Food, Water, Waste

In the past week I've watched the NBC special about the Obama White House, visited the George Jones farm here in Oberlin, and read Bottlemania and Garbageland by Elizabeth Royte. While these things may seem unrelated they all have me thinking about our precious, precious environment and our food system.

As many people may know, Michelle Obama, with the help of some local elementary school kids planted a garden in the White House lawn in March of this year. By the time NBC did their special "Inside the Obama White House," the garden had already grown 80 pounds of lettuce and herbs used by the white house chefs in the Obama meals and sent a local homeless shelter. The students also went back to their school and are now growing a garden at their school. Can we talk about how awesome that is? Let's bring back the days of Eleanor Roosevelt's victory gardens, when home gardens accounted for 40% of America's produce.

Then I visited the George Jones farm this weekend, which I've always felt tied to as an Oberlin student, and especially as a member of the co-op system (we send all our compost to the farm). The farm is great. It's 70 acres of land, most of which is used as a nature preserve, to restore the natural habitat of Oberlin, which is unfortunately swampy. But they've done a great job since taking over a corn and soybean farm in 2001. The farm now takes in all of Oberlin College and OSCA's food waste and returns that in the form of delicious produce. The restored natural habitats have brought back 65 different species of birds, including 4 endangered ones, deer, and of course all the bugs that come with it all. It was perhaps one of the most awesome things I've done here at Oberlin and gave me hope that food can be grown locally, in a good way. Rest assured, I will be returning more often, not only for the delicious strawberries and beautiful horse Kate, but also for the pleasant 2 mile bike ride there as well.

Last, I've discovered the amazingness of our local public library. Perhaps it's small, but impressive collection has been pushed by Oberlin students and progressive Oberlin townspeople as well, but regardless, you can find many great things there. Most boast about it's extensive DVD collection, but I've recently been able to find great books about waste, bottled water, and our food system. So far, I've only gone through Elizabeth Royte's Bottlemania and Garbageland, but I already never want to throw anything away again. The numbers are disturbing really. The amount of waste we generate daily, the percentage of that waste that should have been recycled or composted, that only 11% of water bottles were recycled (can we really call it that?). It's really quite disturbing. And though the battle between tap and bottled water goes much beyond the environmental impact of water bottles and transportation, I'll stick to my tap water any day, unless I do get seriously ill or mysteriously pregnant.

I worry for the world, I really do. We don't care enough, and the things that are ruining our atmosphere the most are the things we can't control, like the chemicals used in industrial processes, not the kind of car you drive (and even then, you can't control the fuel to air ratio). In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan relays a startling statistic that the average American diet is 70% corn and soybean based. You may be thinking, no, that's not true, but when you realize the amount of high fructose corn syrup you consume, or that all processed foods have emulsifiers and preservatives that are corn and soybean based, the number becomes frighteningly true.

I'm going to do my part to recycle all I can (especially your old electronics) and just waste less in general by consuming less. I'll also drink tap water and do my best to eat locally, and even if I can't, I know my food waste will make it back to the George Jones farm where Aaron and company will turn it into food for others to eat. And let's start the revolution to bike to work. It's not just me, it's admissions counselors, deans of the college, and even our lovely president of the college, Marvin Krislov. So let's care for once, and do something about our future, cause I for one do not see us going anywhere good on the path we're on.