from Jack
Week Two

Watching my room mates gobble down mcdoubles and mcchicken sandwhiches turned my stomach as well as my mind after our converstaions this week in class. The idea that what we consume has been turned into an industry and is so far away from the natural processes of the world is mind boggling- how can we as humans believe that we can sustain ourselves on these things?  This food  is as much of crap as the plastic garbage we buy to please ourselves.  it is empty and disconnected, but most of all for me, it is killing the planet we inhabit.  To imagine that the spill from the pig waste polluted far more than the exxon valdez and no one heard about it is appaling.  I ponder these facts we are presented with and wonder how we have let ourselves get to a place where what we put into our bodies is so ... fake.  It seems that much of our society is developed around a premise that the cheapest, fastest, and most individualistic method is the best.  In America it is all about effeciency and because of that health, environment, and ethics is tossed out the window.  And this is not just in the realm of food, we let these rules govern all whole culture.  In order to get to the point of it and understand our place in the world we must slow our consupmtion rates and educate our selves on how to live simply and conciously. 

One afternoon this week when I cut out of class I went and was able to sit at a table with congressmen Matheson.  To hear what he thought about the current state of a couple issues in Utah was interesting, and yet it felt fairly scripted.  He said what we thought he would say as the cameras rolled.  But it was nice to meet with someone who makes the decisions in the place we live, and to see that we do see eye to eye on some things.  But in order to make a real change, we need a radicle candidate who will not buy into the coperate lobby but be able to understand what the people and their land need.  This person will be able to call out companies like smithfeild farms on their malpractice.  Maybe they will start to put sustainable, local business back on top and we can once again be connected with our bodies and our environment.