In this series of blog posts I will discuss some of the assigned readings for the Sustainable Planning Seminar (Urban Planning/Geography/Landscape Architecture 446) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
This week’s readings were:
- Michael Pollan’s “National Eating Disorder” and “Corn” from his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma
- The Prologue, “Food Fight”, and the Epilogue from The End of Food by Paul Roberts
- An article about food waste markets
Thoughts
For both Pollan and Roberts, the total globalization of the economy obfuscated “full karmic price” of our food generation. The “economic externalities” in energy generation and other products also apply to the chain of interactions that move plants and livestock from the field to our plates. These externalities include the over extraction of resources, but also food security. To Pollan, the lack of a “single unifying” food culture in the United States means that deciding what to eat for every meal is potentially complicated choice. Roberts thinks food production should become more localized to promote food security and reliability. Both are concerned by the influence of capitalism on food production, which motivates the use of GMOs in corn and aquaculture companies to operate where water safety standards a lower – all in the name of least-cost (greatest-profit).
The food waste market has a slightly different perspective and attempts to reduce the amount of rejected food by selling produce and goods that would be disposed of, but still safe to eat, at a fraction of retail value. This solution applies capitalism in a positive way.