posted February 15, 2007 12:19 PM         

Omnivore's Dilemma : A Natural History Of Four Meals
Pollan, Michael

"What should we have for dinner?" To one degree or another this simple question assails any creature faced with a wide choice of things to eat. Anthropologists call it the omnivore's dilemma. Choosing from among the countless potential foods nature offers, humans have had to learn what is safe, and what isn't-which mushrooms should be avoided, for example, and which berries we can enjoy. Today, as America confronts what can only be described as a national eating disorder, the omnivore's dilemma has returned with an atavistic vengeance. The cornucopia of the modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet has thrown us back on a bewildering landscape where we once again have to worry about which of those tasty-looking morsels might kill us. At the same time we're realizing that our food choices also have profound implications for the health of our environment. The Omnivore's Dilemma is bestselling author Michael Pollan's brilliant and eye-opening exploration of these little-known but vitally important dimensions of eating in America.

Pollan has divided The Omnivore's Dilemma into three parts, one for each of the food chains that sustain us: industrialized food, alternative or "organic" food, and food people obtain by dint of their own hunting, gathering, or gardening. Pollan follows each food chain literally from the ground up to the table, emphasizing our dynamic coevolutionary relationship with the species we depend on. He concludes each section by sitting down to a meal--at McDonald's, at home with his family sharing a dinner from Whole Foods, and in a revolutionary "beyond organic" farm in Virginia. For each meal he traces the provenance of everything consumed, revealing the hidden components we unwittingly ingest and explaining how our taste for particular foods reflects our environmental and biological inheritance.

We are indeed what we eat-and what we eat remakes the world. A society of voracious and increasingly confused omnivores, we are just beginning to recognize the profound consequences of the simplest everyday food choices, both for ourselves and for the natural world. The Omnivore's Dilemma is a long-overdue book and one that will become known for bringing a completely fresh perspective to a question as ordinary and yet momentous as What shall we have for dinner?

http://www.northshire.com/category/sub/nature5

"We are indeed what we eat-and what we eat remakes the world."

interesting!

posted February 16, 2007 03:47 AM         

he sounds so fascinating.

posted February 16, 2007 02:52 PM         

for example, the rainforests...they are like the soul of our planet...and i've heard them described also as the 'lungs' of the planet. i believe they nurture us with their 'living' frequency....perhaps one of the reasons our planet seems to be so out of balance at present....their continual destruction.

i so anticipate acquiring these books!

posted February 16, 2007 07:43 PM         

To say the truth, not till you pointed it out However it rings lots of bells inside, e=energy sometimes life sustains, creates and consumes life, our forests (plants, animals, waterways etc) are fundamental to our existence. Yet so far (though we know we're killing ourselves) we consume natural resources at a faster rate than ever before, and there seems no 'let up' in sight.

NZ native forests are noticeably decimated as they take hundreds and hundreds of years to mature, and fulfil their purpose.

posted February 16, 2007 11:34 PM         

Rainforests are forests which grow in areas of high rainfall. Tropical rainforests are found between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. There are other, temperate rainforests in areas such as the northwest Pacific coast of America. These are much cooler, but experience very high rainfall.

Before humans started destroying the rainforests, they covered 15% of the Earth's land area. Today, they cover less than 7% (See map, right for worldwide distribution of rainforests). In the last 200 years, the total area of rainforest has decreased from 7.1 billion acres to less than 3.5 billion acres. (1)


More than 30 million acres of tropical forest are destroyed each year, which means at current rates of destruction there will be no rainforest at all in just 40 years. (2)

The disappearance of the forest is called DEFORESTATION. As populations have grown and demands for land and timber have grown greater, so the deforestation has accelerated.

Asia lost almost a third of its tropical forest cover bettwen 1960 and 1980 - the highest rate of deforestation in the world! In Thailand, 80% of the country's original forest has been cut down in the last 40 years. In the tropics alone, 38 million acres of forest are lost each year. (3)

Rainforests are the world's most spectacular ecosystems. An ecosystem is not just the plants, but also the birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, amphibians, invertebrates, bacteria, and even the non-living elements like soil, water and air. In some cases their climates have remained stable for the last 65 million years. This means that they have developed arrays of life unequalled by any other ecosystems on the planet. The destruction of the rainforests will affect other ecosystems throughout the world.

posted February 18, 2007 08:42 AM         

I really hate not having plants in my home. I've always loved having my own rain forest, if you will, in my home. I find great peace from having them though, at times, taking care of all of them can get tedious. I love grouping several different plants together in one huge planter. They seem to really like being all crammed together rather that alone in their own little pot. And must not forget the fountain. I have my own little sanctuary. I noticed they like it when I play Bluegrass, country music and jazz.

I'm always disturbed when I read about what we're doing to our rain forests, but I'm glad you are talking about it and are aware. I've been an activist since 1988. Thanks for the links.

I loved living in Washington state. The rain forest there is/was beautiful until we rounded a corner and all there was left were thousands of stumps and dirt!

posted February 18, 2007 11:09 AM         

foliage and fountains in your dwelling is indeed a bit of heaven....

posted February 18, 2007 01:45 PM         

My point is that during the summer, when it's HOT hot hot, his yard is a haven, the trees keep it a constant temperature, through heat and cold, though the snow can cause havoc and break limbs, it doesnt' snow every year, though ya just can't tell with the weather these days.

posted February 18, 2007 06:28 PM         

I know what you mean about how much cooler it can be when you have a canopy of trees and bushes. One particular place here is up to 20 degrees cooler in the summer. So when it's 110 outside, I go sit in the shade by the fountain there. It's fittingly called "Fountain In The Green".

Just goes to show how beneficial our plant friends can be. And that's not saying anything about cleaning our air, natural noise barriers, or for their beauty.

posted February 19, 2007 01:50 AM         

Yeah I hear what you're saying about people bringing in plants from other countries/states etc: Had large amounts of exotic plants bought to our shores, don't get me wrong, I love roses, apple trees etc, etc, and am grateful many many plants came here, grapes come quickly to mind