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Mania Manifesto: Top 4 Reasons Tomorrow's Food Is Going to Suck

By: Damon Brown
Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Each week, Mania special correspondent Damon Brown, author of Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Modern Pop Culture, offers his unique take on society, entertainment and other issues of critical concern to Maniacs. You can also find Brown writing about technology, sex, music and video games for Playboy and Spin.

Reason #4: Companies Are Spending Billions to Modify American Food

THE SITUATION: Roughly one out of every four American foods is genetically modified.

WHY IS THIS ON THE LIST?: Positively, we can now have our daily dose of calcium, vitamin k and zinc in our Frosted Flakes. Also positively, our children may have an extra arm.

Reason #3: Gas Pushes Food Prices

THE SITUATION: Major cities like Los Angeles have cracked $4/gallon for regular unleaded gas. Analysts don’t see it turning around anytime soon. Food comes in on trucks. Supermarkets reflect the new costs in the food prices.

WHY IS THIS ON THE LIST?: Forget filet mignon—corn on the cob is pushing $3/lb.

Reason #2: Cold Gets Warm, Warm Gets Cold

THE SITUATION: As outlined in a recent New York Times article , global warming may be alternating what foods may be grown where. Iowa may become more conducive to potatoes than corn, while Italy may become rice rather than vino. Third-world countries that can’t adjust will starve.

WHY IS THIS ON THE LIST?: Have you ever eaten something that doesn’t “quite taste right”? You might want to get used to that until we figure out the new weather patterns.

Reason #1: Importing Food Isn’t Cool Anymore

THE SITUATION: As recycling became big 10 years ago, the Local Food Movement is becoming the politically correct way to support the Earth. Importing coffee from Chile or even lobster from Maine leaves a bigger “carbon footprint,” or pollution impact, on the Earth because of truck or plane exhaust, gas use and other factors. Laws may begin to limit how far your food can travel to get to you.

WHY IS THIS ON THE LIST?: Hope you live by some farms!

Read Damon’s blog at www.damonbrown.net

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Comments/Responses

zombie65 • May 20, 2008, 07:21am •

Hate to break it to ya but there is no Global Warming... It is a media and agenda driven fraud that has no basis in fact. The fact of the matter is this year was one of the coldest in over 100 years. Snow in Baghdad, snow in Jerusalem, record snow in Montana and Idaho. How is that possible if the planet supposedly has a "fever"? Riddle me that Batman.

velgron • May 20, 2008, 10:07am •

For every action there is a reaction... hotter summer = colder winter. Remember that when the US is in winter, Australia is in summer. For a fixed amount of energy in the world (yes, enegy fluctuates, but mostly remains withing a constant rate), if the US has a particular cold winter, it means that on the other hemisphere they are having a particular hot summer.

Since the average amount of energy in the world has not changed, the actual effect of "Global Warming" is changing the energy distribution across the globe. Places that used to be cold are getting warmer, and viceversa.

Scientist have called this phenomena "Global Warming" because its effects are more obvious in the hot seasons and areas that are melting. And by the way, just like the weather phenomena called "El Niño", "Global Warming" is only a name, it does not fully describe the effect of the events.

MrJawbreakingEquilibrium • May 20, 2008, 10:43am •

My opinion on Global Warming is, yeah, maybe it's happening but it has little to do with us. I think it's something that's happening naturally. I mean, what the hell do they blame the Ice Age on? What I'm saying is that just as the the Earth went into an Ice Age whose to say that we aren't just going through a Fire Age soon? Mark my words. Maybe this has something to do with 2012. Maybe all those people back then know that we're heading closer and closer to the sun and soon no living thing for now will be able to take it.

velgron • May 20, 2008, 10:49am •

Maybe it's Human intervention or maybe not... I'm just saying that if the final five come from earth, they may solve this situation or take us to a new planetary kobol colonies.

gauleyboy420 • May 20, 2008, 10:49am •

Zombie if you believe what you posted then you are just that "A ZOMBIE". Often times people resist things that bother them the most about themselves. For example,A homophobe is afraid of the homophobic feelings they have inside.

Now that said if you are gonna claim that people who believe in catastrophic global climate change, (thats a more accurate way of saying "global warming") are influenced by the media to the point of not being able to think for themselves, I would suggest that you are told what to think by the cooperate media and their agenda.

Velgrom's explanation pretty much sums up why the calling it "global Warming " is an outdated and retired phrase. It allows critics to use nonsensical argument to try to de-bunk Catostrophic Global Climate Change. It would be nice if people were more open minded to these ideas as it's simply easier to type global warming than Catastrophic Global Climate Change.

But lets call it that shall we, then I don't have to listen to ignorance based arguments from un-informed people who constantly try to debunk a theory because they are not yet ready to admit we, as a race, have clearly either doomed us. Or put us in a deep hole of hurting our planet (It's essential to keep the earth healthy , if we like to y'know LIVE!) that we'll have to work our way out of for generations.

gauleyboy420 • May 20, 2008, 10:53am •

took me so long to type because of my new phrase Catastrophic Global Climate Change, Mr. Jawbreaking...
Yeah the ice age has happened, however there is evidence that points to it accelerating EXPONENTIALLY due to the increased amount of pollutants we put into our environment. he earth temperature and environments do chanTo think that we cannot affect our planet in a negative (or positive ) way is extremely arrogant, or narrow minded. Your choice.

kaybar • May 20, 2008, 11:18am •

Hah I like how Damon's article on the future of food sparked yet another debate on Climate Change. I agree with gauleyboy that, at this point, anyone who doesn't think that Climate Change is a serious threat has been grossly misinformed.

What's worse than the fact that this phenomenon is actually happening is how poorly concrete, scientific knowledge has been disseminated throughout the public. Part of science curriculum now, at least at the collegiate level, involves learning the mechanisms by which heat is trapped in our atmosphere. I learned it in school but many people, especially those of the older generation, are still listening to governmental officials, lobbyists, and other personnel who have interests in keeping America's energy policy running as it always has.

Damon I'm surprised you didn't mention anything about the dire conditions of the fishing industry. Also I loved your columns on Mania a while ago when they had more meat to them; these at-a-glance paragraphs are nicely organized but I want more!

WISEGUY562 • May 20, 2008, 01:16pm •

I wouldn't call people narrow minded because they don't believe we're the cause for global warming just as I wouldn't call people who believe it the same. Some believe that this is a hiccup, afterall the earth has been around for a long time but we've only been keeping track of weather patterns for about 150. The problem is if we do nothing and we're the cause it may be too late to do anything meaningful.

The only real solution IMO to global warming is to limit and control how people reproduce. Right now the technology isn't there or widely available for us to keep reproducing like mice and not affect the world, from creating damns, diverting rivers (the cause of the salmon scare we're going through) and encroaching on areas we haven't ruined and animal life. Let's face it people don't want to live ala 1850, we're always going to consume more and want life to be easier not harder.

By the way about 30 years or so ago the scientific community was warning about the coming of a new ice age.

gauleyboy420 • May 20, 2008, 01:20pm •

you're right Wiseguy, you're always wiseguy...
Any way I totally agree that I shouldn't make blanket statements about people who are not willing to take a chance to save our planet from any more harmful pollution.
AND I agree with you about the overpopulation. Maybe back in the agricultural era when a family needed 15 kids to run the farm, it was okay. But now these Men and Women that crank out 10 kids to run them around in their gas guzzlers, and eat up way more resources than necessary...sheesh. Is it your right to have these freedoms? sure, is it incredibly narcissistic and irresponsible to over reproduce
HELL YES!!

hanso • May 20, 2008, 02:03pm •

The only solution is to let Kimbo loose and save us all.

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