. Cook's objections often seem to be to aimed at modernity itself—to the same forces of technology-driven, mechanized productivity that have industrialized the nonfarm economy. All rights reserved. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a div
- Title : Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis
- Author : Christopher D. Cook
- Rating : 4.63 (566 Vote)
- Publish : 2014-2-19
- Format : Paperback
- Pages : 326 Pages
- Asin : 1595580840
- Language : English
. Cook's objections often seem to be to aimed at modernity itself—to the same forces of technology-driven, mechanized productivity that have industrialized the nonfarm economy. All rights reserved. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. The heart of the book is an analysis of agricultural economics straight out of an 1890s Grange hall. Cook laments the destruction of family farms by a corporate "octopus" of agribusiness giants and parasitic middlemen who squeeze prices for farm products and inflate them for highly processed convenience foods on the store shelf, abetted by government farm subsidies that encourage overproduction and favor big producers. From Publishers Weekly The "toxic cornucopia" of big agriculture is pilloried in this populist manifesto. His indictment is compelling, but his nostalgic remedy isn't fully persuasive. He doesn't explain how, without legions of housewives to make meals from scratch, we can do without food-processing middlemen nor why his program of returning to small family farms will curb abuses of animals, workers, consumers and the environment better than firmer government regulatiIf we are what we eat, then, as Christopher D. Corporate control of farms and supermarkets, unsustainable drives to increase agribusiness productivity and profits, misplaced subsidies for exports, and anemic regulation have all combined to produce a grim harvest. Cook argues cogently for a whole new way of looking at what we eat—one that places healthy, sustainably produced food at the top of the menu for change. Food, our most basic necessity, has become a force behind a staggering array of social, economic, and environmental epidemics.Yet there is another way. Cook contends in this powerful look at the food industry, we are not in good shape. The facts speak for themselves: more than 75 million Americans suffered from food poisoning last year, and 5,000 of them died; 67 percent of American males are overweight, obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States and supersizing is just the tip of the iceberg: the way we make and eat food today is putting our enviroWonderful phrases. FBI agent Miller Sutton views all of life as good or bad, black or white, hot or cold. There is of course an element of "better to light one candle" rhetoric here; even Cook is not so naïve as to think that tomorrow will see the US converted to any kind of enormous vegan commune. Needless to say, Cargill and Archer-Daniels Midland executives are not going to be enamored of Diet, but any citizen concerned about the state of farming in the US, and its effects on public health and environmental well-being, would do well to read this book.Cook organizes his topic into three sections, dealing with food quality and safety; the business and economic aspects of modern agriculture; and environmental consequences of profligate pesticide use and "factory" farm effluents. This books gives a look at the Tudor household Christmas traditions. It has an amazing Bibliography of almost 20 pages in 8 point type, a thorough index and a listing of reference web sites.Although it sounds scholarly, and it is, it also reflects the author's passion and years of experience. Unlike many other authors and physicians who specialize in cancer treatment, Dr. Thank you Temple!!. I want to say that the author did an excellent job in making a very tough subject look hopeful. A lot of the book is dedicated to the latter. Some of my favorites are one of a locomotive engineer accompan
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