The Movie You Need to See this Year

There are only a handful of movies that, I believe, have the power to invoke real positive change, and even though “Food, Inc.” hasn’t been released yet, I suspect it is going to be one of them.

Because what is worthy of attention if not the very food we depend on to survive -- and the fact that it is slowly being degraded, devalued, and de-humanized by giant corporations?

The film tackles not only the perils of factory farming, overuse of corn and downsides to fast food, as some other documentaries have done, but also touches on agribusinesses’ manipulation of genetics and the law for their own greed and gain.

And perhaps most importantly, “Food, Inc.” tells a story, one that many Americans have yet to hear, about where food really comes from, and why this is threatening our food supply and our very lives.

Packaged the way it is, as an intriguing, easy to follow and interesting film, it is poised to expose the corrupted food industry to mainstream America in a way that’s never been done before. Even Entertainment Weekly said in a review:

The average American is now 10 pounds overweight. The United States is also facing epidemics of obesity, type 2 diabetes behavioral problems in children, heart disease and so many other chronic diseases they are too numerous to list.

I will stop short of blaming ALL of these illnesses on the U.S. food system, but I believe many, many of them could be resolved if some attention was paid to revamping and completely overhauling the way food is grown, raised, processed and sold in the United States.

At the root of the problem is the fact that the government is intimately intertwined with the giant food corporations. It may surprise you to know that the agriculture lobby is actually more powerful than even the pharmaceutical industry!

This is just one reason why Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma, who is featured in the movie, suggests a “Food Czar” at the White House rather than a Secretary of Agriculture, as the Department of Agriculture is so deeply entrenched with agri-business.

Among the many problems facing the U.S. food system, some of the most prominent are:

• The food crops currently subsidized are corn, wheat, soy and rice. Growing little else but corn and soy means we end up with a fast food diet. In essence, these commodity programs are subsidies for the creation of junk and fast food, not REAL food that could have a positive impact on public health.

• Most “farming” today is nothing like the small farming of our ancestors. In areas where animal agriculture is most concentrated bacteria known as pfiesteria is common in waterways, and agricultural runoff is the primary reason why 60 percent of U.S. rivers and streams are polluted.

Further, a 2002 study from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that industrial farms use an average of three calories of energy to create one calorie of food!

• Giant corporations like Monsanto are not only proliferating the food supply with toxic genetically modified ingredients, but they have also succeeded in slapping patents on a huge number of crop seeds, patenting life forms for the first time -- without a vote of the people or Congress.

By doing this, Monsanto becomes sole owner of the very seeds necessary to support the world’s food supply … an incredibly powerful position that no for-profit company should ever hold.

• Producing food on a massive scale at the lowest price possible has taken precedence over obeying the laws of nature. The system is pushing natural systems and organisms to their limit, forcing living creatures to function as machines. As a result, soon the animals, and consequently your food supply, become unhealthy. And if your food supply becomes unhealthy, so will the population of people who eat it.

I’m hoping that “Food, Inc.” will help to publicize these problems on a global scale, and ultimately get the wheels turning on how to solve them.

Knowledge truly is power, so please share this article and “Food, Inc.” with everyone you know. The more people become informed, the faster it will prompt real change to come about. Several other food-related movies that I also highly recommend you watch and share with your friends and family are:

o The Future of Food
o Super Size Me
o Fast Food Nation
o The World According To Monsanto
o Cornography

On a practical level, short of starting your own sustainable farm (which you can do on a small-scale in your own backyard), you can also help by steering clear of foods that come from giant corporations, and instead supporting sustainable agriculture movements in your area.

Make it a point to only buy food from a source you know and trust. This will do your health a major favor and support the small family farms in your area. You’ll receive nutritious food from a source that you can trust, and you’ll be supporting the honest work of a real family farm instead of an agri-business corporation.