John Novis, photographer for Greenpeace International, spent weeks living at the Yunnan province, China, amongst the local population and made a brilliant record of these farmers’ lifestyle, whose lives are intimately connected with rice farming. Their plantations, which spread over large areas and assure the livelihood of thousands of people, gave John the opportunity to see a rich traditional culture that, unfortunately, is under threat by the large corporations that want to seize control over the rice production.
Check out this slideshow, narrated by John, and its beautiful soundtrack to understand the details of this beautiful homage to farmers of China and the entire world.
Speaking of food, the New York Times published a very interesting piece this week about how the food industry leads consumers to eat things against their own will. Research by Dr. David Kessler, former head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—the powerful American institution responsible for regulating drugs and food—and author of the book “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite,” shows that the food industry operates more or less like the tobacco industry.
According to Dr. Kessler, by combining fat, sugar and salt in different ways, food manufacturers were able to tap into our brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full.
In his book, Dr. Kessler admits: “I wouldn’t have been as interested in finding out why we can’t resist food if I didn’t suffer with this myself. I gained and lost weight several times over. I have suits in every size.”
The food industry is also the theme of a documentary that has been generating lots of debate in the United States. Food Inc. questions many procedures adopted by food manufacturers, a little along the lines of what films such as Super Size Me and Fast Food Nation have done, focusing not only on health and nutritional issues but also on ethical, environmental and political aspects.
It’s the same old story: to eat well, one has to be well informed.
If I still had a doubt regarding which operating system I wanted to use in my next laptop computer, it disappeared when I read this: Linux is not only cheaper and safer that Apple’s and Microsoft’s proprietary systems, but it’s also more ecologic!
The Australian ZDNet listed 10 items on which Linux beats its rivals in environmental matters. For example, because Linux is lighter, it doesn’t need a very powerful computer to work appropriately, which saves energy.
I know that many people are reluctant to use computers based on Linux, alleging that Linux is too complicated and that they are already used to “Ruindows” by M$. The first argument used to be true, but it isn’t anymore. Check out Ubuntu and tell me what you think. I worked for the government of the city of Sao Paulo during the implementation of the local digital inclusion project and saw people from the outskirts of the city using Linux very easily. I asked some of them if they found it much different and their answer was kind of obvious: of course not; after all, they were using a computer for the first time.
This leads us to the second issue, the habit of using this or that program. Well, you may be used to drive a car and start taking a bus for financial reasons and/or environmental awareness. You are not used to giving rides but start doing it more often. You may be used to brushing your teeth with a running faucet and then find yourself having to get used to not doing it. And so on so forth.
Changing our habits (especially the bad ones) is crucial to drive us to new levels of civilization, one where there is respect for the environment, for people and for the rules of life in society, even in this great capitalist market. Sharing, tolerating, reusing and recycling. Everything in life is a matter of choice. And our choices define our future.
An animation by the Free Range Studios team, who has already brought us Homeland Guantanamo (about the imprisonment of immigrants in the USA), the The Story of Stuff (on sustainability), and Meatrix (on industrial farms), among others:
(and to think that for many, this fisherman is a loser…)
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