King Corn

Night before last we watched the documentary--King Corn. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it. The young men who created this 2007 documentary discovered that their hair was primarily made of corn products. They, then, moved to Iowa to see how an acre of corn grew, and they wanted to find out where that corn would go after it was produced. The experience was definitely an eye-opener both for the creators of this fascinating documentary and to anyone who views it.

One of the most startling discoveries they made was that the corn grown throughout Iowa was primarily used for feedstock to cattle grown in unhealthy conditions known as CAFOs and for the production of the sweetener high fructose corn syrup. The corn grown had very little nutritional value except to create calories to make the consumer fat.

Another startling discovery was that farmers lose money every year producing this corn. The reason the farmers don't go broke is because the government subsidizes the corn crop. Our government is paying the farmers to produce trillions of bushels of low quality corn to make us fat. One of the commentators on the documentary said it best when he stated: "The government will subsidize a happy meal but it won't subsidize a healthy meal."

If you want to make more informed decisions about your food choices, watch King Corn, available on NetFlix or view it here . If you don't care, keep eating those corn fed beef Big Macs, fried (in corn oil) French fries, and drinking those high fructose corn syrup laden sodas. Oh, yeah, and remember to take your cholesterol and diabetes medications. You'll need it.

Have a Happy Greener New Year!

This year I am resolving to do two things that are greener. The first one is to write in here on this blog more often. I have let the site slide and I must apologize for that. I am sorry that I have let you down.

The second thing is that I plan to grow more of my food at home in my own backyard than I did last year.

I hope that my garden will not just provide nutrition for my family but also creates inspiration to you the reader. I hope that in some way I will motivate you to emulate what I am doing. The articles that I plan to write will be augmented by the plans that I use and implement in the process of living not just greener but also simpler. I look forward to sharing this journal and 2011 with you.