“Young people are just as attracted to the truth as they are convenience and expediency”
–Pope Frances
June 2020
Big Food: Bad for Environment and our Health
Plastic pollution. Climate change. Local businesses closing. Rising obesity rates. Popularized processed food. These are major problems that are affecting communities worldwide, and they can all be traced back to Big Food brands. The advancements made in the last fifty years have increased everyday conveniences greatly but have done nothing to help our planet and the people who inhabit it.
This is the first in a series of blog posts derived from my Great Falls High Junior Research Paper, “Big Food’s Reign of Terror.”
There was a time when Coca-Cola came in a ‘borrowed’ glass bottle that was recycled within the company. Now almost every product the multibillion-dollar company sells comes in a plastic bottle that is used once. There was a time when homemade meant homegrown and made from scratch. Now homemade means making cake from a box. Society values convenience, and Big Food brands are catering to it. These brands like to pretend that they have their customers’ best interests in mind. However, Big Food is heavily contributing to climate change, destroying small businesses, and corrupting traditional eating habits.
While Big Food is disrupting the food environment massively, these companies also are allowing food to be more affordable and available to many. They claim the long shelf life helps get food to people who otherwise go unfed. Supporters of Big Food are quick to point out that they are looking to improve the nutritional value of their food. For example, in 2009 KFC in South Africa claimed it would no longer sell products with trans fatty acids, and, in general, Big Food in South Africa is increasing health and wellness initiatives (Igumbor et al). The introduction of Big Food in Brazil has helped many escape poverty, have more balanced diets and decreased malnutrition (Monteiro and Cannon).
Those same supporters turn a blind eye to the effects of the growing amount of processed food in everyday diets. In the U.S, the U.K., and Canada, processed food made by Big Food has been around a long time and has caused rising obesity rates, heart disease, and other chronic diseases.
When big brands buy out or bankrupt small local businesses, many people fail to see the harm it does to not just the community, but also to themselves as consumers. As brands start to build a monopoly, they gain control over what people are buying and eating and society does not even realize it. Food conglomerates say, “they have a lot to learn from their smaller rivals,” and they make it look like they are competing with small businesses, but the fact of the matter is they are destroying them (“Small Steps”).
Big Food is also destroying our planet and heavily contributing to climate change and plastic pollution. Many brands claim that most of the greenhouse gasses are not coming from their factories. The maker of Oreo cookies, Mondelez International, has “measured its greenhouse gas emissions and realized most of it was not coming from factories or trucks,” but instead from deforestation that is clearing land to grow food. They are using a program called Global Forest Watch Pro to track the deforestation created by their suppliers (“Don’t Cut”). Other companies argue that most of the greenhouse gasses are coming from the fertilizer and once again deflect the blame to their suppliers (“Can Anyone”). Keep in mind that these are the same companies that are creating a demand for abundant food that is creating the need to clear more land.
While the efforts some brands are making to increase public health and decrease their contribution to climate change cannot be understated, owners of million-, or even multi-billion-dollar companies, need to do more than just small steps. They have the power and money to eliminate single-use plastic and popularize healthy food rather than processed food. They simply are not doing enough. Consumers need to be educated about what they are buying, eating, and supporting. That means supporting local businesses that care about and have a connection with every customer.
Works Cited
“Can Anyone, Even Walmart, Stem The Heat-Trapping Flood Of Nitrogen On Farms?” All Things Considered, 21 Aug. 2017. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/ apps/doc/A501957168/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_906&sid=OVIC&xid=1ad2f84d. Accessed 30 Jan. 2020.
“Don’t Cut Those Trees – Big Food Might Be Watching.” All Things Considered, 31 July 2019. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A596564891/OVIC? u=mtlib_2_906&sid=OVIC&xid=592696c3. Accessed 30 Jan. 2020.
Igumbor, Ehimario U., et al. “‘Big Food,’ the consumer food environment, health, and the policy response in South Africa.” PLoS Medicine, vol. 9, no. 7, 2012. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A299885106/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_906&sid =OVIC&xid=3ea2cd44. Accessed 29 Jan. 2020.Monteiro, Carlos A., and Geoffrey Cannon. “The impact of transnational ‘Big Food’ companies on the South: a view from Brazil.” PLoS Medicine, vol. 9, no. 7, 2012. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A299885105/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_906&sid =OVIC&xid=171adff1. Accessed 31 Jan. 2020.
“Small steps for big food brands.” Australian [National, Australia], 1 Oct. 2018, p. 22. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A556429574/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_9 06&sid=OVIC&xid=e99ae07b. Accessed 28 Jan. 2020.
Necessary Change
In light of the global pandemic, I thought it was only appropriate that I write about it. I do not want to talk about all the bad news and the devastation that COVID-19 has caused but rather what we can learn and the change I hope will come.
While we have been forced to slow down the earth has reaped some of the benefits.
An article by the Washington Post says that the daily carbon dioxide emissions dropped 17% in April. This is huge strides towards lowering the emission to a healthy and sustainable amount. Unfortunately, the chances of emission continuing to decrease as states and countries begin opening up is slim as it is unlikely that there will be a mass lifestyle change that will decrease the demand for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses.
In this time of crisis, everyone was able to change so quickly and adapt for the greater good of our health. However very little action has been taken to reduce pollution that has been killing for years.
The tiny poisonous particles go undetected by the body’s defense mechanisms break through the lung’s protective barrier and cause cancer. They are pumped into the bloodstream form blood clots that lead to strokes and heart disease.
Air pollution is the leading cause of noncommunicable disease. It kills 1.4 million people a year in strokes alone, 2.4 million in heart disease and 1.8 million in lung disease and cancer. Outdoor pollution kills 4.2 million a year and indoor pollution kills 3.8 million year.
Only 9% of the world’s population is breathing in safe air according to the World Health Organization guidelines.
Air pollution takes 7 million lives a year due to unsafe air quality and very little is being done. 376,497 people have died from the coronavirus and people worldwide were able to put their lives on hold to take the necessary steps to prevent the spread of the potentially deadly virus.
“Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio,” says the World Health Organization. 829,000 people annually die from diarrhoea as a result of unsafe drinking water. And in 2017, 220 million people required treatment from schistosomiasis. It is predicted that by 2025 half of the world will be living in water-stress areas.
1.8 million people died from water pollution in 2015 and one billion became ill from it.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to breakdown, when it is not managed correctly it can have detrimental effects. It blocks waterways, draws disease carrying animals into cities and microplastics are ingested by humans. The burning of plastic is responsible for one fifth of the 3.7 million deaths caused by outdoor pollution.
A study by David Attenborough states that between 400,000 to a million people die annual due to poorly managed waste.
Pollution is killing, when are we going to say enough is enough?
When death was on the line, we changed our lifestyle, not because it was easy, but because it was necessary. In my eyes, and I hope in the eyes of many more, it is necessary to make a permanent change in our lifestyles, so we can prevent heartbreak, tragedy and despair caused by those who do not slow down and contemplate the lasting effects of their “solutions”. If fear is what drives us to act, I challenge the human race to look in the mirror and fear its reckless actions that are dooming future generations.
I fear the future we have created.
Please note that I am in no way trying to downplay those who have been affected by the coronavirus, my prayers go to out to everyone who is suffering during this time.
Feel free to check out any of my sources:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/water-pollution-everything-you-need-know
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/david-attenborough-plastic-health-report/
I am Privileged
I am white. I am educated. I am Christian. I am straight. I am American. I am able bodied. When I go for a walk, jog, break up a fight, wear a hoodie, play in the park, hold a cellphone, go to the grocery store, reach for my registration, and so much more, I do not become an ‘accident’. I am privileged.
No one likes being called privileged, no likes acknowledging inequalities, no one likes being part of the problem. But we must acknowledge our privileges, acknowledge the inequalities and be part of the solution or we are the problem. Being privileged makes me angry, not because I do not think it is true, but because I know that it is. There is no reason for the color of my skin to allow me opportunities others are denied.
Black Lives Matter. This does not mean that white lives do not. It does not mean that if you are white your life cannot be hard. It does not mean whites against blacks. It does not mean blacks against cops. It means everyone together acknowledging the injustice that is tearing our country apart and joining together to create a just and equal future. It means that the oppression of African Americans must stop. The senseless killing of black men, women and children must stop.
Before all lives can matter, black lives need to matter.
The past week has been a rude awakening for me. I am not an ignorant person, but as I learn more and more about the Black Lives Matter movement, I am shocked, and I am angry. I have been living a lie. I was taught that what makes America so special is that it is a melting pot and the land of the free. This past week has made it obvious that neither of those statements are true.
Powerful messages and informational links:
“White privilege doesn’t mean your life hasn’t been hard; it means that your skin color isn’t one of the things making it harder.”
What white privilege sounds like, “It is terrible that innocent black men are being killed, but the damaging of property needs to stop.”
What you should be saying, “It is terrible that property is being damaged, but the killing of innocent black men needs to stop.”
We are putting emphasize on the wrong thing.
https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed
https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/865261916/a-decade-of-watching-black-people-die
https://time.com/5846727/george-floyd-protests-history/
Welcome to my Blog!
Hi, I am Hallie Thompson, the owner of Wholesome Hal’s a healthy food stand. I started my business last summer selling smoothie bowls, protein balls and banana bread at the Great Falls Farmers Market. I was able to combine my passions for eating healthy and protecting the planet by using biodegradable or compostable packaging for all my products. The missing piece was my passion for writing and sharing my opinions on things such as eating healthy, protecting the earth and the various ways to be an eco-warrior, so I have decided to start this blog.
For my very first blog post I would like to talk about my journey in becoming a business owner at sixteen.
I took a business class my sophomore year (I am currently finishing my junior year) and the end of the semester project was to create and present a business plan in a mock shark tank. I created Wholesome Hal’s inside the cubicles of the business room at Great Falls High just hoping to get an A in my class. However, the more hours I poured into my business plan, the more and more I fell in love with the idea of Wholesome Hal’s. I truly believe that healthy food gets a bad rap for being too expensive and bland, this is not the case. I loved the idea of showing Great Falls the truth—my smoothie bowls are both DELICIOUS and NUTRITIOUS without adding any sugar. After getting second place at the City Shark Tank Competition and winning a $500 scholarship I got the crazy idea to start Wholesome Hal’s. I started buying blenders, getting licenses, making phone calls and smoothie bowls like crazy. Then one Saturday in July, I was at my Farmers Market debut.
I have had so much fun being able to sell clean food with little to no refined sugar in all my products and showing Great Falls that healthy food is in fact delicious. It has been an amazing experience and I can not wait for what happens next.
I would lastly like to thank everyone that helped me along the way. I would first like to thank Mr. Donisthrope, my business teacher for helping create my very first business plan and for eventually encouraging me to join DECA and get first place in my event! I would like to thank my parents for supporting me and not thinking I was too crazy. I would like to thank my sister, Lizzie, for being my most honest test subject and a splendid helper. I would like to thank my Papa Randy for helping my buy my trailer and my Goofy Papa for helping me buy my generators. I would like to thank Mimi for helping me prepare the night before my debut and Nana for helping me create a dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free banana bread recipe. I would like to thank Gavin and Reece Groshelle for being splendid helpers as well. I would like to thank J&V Restaurant and Fire Supply for offering to give me free stuff. I would like to thank Baylee Raye Furthmyre, the Blair’s, Lauren and Darby Rich and Susan Wolff for being some of my most supportive customers!
Lastly, I would like to thank every single one of my customers because when you buy from a small business an actual person does a happy dance (I am that person).