"The metaphors we use to describe the natural world strongly influence the way we approach it, the style and extent of our attempts at control." (Pollan, p. 191). With this once sentence, Pollan gave me an entirely new perspective on the GMO issue currently revolutionizing modern agriculture.
This week, I began my readings with the Canning et al. article, which was an interesting way to frame my perspective for the other assigned readings. I was struck by two main takeaways from this article. First, the fact of the sheer number of different food-related activities that consume over 15% of the American energy budget. Sure, I knew the food was "industrial," but to see it all listed out like that -- electricity for cooking; cooking heat; auto fuel for food-related transportation; embodied energy in purchases of food storage, preparation, and serving equipment; etc (p. 9) -- was not only startling, but horrifying. Second, the style of the Canning et al. article left me slightly uneasy. The authors acknowledged that we dump a ridiculous and inefficient amount of energy into food production, and offer up 3 factors that could reduce the rate of growth in food-related energy flows (p. 24). However, by emphasizing the problems of our industrial food system and only offering a brief panacea at the end, I got the feeling that the authors considered food-related energy consumption to be an insurmountable problem. Perhaps this is due to the academic nature of their article, compared with Pollan's journalistic style, but the authors seemed to see no change in the current trend in food-related energy consumption.
Pollan tackles many of the same elements of industrial agriculture, including inefficient energy use, in Omnivore's Dilemma. While he does engage in the expansive rhetoric of the Canning et al. article concerning food-related energy use, Pollan takes a much more nuanced approach towards industrial agriculture, and in particular, the role of GMOs. While it seems clear from "Botany of Desire" and the ultimate fate of his New Leaf potatoes that Pollan does not wholly support GMOs, he offers up some interesting points about their role in reducing pollution and energy use. Pollan reports that GMOs such as New Leafs can be "genetically programmed" to withstand insects and plagues, meaning that harmful chemicals need not be applied to fields. This in turn means that the planes and trucks that apply these chemicals do not need to be used, saving energy and even more pollution. Furthermore, there is perhaps less wasted food with GMOs, which can be built to withstand the long journeys of the industrial food system. In a sea of articles and books denouncing GMO foods, it is certainly interesting to examine the other side of the argument.
However, Pollan ultimately makes it clear that he does not support GMO foods. This is expressed in the way he describes GMO farmers vs. organic farmers, his aversion to eating the New Leaf potatoes, and in his own gardening practices. It is particularly interesting that Pollan opposes GMOs not only on scientific or health-related grounds, but from an ethical standpoint. That is why I found the quote provided at the beginning of this post so illuminating. GMOs can represent many things: The triumph of man over nature; stunning scientific achievements; agricultural advancements that may both eradicate hunger and pollution; and, to be frank, momentous business achievements. Yet they can also represent man's detachment from nature, his fixation on controlling something he sees as separate from himself, and the ultimate disrespect towards the very thing that gives him life. Pollan addresses this latter point when he considers the English's opinions of the "lowly" potato and the Inca's careful and respectful cultivation of the land. Although cultures may view the very same plant - the potato - in very different ways, throughout history man's association with agriculture has never been so far removed as with the advent of GMOs. And I find myself agreeing with Pollan: our new "approach....style and extent of our attempts at control" may have gone too far.
Pollan's statement about our use of metaphors to describe the world also turned a light on in my head. I believe the purpose of all good authors is to give their readers thought provoking statements to change their perspective on subject matter. When I read it, it connected the idea of a perfectly controlled plot of farmland with what humankind always attempts to do: make order out of chaos. This is why we have laws, systems, history and much more. By deforesting natural habitats such as the Amazon and stripping it of its diverse wildlife and vegetation industries are taking the environment down to level zero to build and mold it back up to their standards. The standards that are so clearly immoral and unethical, in order to attain the most profit through monoculture. Pollan's statement on how we use metaphors also caused me to pause from my readings and visual the images I am accustomed to of tractors and pesticides being sprayed on acres of fields versus a wild safari background with lush vegetation and unknown exotic fruits. The two habitats are vastly different, but it is clear which one is nature's own.
ReplyDeleteAs an ever evolving, competitive, and innovative humankind, the role of GMO's is far from being over. GMOs are symbolic of the goals and achievements industries and scientists have to progress themselves and their companies for their own self fulfillment. The same genetic domestication that Pollan speaks of within the agricultural sector is something that has begun long before and it has not stopped with just agriculture it spreads into new, unknown territories of human DNA, cloning, and so much more.