I think Michael Pollan over does himself in this article titled Farmer in Chief. He blatantly calls out the now President Barrack Obama for how food was not on his priority list while campaigning. He does so brilliantly by showing that what President Obama did stress during his campaign in fact directly revolved around the food industry. Mr. Pollan makes it clear that food should be a top the countries agenda. He proves that as high calorie diets increase and the price per calorie decreases, fossil fuels, greenhouse gases and a myriad of life threatening diseases increase. What is a country without people to run it? That is where we will be if the majority of our country is dying due to obesity and type 2 diabetes. What scares me is that unlike a broken leg or bruised arm where people feel pain and then go seek treatment, consumption of food does not hurt. What happens in our body is not visible. People do not pick up on slight increases of blood pressure or higher cholesterol. Until one day they have a heart attack or stroke due to it. It is like saying if a persons leg was broken and they didnt feel it and it did not hinder their day to day activity, they probably would not got get a cast. However one day they will be walking and their leg might tear off, then they will realize that they made a mistake. Michale Pollan is trying to make sure we do not make that mistake.
Side point: I think calling this article Farmer in Chief was great, for those of you who didnt get it, it is a play on commander in chief, it made me laugh.
Interesting response, but keep in mind that this was written before the election, so Pollan didn't know which candidate would be elected. Both ran on platforms that addressed reducing our reliance on foreign oil and other issues that are related to the food system, though they took different stances on these. Do you have a summary of the article or questions for discussion?
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