The documentary
“Dive” has the potential to be life transforming, and alone stands as a
resource and movement towards education, and habit change. The movie starts out
with young adults diving in dumpsters behind food stores to find food with hope
to feed their hungry families. The truth is that its rare for the average
person to stop to think about where their un-bought, or unused food is going.
Nearly half of all food being produced right now around the world is going to
complete waste. The documentary “Dive”, shot in Los Angeles California, follows
a young group of twenty something’s as they discover the enormous wealth in
dumpsters. After watching this eye opening film, serious questions start to
arise about respecting earth, and you begin to think of the high price
asscociated with this type of growth. Also the issue of serious malnutrition,
even in America, suddenly becomes even more apparent after viewing some of the
footage. In such uncertain financial times, this story of stretching the dollar
moves to another level. Re-thinking your food consumption, and what you can
maybe do personally to make a shift towards the rapidly growing problem becomes
a duty. Food responsibility is important, and spreading the word is crucial in
making the necessary shift to revamp the sad system that currently lies in place currently.
Indeed, the world
as we know it today seems to magically and consistently provide everything we
need at precisely the time we need it. Food is no exception. At anytime we can
practically walk around the corner for any immediate purchase, weather it’s ingredients
for a special meal, or to stock up for a year on your food supply. Instant
access spoils even the most regimented of food responsible individuals. Having
a healthy diet is an extension of food responsibility. We are living in a time
of magnanimous mass production, having food in a matter of seconds, no question
of availability, no wait, just point and click. It proves hard to place blame on
the masses because many people are obliviously unaware. Food education, proper habits were not
a regular part of open dialogue growing up. Food education doesn’t include
teaching our children about misuse or unused food. Once you know however, it
changes the expectation. Changes and simple awareness need to be made in order
to ensure the future of our children. This may sound cliché, but earth as we
know it, with all seven billion people roaming the planet, cannot continue to
sustain a limitless amount of food, especially good food. We have to start
thinking ahead to new ways on food production consumption and conservation. Maybe
we should consider the nutricianlal values first,without beign food snobs, and
take what is available, just because it doesn’t look pretty. we are food snobs, evnenif it doesn’t
look pretty. This is a good time to start searching for local produce and meats
if possible, and by local, I mean farmed or grown in your city. There is of
course the issue of cost, and again, in the financial climate of now, price is
huge factor. It is the responsibility of each person to take all aspects into
consideration, and make adjustments that are attainable.
On the subject,
Malnutrition is a devastating truth that effects millions. You often hear about
the starving children in third world countries, and that is true, but there are
people in your city that are going to bed hungry at night. It’s a hard pill to
swallow, but this is everyday truth. When I volunteer to feed the hungry, it
never fails; I am shocked at the amount of people there to eat, only there for
a meal, food is all they want, they are hungry. I think, we have food, food is available,
hungry souls waiting to be filled with whatever the local food bank has to
offer. The food is available, it’s a matter of moblelizing the proper food
chains and agency’s and bringing food to the people. Thousands of people die of
starvation each day. We can make small changes, change the mindset of your
American neighbor, start to fix a problem that is out of control, feed the
hungry. It’s not hard to become passionate about this subject, but once you
learn the basics of the problem, you can start to do your part. I interviewed a
woman at the local grocer, she said that they literally dump all dairy, and the
meat is picked up by vendor. They do donate the bread, but the question isn’t
why, the question is how. How can we change policy to encourage food redistribution?
Bill Clinton passed law in the early nineties called the “Good Samaritan Act”,
which protects big grocery chains from any lawsuit that may come by donating
close to expired food items. This gives big food chains no excuse in wanting to
combat the major issue of extreme waste.
In the documentary
“Dive”, facts like one in every seven households are food deprived; 35 million
people in America currently are food insecure. People shop at big food chains
because it’s less expensive, they can not afford to shop for local produce or
they don’t have the time it takes for healthy meal preparation. The cycle begins
to perpetuate, not enough time, lack of money, and then next thing you know,
your picking up fast food for yourself or the kids a few nights a week. The
information in food statistics is not meant to scare you, just give you a
different way to perhaps look at small changes you could maybe make. This journey
is not without hope. During depression, and war was there was food rationing,
and during this time you and your neighbor would take pride in protecting the
food that was produced from sweat and hard labor. The time has changed, but the
importance of respecting food or getting to know it better has not. You set the
example by first ensuring that your home is in order and that you and the ones
closest to you have the knowledge, resources, and materials you need to move
forward. Once you have an idea of the basics, it starts to become easier for
you to work these newfound ideas into your own routine. Proper food education
catapults you into overall better habits. The expense of food is something that
everyone has to calculate into his or her budget, why not calculate it with a
shift in your approach.
No one person is
trained in food loss. Half of prepared food never gets distributed; this has
been said to be the silent tsunami of hunger, but now is time to focus on the
solution. Ask your local grocer what they do with their near expired product,
or unused product. Maybe you can get the ball rolling in your community. Call
yourself to action, and call others to action. This is problem that is far
reaching, and may seem overwhelming, but let the idea sit and then ask yourself,
how can I help this cause. It once was said that Food is life, and should never
be wasted. I believe this to be more than true. At its core, food is
nourishment that keeps the miracle of the human body alive and well. We would
be lost without this gift, and not afford to take our responsibility not to
take for granted. We have to
recognize and respect the importance and impact of this to insure lasting
effects of making change now.
