Well I just finished watching the Future of Food. You can find it on Netflix’s Watch Now, which you can now use on a mac. Now granted the movie came out four years ago, so if you’ve seen it I’m sorry it took me so long to see it. I have to say, it is one of the most disturbing things I have seen or read in a very long time. I like to think that Laura and I are pretty good at watching documentaries on global and national issues. We’ve seen dozens of films on topics like Climate Change, the Energy Crisis, the War in Iraq, Religion, and Health Care. I must say the Future of Food takes the cake by far.
I think the crucial factor in this is the fact that as a citizen, consumer, and human being, we really have little to no control over the issue. This appears on multiple levels, the main of which is the fact that the changes in our food could very well become permanent and unavoidable due to the irresponsibility of few. The film primarily deals with the dangers of genetically engineering food. One of the main issues here is that if a GE (genetically engineered) seed is introduced to a non GE seed, the two will combine and there will forever be GE’ness(?) in the new seed. It’s like having a bowl of sugar and pouring in a little salt. Except that the salt gradually turns all of the sugar into salt. So maybe that’s not the best example.
The other disturbing fact that I came away with (again for numerous reasons) is that fact that people and companies can patent seeds (and other living things). To me it seems like a pretty big no brainer that allowing people to patent living things. One very good reason is that a living thing is capable of surviving and finding it’s own way. This causes an issue in the example(s) found in the film where a patented seed has made it’s way into a farmers field. Now the owner of the patent can seek legal action (sue) the farmer for using the seed without a license. I could probably write a paper (or even a book) on this issue, but for the blog I’ll just leaving it as saying it’s just plain wrong.
Bottom line, this film is incredible. It gives so much insight and thought to such a every day thing as food, that most people really don’t consider. If you haven’t seen it, you should. If you have seen it, you should watch it again. Food is something that effects us all, always, no matter what. And it’s something that so many people give so little thought to.
Leave a Reply