2008 Woodie Awards
Sustainable YouNH
Chris Skoglund
Issue date: 4/30/07 Section: Commentary
These warm days are a reminder that garden fresh veggies will soon reach my table. They couldn't arrive at a better time since I have eaten about as many tomatoes that look red on the outside but taste like Styrofoam on the inside as I care to. My "fixation with freshness" hasn't always the case. While in college, I could eat more fast food than Morgan Spurlock in the film "Supersize Me" without gaining weight. But times have changed. As my metabolism slowed to the point that I needed to exercise to balance my torrid love affair with Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, I became aware of how my relationship with food is more than a relationship with calories. My food choices not only affect me physically but also the quality of the environment around me.
As someone once pointed out to me, food is a resource that I "use" far more intimately than any other. The molecules that are found on and in the food will eventually visit such exotic places as my heart, my brain and the flap of skin between my thumb and index finger. In doing so, these vitamins and minerals, fats, proteins, carbohydrates and synthetic chemicals can interact with my body and affect my daily moods, my general health and my lifespan.
The food I consume is connected to more than my body's "system." Because it can be grown down the street or halfway round the world, organically or with intensive fertilizer and pesticide application, and with minimal tillage or intensive cultivation, its production can have far more profound impacts than appeasing my hunger. Much of the current agriculture production is transported thousands of miles to its final destination, a process which consumes far more energy than it provides its consumer and which contributes to the increasing rate of greenhouse gas emissions. Some of my food is grown organically and in a manner that sustains both soil and water quality, while far too much is grown so intensively that the soil is damaged and waterways are polluted.
While FDR noted in 1937, "the nation that destroys its soil destroys itself," there are new threats to consider beyond the formation of another Dust Bowl. As the world's population grows and energy supplies dwindle at an increasing rate, it is critical that we maintain the existing agricultural lands and strengthen the local foods network in order to increase the quality and security of NH food sources. In NH, the need for the development of local networks is critical. According to the NH Center for a Food Secure Future (NHCFSF) over 90% of the food we consume is grown out of state while our population is growing, our farms are declining in number and the farmers are getting older.
As someone once pointed out to me, food is a resource that I "use" far more intimately than any other. The molecules that are found on and in the food will eventually visit such exotic places as my heart, my brain and the flap of skin between my thumb and index finger. In doing so, these vitamins and minerals, fats, proteins, carbohydrates and synthetic chemicals can interact with my body and affect my daily moods, my general health and my lifespan.
The food I consume is connected to more than my body's "system." Because it can be grown down the street or halfway round the world, organically or with intensive fertilizer and pesticide application, and with minimal tillage or intensive cultivation, its production can have far more profound impacts than appeasing my hunger. Much of the current agriculture production is transported thousands of miles to its final destination, a process which consumes far more energy than it provides its consumer and which contributes to the increasing rate of greenhouse gas emissions. Some of my food is grown organically and in a manner that sustains both soil and water quality, while far too much is grown so intensively that the soil is damaged and waterways are polluted.
While FDR noted in 1937, "the nation that destroys its soil destroys itself," there are new threats to consider beyond the formation of another Dust Bowl. As the world's population grows and energy supplies dwindle at an increasing rate, it is critical that we maintain the existing agricultural lands and strengthen the local foods network in order to increase the quality and security of NH food sources. In NH, the need for the development of local networks is critical. According to the NH Center for a Food Secure Future (NHCFSF) over 90% of the food we consume is grown out of state while our population is growing, our farms are declining in number and the farmers are getting older.
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