You know there is a company that wants to drill for oil in the churchyard about a half mile from my house. That is what's looking to be the big story of the year. I don't know how I feel about it yet, there has been a lot of misinformation. People hear fossil fuel extraction and they all of a sudden think fracking even when it's not the case, but all the same this is probably going to be the year when I suddenly transform into the Lorax, the one everybody likes not the other one.
I'm going to have to give myself a crash course on environmental science, conservation as well as economies of scale.
I don't really review documentaries for a few reasons. Since the point of documentaries are to educate it's very hard for me to call one on it's bullshit other than to point out logical fallacies, when I feel the film makes leaps that don't tell a fair representation of the truth.
Unless I already have a familiarity with the material it's hard to say whether or not the film is boldface lying. As soon as I was done writing about Cowspiracy I found a much better review on Daily Kos.
All the same I want to watch a documentary about how modern industrial agriculture effects our environment. It's worthy subject matter. I want to watch Cowspiracy done right. so.
Food Inc.
The goal of the doc is to show the audience the cost of our diet. All the stuff, much of which is undesirable that has to happen for us to get cheap meat. It is the expose Cowspiracy thinks it is. It doesn't just use graphics and fuzzy math but shows you , The Jungle style exactly how you a cow becomes a hamburger.
But it also has balance. We can talk all day about how the food we eat is crap in a lot of ways, because yeah it is, but at the end of the day people got to eat. We want people to eat. But we want people to eat food that's safe, sustainable, and ethical.
I've internalized that my existence is dependent on other beings suffering and I'm not just talking about animals.
My world is dominated by complicated supply chains. Apple, Amazon, Microsoft. All of the niceties of modern living I have are dependent on workers manufacturing in conditions and for wages that would make my granddad's head explode. It's something I ignore because I like my cake.
As a consumer I'm not going to turn down a cheap Xbox or cellphone or in this case morning bacon and eggs
Most of these documentaries champion organic food. But I have this question of whether or not organic foods are better for the environment and if they are how much so.
How much land does organic live stock take up? How much carbon does it take to raise organic live stock and crops than through a regular industrialized one? How many people can the final stock of one feed vs the other? How do organic companies many of which are owned by the big boys treat their workers?
I don't want to jump on the organic band wagon just because it's a marketable buzzword but I do want to lessen the harm my existence causes to the environment and other human beings.
Modern American industrial agriculture is problematic but can't think of a simple way to fix it.
There should be a law or something.
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