Ask Doc Part IV
19 11 2009Are you *really* so against “green living” and that sort of stuff, or do you just like to make fun of people that take it seriously? I mean, sometimes you confuse me. You seem pretty green yourself, and now I know you take the golden rule seriously (seems to go hand in hand with green living, at least to me), but then you often post making fun of CSA/organic/eat close to home - types. If you take out your normal (and entertaining) cynicism, how do you really feel, and why?
I bleed green. Seriously.
What I mock is the ignorance. I think anyone who is making an attempt to better the world through conservation should be admired. For the attempt at least.
It’s when they make it a religion that I get annoyed. It’s idealism without education. It’s my niece, bless her heart, passionate about “greenism”, who has a facebook page covered in links to articles about the food industry and global warming, but couldn’t explain photosynthesis, or anything scientific for that matter, to save her life. I compare it to Christian who adamantly believes in biblical creation, protests against the teaching of scientific theories in public school, but can’t explain evolution in even the most general of terms.
Don’t even get me started on people who don’t know the difference between “organic”, “grass fed”, and “raw”.
As for the golden rule - whenever I start taking myself too seriously, trust me, my kids take me down a notch with some well phrased cynicism. I’m so proud of them.
So now i feel like an idiot because I am no longer sure I know the meaning of ‘raw’. I mean…I thought it meant ‘uncooked’…but now, after seeing it paired with organic (FDA controlled) and grass fed (it ate grass), I am no longer certain. Do you mean ‘raw’ as in those crazy kids who only eat raw food? or ‘raw’ as in nekked? or ‘raw’ as in ‘uncooked’ or is there a whole other category out there of ‘raw’?
PS-I absolutely will not be googling that word. I can only imagine…
Raw = unprocessed, but many small farms are marketing their dairy as “raw”, as if that eliminates any concern over cleanliness or diet (because the online media goes nuts for the term ‘raw milk’ like it’s a magic formula). It’s the same with “grass fed beef”. That grass fed animal can be pumped full of antibiotics and hormones, but by God, it’s grass fed, so it MUST be a superior product. Hello? What kinds of pesticides and fertilizers were dumped on that grass? I cringe when dumb city people come to the farm and go on and on about how they only drink raw milk, but when I ask if they know what those animals ate, they look at me as if I had three heads - who cares what they eat? It’s RAW so it’s better for you!
THANK YOU!
I grew up in a small community, and was a member of the National FFA Organization. I went away to college and all of a sudden everyone thought they knew about food production. Yet, when I would debate why we have and what are GMOs they had no idea!! So, that you for calling these people out!
Thank you for clarifying. Good point and one which probably doesn’t occur to most of us. We buy local, grass fed steers and I know the farmer aerates his hog lagoons on his pastures. (and on the hay fields. We still buy his hay, too.) I figure it’s been on something green which does make the meat somewhat better for us and it got to wander around instead of being cooped up in a feed lot, so that’s all good. I understand what you mean about buzz words though.