Pollan Speaks Out
Grist has a great interview with Michael Pollan, author of the new book Omnivore’s Dilemma (I’m reading it now! So far, it’s pretty amazing…) in their newsletter this week. My favorite quote was Pollan’s assertion that the connections between what we eat and the environment are strong (duh), and tie people’s everyday habits to the natural world, since it’s easy to be distracted by all the bleeping, plastic things.
Pollan also brings a great number to the fore: 20% of our fossil fuel use goes into food production/distribution, so what we eat not only has an impact on our health, pollution from pesticides, etc., but on global warming as well.
Food is also a great topic to broach to ‘break people in’ to the the environmental movement. Everyone needs to eat, and most people enjoy it! Pollan talks about organic food, the importance of local agriculture, and the impact of “convenience” foods on our health, sanity and the natural world at large.
Starre Vartan
Starre Vartan is founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick.com and the author of the Eco-Chick Guide to Life. She's also a freelance science and environment writer who has published in National Geographic, CNN, Scientific American, Mental Floss, Pacific Standard, the NRDC, and many more. She lives on an island in Puget Sound with her partner and black cat. She was a geologist in her first career, and still picks up rocks wherever she goes.
