GLOBALIZATION: It's what's for dinner
HAVE IT YOUR WAY:
Empowering Consumer Choices
A revolution has begun.Though the fast food industry has swept the globe changing local economies, industry, and dietary preferences, other food movements from around the world are pushing back. It is a literal fight for the planet and the future of humanity as food production practices of a meat-based Western diet are destroying health and depleting limited resources.
With food conglomerates around the world concerned more about efficiency, profits, and productivity than the welfare of animals and the planet, agricide continues, "in large part due to the fact that most consumers are unaware, uninformed, and disconnected from the land and the sources of their food," writes Fox. [51] Global Living Awareness Diets connect consumers with food and provide options, which empower them to make healthier choices.
While all the food movements presented have historic roots and founded overseas, Americans are beginning to notice. The "Standard American Diet" may one day not be so "standard" anymore as more eyes are opened and begin to really see the global reality that confronts us in this millennium.
A century ago, a group of lay people in Europe, mostly university students, strove to bring the values of justice and assistance for the poor to the attention of society and political life. Called "Catholic Action," the movement was active in Italy, Bavaria, France, and Belgium during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [52] The group developed a 3-step method to empower change: (1) See, (2) Judge, and (3) Act. It is only when you see the true reality and are clear about what is going on that you can then rightly evaluate and judge the situation as a Christian so to determine how you must act.
Though facts, figures, and anecdotes allow people to "see" the realities of our contemporary world, it is ethics that filter how one sees and then determine how one will act. If new choices are to be made and behavior modified, ethics must first be examined and challenged. If a food revolution is to save the planet and improve humanity's chance for survival, bioethics must be introduced and deployed.
According to Fox, bioethics are "the extension of ethical issues and concerns from the immediate human community into the broader biological dimension of our relations with, and duties toward, the biotic community - animals, plants, and the whole of nature. Bioethical principles in food production and consumption are keys to a more sensible and compassionate future." [53] In his book, Eating With Conscience, he provides four bioethical principles.
Next post:
Bioethical principles and the choices we make
[51] Fox, 13.
[52] Information on Catholic Action comes from John Kiesler, "Looking at Global Reality as a Christian" (lecture, Franciscan School of Theology, Berkeley, CA, October 7, 2008) and "Catholic Action," Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Action (accessed December 18, 2008).
[53] Fox, 12.
