavendar oils but I made it from scratch because that is how passionate I became and how terrified of bringing the wrong things into my body.
Oh, and I have a picture to send you - I gotta download it from my camera. Sorry I meant to send it earlier but got distracted. What, me? Distracted? LOL
Hold on Teeni, I’m just finishing up a large bucket of margarine. It’s the healthy kind make from omega-3 fish oils…haha!
I think whole natural foods are the best, and I avoid most processed foods for the most part.
Sounds like an interesting speech. The new feverish trend of going green is just smart in every way. It will help push technology in the right direction while helping to maintain the health of Mother Earth and us as well. Do you live in Canada or the US?
I’m in New England, USA, but lots of the buddies I’ve met through blogging are in Canada. I think you would have loved this speech, Bobby. Totally up your alley and so much of it is common sense that many people don’t have time from the rat race to even consider. I agree with you about whole and unprocessed foods. The more whole and less processed the better. That’s why I’ve taken to making so many things from scratch myself. When buying food, I like the rules that the more ingredients, the worse is probably is and if I can’t pronounce it, I probably shouldn’t be eating it. I’m not totally anal about it but compared to the junk food loving maniac I used to be, I’m a food saint now. LOL
I heard that too, about grocery stores, that you should shop around the perimeter of the store. I try to buy as mush fresh food as I can and locally if possible, like from farmer’s markets and things.
Yay - I can’t wait to start hitting the Farmer’s Markets. Something else to look forward to in the good weather.
EGADS, they announced on the radio this morning it costs the average sized vehicle owner upwards of $80 to fill their car, and that it’s projected to cost around $145 by the end of the summer.
Perhaps my city would benefit of a rikshaw business. hm.
i admit that b-rad and i eat out a lot more often than we should - a lot of that revolves around the fact that we use food and getting together to eat as a social activity. my hope is that we’ll sit down to eat a lot more when the baby comes.
And last night we had some friends over for a potluck supper - which was AWESOME!! now with warm weather upon us we’ll be doing more of that, BBQ style. But we’ll have to make a conscious effort to continue to do that when it gets colder. Socializing over restaurant food gets expensive, and i have to put gas in my car!
Hi Diva!!!!!!
I think most people probably use food as a center of family get togethers. Even just watching a game or something - ya gotta have snacks, right? I think we just need to be more picky about what we snack on. I’m thinking that we (Americans, anyway) for the most part, need to get back to basics - get off the processed sugary snacks, start learning what things were like when you made your own lemonade, not the powdered kind, a couple of weeks of trying to eliminate sugar from your diet really gives you a new appreciation for sweetness. And I’ve found (I was surprised anyway) that when I eat a healthy amount of fruit during the day, I crave processed sweets much less. So I think it may be a matter of re-training ourselves and our tastebuds. The good thing is Barbecues can be done in a healthy way without much thought or extra effort - fresh salads, corn on the cob, grilled muschrooms, veggie kebabs, lean meats, and baked beans, whole grain salads. Oh gosh - I’m getting hungry now. LOL.
uhm, that’s averaged-sized-vehicle, not averaged-sized vehicle-owner. i don’t think the size of the owner matters.
LOL. You are right though - this whole oil/gasoline issue needs to be resolved once and for all. They can only get so much money out of us.
Hey Teens, sounds like a good speaker. One of the reasons I try to always have some sort of garden growing is because of the quality of food - even here in California isn’t as good as it used to be. And I know tht I don’t use pesticides or chemicals in my food. On top of that, it is a lot cheaper and just plain tastes better.
It may actually be one of the reasons people aren’t eating as nutriously as they once did - in my parents day, everyone had a vegetable garden and fruit trees and come harvest would ‘put up’ the food in mason jars and swap them around. Today, people just buy the stuff in cans and jars. It’s really shame.
Annie
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