There is a very special Op-Ed piece in the NYT today by Mark Bittman entitled “Fixing Our Food Problem.” And so I don’t come off as a Paster (pasting other people’s content) I will leave the main argument to Mr. Bittman but will jump on a point he makes regarding “patience” when it comes to change. The abolition movement, he noted, was 100 years in the making and began 200 years before civil rights reform. A women’s right to vote took 75 years. Gay rights, though not complete, so far a 40 year slog.
The interneck (sic) has changed much of this. The ability to use online tools and communities to inform, share, argue, and build consensus — across many divides has collapsed time frames as never before. Governments have been changed in a matter of weeks because of the tool that is the web. Much in real life has changed for the positive, thanks to the web. Important, meaningful things. Yes, cyber-bullying, stalking and fraud are bad…but not nearly as bad as what is and will happen as we refine this tool for good and the good of the planet.
Mr. Bittman is right that patience is a virtue as it relates to fixing the mess that is our current U.S. food chain. But let’s not be too patient. The Yin and Yang of patience and pursuit is an American trait. Let’s make a New Years resolution to burn calories in pursuit this year. In action. And use the tools at hand to do so. Peace!
