I was laughing at myself (pretty hard) yesterday … sandwiched in between a long overnight bus ride, randomly meeting the region’s organic pioneer, prepping to dive into (and hopefully equally able to extricate myself from) a spiritual movement/cult, and realizing that I’m a descendant of the guys who were the leaders of the Mumbai’s and Pune Jewish community … something was still bugging me about the recent TIME magazine article about organics and the environmental movement.
So, I went back, re-read, and shot off not one, but two letters to the editor. I’m relatively confident that neither has a chance of getting published, so just for the hell of it, I’m pasting them here … in the order that I wrote them. If you were the TIME editor, would you print one of them? Comments?
Letter #1:
Dear Editors,
Personal culinary enjoyment will never lead to substantive, timely environmental reform.
By fingering ‘pleasure’ as the primary reason for the rapid growth of the organic / food movement (Foodies Can Eclipse (and Save) the Green Movement, February 15, 2011)), Walsh has inadvertently identified the movement’s greatest weakness.
Pleasure is a short-term, selfish motivator which simply will not create sufficient market-based demand fast enough to counteract the rapid and increasing rate of environmental devastation. We’re simply destroying the planet faster than shop our way out of this mess, especially if our shopping habits are fickle.
Witness the drop-off in organic foods purchasing during the 2008 recession, during which AC Nielson report that sales plummeted from 24%-30% annual growth in every year previous to a near standstill of merely 1% growth.
Is this to be the fate of the environmental movement? That we support saving endangered species or delay taking immediate corrective action to global climate change only when we choose to purchase organic food when suits our wallets?
The ‘Delicious Revolution’ will not be televised; and, to the extent that does beckon those hungry for change – unless and until we accept personal responsibility for predicating our high standard of living on long-term environmental destruction – when times get tough, ‘viewers’ motivated by personal interest will be more likely to simply change the channel.
Yes, let’s absolutely use the food movement to rebuild the environmental movement. While pleasure can open doors to peoples’ stomachs, let’s hope it also opens the doors to their hearts.
Respectfully,
Michael Straus
San Francisco, CA
Letter #2:
Dear Editors,
Building the environmental movement based on pleasure is like … well … building a long term committed relationship based on a drunken, one-night stand.
I’ve tried both, and neither works.
Sincerely,
Michael Straus
Mr. Straus has been a pioneer in organic foods and sustainable agriculture, working twenty years to build the movement. He is, as well, still single. www.MichaelStraus.ORG
