with intention

Jen Leonard to me

I read this in the Rohr today . . . and I would really like to talk with you about this . . . about the implications I want this to have in my life. It is along the same lines to your defense againist eating pop-tarts a few months ago, about the way we view consumption.

"We need to consider and reconsider the symbolism of food in our own lives. In retreat houses and homes across the land, people are starting to reevaluate the social, political, economic and nutritional meaning of food. America's love affair with beef for example, and the disastrous effects that is having on the Third World, has come under question in recent years. Rain forests are being cut down, land and resources are being spent so that we can have burgers aplenty.

I was staying with a cattle rancher in California recently, and to his credit he was reading a book describing the ill effects of cattle and beef production on the earth. The first day he wasn't too happy with it. He came in the second night, troubled. (This is a very good Irish Catholic man; there is no doubt in my mind faith is first to him.) He said to me, "Richard, I have to change my life." He saw that his livelihood could well be contributing to starvation overseas. "


I have thought about this whole concept on and off for the last few months, but have never been able to stick with any of my conclusions or desire for change. But I need to . . . and I would like your help with that.

Let's chat.

-Jen


Eric Stetler to Jen


the average north american uses five times as much grain per person yearly as does one of the two billion persons living in poor countries. We use about two thousand pounds each. All but 150 pounds of this we consume indirectly in meat milk eggs and alchoholic beverages. (more with less)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/safe/howmuch.html

Madeline Drexler argues that farm animals in this country live in unmatched squalor. "The site of modern meat production," she writes in her book Secret Agents, "is akin to a walled medieval city, where waste is tossed out the window, sewage runs down the street, and feed and drinking water are routinely contaminated by fecal material." And these kinds of conditions lead to problems. One USDA study found that 50 percent of feedlot cattle carried the E. coli O157:H7 bacterium in their intestines during the summer months; another study found that 7 percent of chickens sampled at slaughterhouses had salmonella and 30 percent had campylobacter. Drexler is a former medical columnist for The Boston Globe and was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1996 to 1997. Here is her account of how contamination is pervasive in the meat industry. (pbs)

this sickens me, yes because of the environmental.. and the treatment of animals.... yes.. but more because of the levels to which the american consumer will go to demand that they have a choice cut of beef within 3miles of their home anywhere in the country!!! We are sickly spoiled consumers... killing ourselves with our blind consumption of all things cow!


We are overspending money. We are overeating calories, protien, fats, sugar, superprocessed foods. We are overcomplicating our lives. (MWL)

when we make food an intregal part of our lives and our homes, it becomes part of our theology... we are nurturers instead of consumers... co-creators with God & Stewards fo God's Garden. (MWL)

we need a good theology of food jen... one that leads to regular times of fasting... fasting from the dominant consumtion of food. a new level of awareness will emerge only when we become sick of our own gluttony, tired of our levels of consumerism, and healed from our addictions to food.

protest is in order. protesting the gross manipulation of what God created for man's sustainablility.

I would love for rice to become a more consistant staple in our home. a simple grain.. sometimes, that would be enough for dinner alone.


Eric


....so tonight we ate rice
__________________________________
currently playing::devendra banhart