Hope For The Future

After watching "The Future of Food" in class this morning, I cannot stop thinking about the film and all of the thoughts and questions it has provoked within me. I was so shocked by the real life stories of the farmers, ranging from Saskatchewan, Canada to Oaxaca, Mexico. I was truly touched by the emotional trials and tribulations the farmers shared on camera, and I felt the movie’s impact was heightened by their personal stories, families, and various court cases. I had no idea the impact that genetically modified foods is having on the farming industry and how one pesticide corporation, Monsanto, is now taking over every single piece of cropland, seed, or gene they can get their hands on. The monopolistic tyranny of Monsanto is a phenomenon that must be stopped before it begins to take over more than just the agricultural aspects of life.

Probably the most shocking statistic of "The Future of Food" was the fact that a company has patented the breast cancer gene and has prevented other researchers from doing breast cancer research and attempting to stop one of the deadliest and fastest growing cancers of America’s society. I was and still am stunned that something could literally stop cancer research, and this has made me worried that if they can “own” cancer genes that soon enough people are going to be patenting other genes, which could lead to people owning and patenting one another, which is absolutely ridiculous.

Although "The Future of Food" had a strong emphasis on the dangers of patents as well as genetically engineered food, the end of the movie (which we had to cut short due to time constraints) began to show the slow movement against genetically engineered foods and toward local community foods and organics. Because the rest of the movie was cut short I decided to look into some other organizations that were trying to fight the epidemic, feeling the need to give myself hope that there are programs out there trying to help and organizations that are making progress as well. This brought me to "The Slow Food Movement" website which is an organization that attempts to create relationships with producers, organizes campaigns to protect traditional foods, and encourages chefs and schools to do what they can to move to more locally grown foods.

One of the most encouraging aspects I stumbled upon on "The Slow Food Movement" website was the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. They aim to not only protect biodiversity but take it one step further and realize that saving biodiversity results in saving cultures, communities, and lives. Their programs are worldly and are even emphasized in third world countries.

A further look into the website reveals a program called Terra Madre, which is a counteracting force to genetic engineering which brings together farmers, breeders, fishermen, processors, distributors, cooks and agricultural experts from 130 countries to discuss problems, share stories and combine ideas to help solve so many of the issues at hand.

After being so disappointed by "The Future of Food" film, it was very encouraging to read about "The Slow Food Movement", and to see that people all over the world are beginning to come together to fight the genetic engineering epidemic that seems to be controlling so many aspects of our lives. I will continue to research "The Slow Food Movement" website and try to help fight the system in any way I can.