Edible Advice
by Rachel Hoyt
Lettuce chop
our water use
eating crops
that don't abuse.
Orange you
a drop concerned?
Corn it be true
all chops are earned?
Olive Earth
is drenched with greed,
suckling since birth
where instinct leads.
Cheese, Louise,
we've chugged and chewed
all we could seize,
all sprouts and spews.
Beef or all
our fruits are dried,
sip a tall
glass of, "I tried."
Copyright © 2014 Rachel Hoyt. All rights reserved.
California's almonds have been getting some bad press.
Some make it sound like they're the cause of my state's water mess.
Yet, if most looked at all that they ate and gauged it's water use,
they'd see that produce guzzles but only animals abuse.
So, true. Speak up, speak out, speak on!
ReplyDeleteIt is more a thirst for 'green' by large scale corporate farming seeking a quick turn around on their investment. Put the water to it, get it to market quicker, feed the hungry consumer demanding plump and perfect produce, to line the every enlarging pockets sooner. It all goes back in the ground from which it came, they tell us. Not really. Large scale irrigation that relies on aquifers can divert water and or impedes the flow of an aquifer. Wells dry up. Communities end up investing large amounts of money to pipe in water from distant sources. And areas where the distance between surfaces an the aquifer is shallow, toxins and bacteria such as E. coli do not get filter out before the water returns back to it's source. In short, by planting crops in place where probably they would not grow otherwise, we muck up the integrity of that which should have been left to do it's t'ing 'au naturel'.
Sorry for the rant, but your poem scratched an already existing sore spot, that festers then explodes from time to time. By the way 'fracturing for gas and oil' and it's affect on bedrock the integral part of any aquifer, scares the heck out of me
I replied to your comment a few days ago through my smart phone, but it seems it's brains have failed me once again since I don't see the words I typed here. Thank you for your thoughtful comment! I wasn't looking at the topic from precisely the same angle, but you make a valid point. Although, shipping in the food from elsewhere can sometimes hurt the environment more overall. However, I am just as appalled as you that fracking is being allowed. I could say much more, but I'll leave my rant to a single sentence for today. :)
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