I eat almost everything, unapologetically. Ants in Venezuela. Cobra and bat in Indonesia. Transparent lard that Ukrainians, for some reason, call sausage. |
But despite years of reading about our malignant food system and the harm that it's doing to animals, the natural ecosystem and us, I have been unable to change my wide-ranging diet. My gastronomic curiosity has always prevailed over common sense. Watching the documentary "My Octopus Teacher" felt like a diet-changing moment, but it only lasted a few days. |
A few months ago, as our Opinion Video team began to report and produce this series, I was horrified by footage recorded inside a chicken farm showing the high cost of cheap chicken. My colleagues' revelations about how the agriculture lobby has masterfully fended off environmental regulation, despite the tremendous environmental harm caused by the sector, left me feeling duped and infuriated. |
Food intersects with so many things we care about: income inequality, the environment, workers' rights, animal welfare, science and technology, public health and safety, ethics and morality and, above all, politics. As Ezra Klein said on his podcast last year in an episode devoted to the food system, "It is all here, all on your plate." |
The methods in which we produce, distribute, eat and dispose of our foods are spectacularly flawed, and we hope this series can help offer clarity on some of the many changes — from policies to diets — that we need to consider. |
This series even inspired me to finally recalibrate my emotional and, at times, pathological relationship to food. For starters, I have significantly curtailed my meat consumption and have begun to eat more insects (which, after the third episode, you may be inspired to do too). |
The first short film, "Meet the People Getting Paid to Kill Our Planet," by Kirk Semple, Adam Westbrook and Jonah Kessel, explores how the agriculture sector has eluded public accountability for decades, even among climate activists, despite causing environmental harm that, by some measures, is comparable to the fossil fuel industry. The five biggest meat and dairy producers in the world together produce more emissions than Exxon Mobil, Shell or BP, according to a recent study. We suggest in the film that it's time you ditch your view of the bucolic family farm that the lobby has helped to cement in our collective consciousness. |
Our second video, which debuts next week, takes you inside a chicken farm and reveals how your cheap dinner strips the dignity of both the chicken and the farmer. As Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey told us, "I'm very frustrated that the incredible climate movement in America doesn't talk enough about food." |
The final episode spotlights a radical change to our diet that could help us meet our climate goals. This video will inspire you to question the cultural and historical influences of our dietary choices, especially the sometimes-arbitrary stigmas we impose on some food (Hint: Lobster wasn't always chic). |
It's my belief that the food system, especially the agriculture sector, is woefully undercovered. The near death of accountability journalism in rural America has left us with far fewer reporters to keep an eye on how our food is produced and distributed. We hope that you find this video series both entertaining and harrowing, and that it helps to stimulate conversation about a system that is at once sustaining us — and doing irreparable harm. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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