mmmoongoddess’s Recent Comments

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  Beware Factory Organic

  Umbra's spot on in terms of corporate "organic" and economies of scale.  Michael Pollan calls them "factory organic" and states that these operations just manage their "inputs" so they meet organic specifications.  But agribusiness is agribusiness any way you look at it.

  And I totally agree with Kate about the need for everyone to have access to healthy organic food.  Except for the brief 50 year period of the so-called "Green Revolution"  what we call "organic" was the way things were always grown.

  The perimeter of a supermarket is where the least processed food is to be found.  Also, there is the food guide http://www.foodnews.org/ which provides a top ten least and most pesticide laden produce products.  This helps a lot when your local grocery chain is the only option available to you.
  On Umbra on store-brand organics posted 11 months ago 8 Responses

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  Slow Food = $$$ ???

  Tom,

  The slow food movement is a fabulous response to our Western processed grab-and-go-while-you're-on-the-move society, and it has been of great interest to me.

  However, my concern is the high price tags I see around it, especially their membership fees.  Also, they seem to be aligned more with high calibre (i.e. price) restaurants and clientele rather than providing ways for the general populace to pursue a 'slow food' lifestyle.

  Perhaps I'm seeing more of a classist bent on the movement than there is, but there still seems to be the persistent stereotype of organic/healthy/slow/wholesome food = high cost.

  In order to get get more of the general population interested in wholesome slow food eating perhaps Carlo Petrini and his group need to help us find ways to "slow food" evening dinners for the family, or even burgers and dogs at the ballpark!

  Security is an illusion, it does not exist in nature... Life is either a daring adventure ... or nothing! Helen Keller

  On I'll be reporting from Slow Food's Terra Madre conference in Turin, Italy posted 1 year ago 3 Responses

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  Re-training U.S. travel habits

  Once in a while, watching that old chestnut of a holiday movie, White Christmas, I noted how everyone arrived via the local train station, even in rural Vermont (or whatever New England skiing habitat they were trying to portray).

  Here in Vermont today, as in most of the U.S., 'local trains' are mere memories of the past as routes were discontinued with the advent of the interstate highway system in the late 50's/early 60's.  Thousands of miles of tracks were ripped out and the right of ways became recreational bike paths.  

  I'd say it's time to re-train the nation and reestablish intercity rail AND rural bus routes. As the cost of fuel continues to rise, these routes will become literal lifelines to the elderly, disabled and others who can no longer afford to feed, repair, insure and maintain these  infernal combustion vehicles.On Umbra on driving versus flying, again posted 1 year, 3 months ago 13 Responses

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  Last five words unnecessary

  Yes, yes to buses and more mass transit.  We need to rebuild the inter-city bus and rail links (especially between small rural towns) that were systematically dismantled over the last 50 years.

  However, I think omitting the last five words in this blurb would have been better than mentioning this heinous act - even as an "aside".

  I groove to much of the humor and pun-nishment here on Grist, but what happened on that bus in Ontario really doesn't bear mentioning.  It was a terrible act by a disturbed person and we grieve the loss of the young man's life.On Greyhound and other intercity buses gain popularity posted 1 year, 3 months ago 4 Responses

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  Corn is Not the Answer

  Much is made about the U.S. corn crop (a vast monoculture in and of the U.S. landscape - most of it genetically modified), as the be all and end all of food security.  The U.S. actually overproduces corn.  In fact, the country produces so much that it was ADM (price fixer to the world) and their biotechnology whizzes who created High Fructose Corn Syrup to help mitigate the mountains of corn.

  A bad corn crop spells trouble - if your food security rests in processed or fast foods.  Just about all contain a percentage of corn (from low amounts in fries - unless fried in ... corn oil of all things ... to moderate amounts in so-called chicken nuggets, to almost all in soft drinks and shakes).  Just listen to Michael Pollan talk about the "Cornification of America", and how corn DNA can be found in our hair.  According to him, people on fast food diets almost amount to corn walking on legs.

  Commodification, Futures and Corporate Greed:  These are the reasons for hunger and rising prices.

  Security is an illusion, it does not exist in nature... Life is either a daring adventure ... or nothing! Helen Keller

  On FT: Midwest rains threaten U.S. corn crop posted 1 year, 6 months ago 4 Responses