Our lifestyles are the underpinning of this whole problem, it seems one of the most inconvenient thing to face. We are living beyond what the earth can take. If everybody lived the lifestyle that we in the west do, we'd need 2 and a half earths to support that, and many people want to do live that way. I found that there is a very common desire in the Indian population that I had contact with, that is to live a western lifestyle, big house, several cars, and all the rest of it. I can very well imagine that a great deal of people in other countries in Asia, Africa and South America want to do so too. Now that is not to say that they are too many, it is to say that we are too many (excuse that divide here), or that we are living too wasteful. We are not lovers of the earth, we are needy children just taking taking taking with no regard for how our mother feels. We need to become adults in our relationship to the earth and environment and everything else for that matter. (I think there is something wrong with the idea of "becoming", but I'll leave it at that now) It is paramount for us to become responsible consumers, but it seems incredibly hard, especially for those of us who live in the city. However, buying is a political act, we vote by what we buy and what we don't, and departing from that it seems absolutely important to have an idea how and where the things we consume were produced. It seems quite hard to have an idea about that at this point, but I hope and think it should be better in the future.
I was thinking about it yesterday, it is no wonder that we as a society/species/individuals are confused, since we have no idea where our food comes from. That is something new in the grand scale of human life. A big factor of ones enjoyment of food (and thus also nourishment) lies in the consciousness of its origins, it makes a fundamental difference.
