Update on Food Day

You can read a column written by Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest at The Atlantic.

The way our food is grown, transported, processed, marketed, and ultimately eaten is not sustainable -- for the environment or our health. Diet, together with a sedentary lifestyle, cause obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, and cancers that result in several hundred thousand deaths each year. Raising livestock uses enormous amounts of energy to grow and transport feed; cattle feedlots stink up vast areas; and the animal manure often pollutes waterways. The animals generally endure miserable conditions, as do the packinghouse workers.

My organization, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, has long fought for consumer protections -- food labeling, vigilant food safety programs, and more-healthful foods. I have to admit that we, like most advocacy organizations, are usually toiling within our "health" silo. But because reforming America's food system is such a daunting task, organizations need to climb out of their silos and start collaborating with one another to make faster progress. Health groups should work with farm-animal welfare groups. Anti-hunger activists should work with sustainable agriculture advocates. Nutrition advocates should work with environmentalists. While those disparate groups don't see eye to eye on everything, there are countless opportunities where they can build on each other's strengths...

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