Throughout lessons 5-7, we discussed varying topics from wide ranging areas of our world food system. Something that I could not shake off is the thought that many of the mistakes we have made as a society were encouraged by our leaders who were fully aware of what would result from their actions. For example, the Irish famine that was extended in hopes of encouraging peasants to follow the government order and dimish power from farmers and landowners. Another example is the use of resources for capitalist gain regardless of the ecological costs worldwide.
Citizens of our world can only make a difference if they are aware of the consequences of the use of valuable resources. A significant change to our societies is required to make an impact on the destruction of the world and political leaders and the richest people in the world do not want these changes to occur because they will stray consumers from the capitalist model and pull them closer to a model capable of creating an entirely new economic mindset. If people begin to limit their intake of resources that use more resources than necessary it will completely change our current economic structure.
We must change how we grow our food, where we grow our food, and how we transport our food. We must take a new perspective of how much exports and imports are costing us in terms of resources used. Water, petroleum, and gas are being used in massive amounts to get exotic foods to America. We need more regulations on ecological costs and we need an increase in the education of resource management, environmental costs, and living in a way that reduces our impact on our world. Too many of our everyday activities are using up precious resources that do not need to be wasted.