Make the Connection!

mono·cul·ture : the cultivation or growth of a single crop or organism especially on agricultural or forest land

Yesterday I watched a movie called Fresh.  It was another food awareness movie, about monoculture farming versus natural farming practices and how bad monoculture is for our future.  I enjoy these movies, although it is quite depressing and continually shocking.  There is a part of me that wants this information and recognizes that if I want to see change, that I have to be part of the change.  As one person, I can act by how I spend my money, food choices, and my sharing information with others.  Do I want to eat food that has been grown in that mono-culture environment, where disease is  the result and plants and animals become maladaptive?   No, I don't.

After watching the film I had that excited feeling -- motivated, eager to make changes, ready to make a plan and take on the crusade in my life.  Then, I walked into the kitchen, opened the freezer and unconsciously reached for a left over gingerbread shake I had brought home from Red Robin.  What?!  I knew it was made with milk that came from cows that were fed growth hormones and antibiotics to off set the results of the mono-culture farming. Cows that are given hormone cocktails in order to keep them in the milking cycle.  They had been feed corn and corn byproducts that were grown in fields of genetically modified corn seed, and sprayed with insecticides.  Not to mention, cows digestive system were never made to digest corn or corn products.  Eating corn makes their stomaches start to rot and more drugs are needed to keep them alive to keep pumping their milk. But, the end product - this yummy holiday treat - a gingerbread shake, with whipped cream and a ginger snap cookie top top looked and tasted so good.  How could I resist. 

My good sense prevailed and I went off to bed without eating the shake (but it's still in the freezer).  All night I was having dreams of animals and struggle, farmers and baby piglets, plants and worms.  Sometime early in the morning I heard a voice, at first it was faint, then it got louder and louder, until it woke me.  It was telling me "Make the CONNECTION!"  I bolted up and looked at the clock, 5:38am.

Make the connection.  Interesting.  Part of my life long struggle has to do with making the connection.  It is really about the Law of Cause and Effect. If A happens than B results.  Changing the result has always been something I have been chasing, but I never want to start at "A", the cause.  Some where deep inside I know that the voice from my dream is speaking a truth I really need to hear.  My actions keep getting the same results.  If I want different results, I have to change my actions!

To be a food activist, I have to change my relationship with food.  To change my relationship with food, I have to think about it before I eat it, not after.  I need to understand it at a deeper level.  Making such a drastic change, takes some thought and understanding.  Am I ready to give up mono-culture produced food, go organic, spend the time required to investigate and research where my food comes from?  Not to mention, the time it takes to shop and prepare. Is this about making a social statement?  Is it about treating my body with respect and honoring my own humanity and humanity in general?  Is it about becoming conscious - a conscious consumer, conscious to my body's needs, conscious of a higher divine order?  Kris Carr, author of Crazy Sexy Diet, says "If our body is a temple, than our mouth is the alter."  Ummmm.

Where does this all led me?  I am thinking today about my commitment to the environment, sustainable agriculture, animals as a food source and how big this issue is on so many levels.  In the movie, Michael Pollan spoke about how over the past 50 years the number of companies controlling the food production in the US has shrunk from thousands to less than five.  Five (and soon to be three) major corporations have total and absolute control over the food production in our county.  That was shocking information!   That information alone makes me want to start a revolution! (Or join one already started!)  There is just so much wrong with our current system that it is overwhelming.  Sorting it all out, and making a decision about how I can approach it as one person, is making my head hurt.         

For today I have more questions than answers.  I know the voice that spoke to me this morning is speaking a truth I need to hear.  I am open to making the connection.  What ever that looks like for me.  

I'll keep you posted about what I discover.