Our choice

The Anthropocene

We live in the Anthropocene which is just a flash way of saying that we now have the technology to choose how we live and die.

We all have to eat and the food system we choose is one of the most important we will make, amplified by the impact of climate change.

Energy food

In some aspect we have made dramatic changes. The bulk of the food we eat is just used for energy and we now have an amazing technology of producing energy food, sugars, fats and carbs on a grand scale.

Our supermarkets are just full of food (at least when there are no floods or droughts) which provide us with food that is full of energy, taste really good and at a price which is dramatically lower than a generation ago.

Energy food is chemically very simple and stable so lends itself to automated mass production and distribution which makes if very profitable.

Body food

But it is not enough. We also need body and brain food.

Body food replaces our body parts as they age and wear (we are really not the same person we were a few months ago – we have been rebuilt). Body food is chemically complex and is typically made by the soil microbes – the fungi and bacteria – breaking down the minerals to make them bio-available for our bodies.

Body food is generally low in modern chemical industrial food so many people use supplements which do work but are no where near as well balanced or economic as nutrients in a healthy traditional diet.

 

Gut brain food

But gut brain food, generally referred to as pre and pro biotics are the microbes which make up our gut brain and the food that feed them. This presents a problem as the microbes have a short life so plants need to be picked and eaten without being stored or transported. This is easily done at home.

Our gut brain is a big deal as it forms the intelligent control system which regulates our bodies, generally known as homeostasis. If this is not working properly we end up fat and sick and is the prime cause of the modern epidemic of non-infectious diseases like heart attacks, strokes, dementia and the fasted growing of all diabetes.

Failure of the modern food system

Our modern food system simply is not supplying the body and brain foods and is also destroying the soil structure so is unsustainable so if we want to remain the dominant intelligent creature on the planet we have no option but to make changes.

This is not saying that modern food is bad, energy food is essential it is just not sufficient.

Technically we know how to do this, the science of soil regeneration, recycling of waste food and biology are well established. The Gbiota Tribox is an example which allows people, even if living in a flat and with no growing experience to recycle their waste food and other organic to produce soil teaming with beneficial microbes and bio-available nutrients.

Social change

It is not a problem of technology – the issue is how to create the social change.

It is analogous to the climate change. Technically we may know how to stop green house gases but making it happen, particularly when vested interested are involved creates a major challenge.

At least with climate change there is now widespread recognition among the public for the need for change which give Governments the social license to override these vested interested.

But with food we are one step behind with a wide spread view that our current food system is healthy and working fine.

 

Information age

So how can we create that change?

In an age of information saturation and advertising simply spending money on advertising, even if the money was available, is unlikely to work.

This has to come from a grass root approach from within society itself.

We have an excellent example in the Plastics Free July movement which aims to reduce single use plastics, particularly in packaging. This movement is now widespread across the globe with millions of people participating.

How did they do it?

It started with a group of ladies in Western Australia who had really very little idea of what they were creating. But they convinced a few people, helped with some very dramatic pictures of Turtles with plastic straws up their noses, and the movement just spread across the globe, from group to group.

(See Plastic Free – The inspiring story of a global environmental movement and why it matters by Rebecca Prince and Atherfold Finn – good read)

A key factor was this was done by ordinary people showing how it was perfectly viable for ordinary people to avoid single use plastics and the public being very receptive to the idea. They did not want a society dominated by single use plastics providing mega profits for multi national corporations.

(Who wants a society with a few obscenely rich people and the rest fat and sick.)

Those of us who want to see a change in our food system so all people have access to food that will make them healthy can take heart from this inspirational movement.

 

Start small and let it grow

All we need is for a few people to show that recycling waste food to produce living soil to grow plants which provide the microbes and nutrients to feed our bodies and gut brains. If we publicise this through the information channels available to us in the internet age the movement will self generate.

If you feel you would like to be eating food to feed your body and gut brain and would be willing to share your practical experiences with others please email me at co***@****ta.com