Archive for May, 2007
The cost of cheap
If there’s one thing that we all collectively love, it’s cheap stuff. Boy, do we love discounts, half-offs, buy-one-get-one-frees, and all the other flavors of cheap. But as is often the case, all this cheap stuff has a cost. It’s just a little harder to spot than the bright orange 99-cent sticker.
This discussion could land on a number of areas, but I’ll focus on just one: food. Today in the U.S. you can buy food for less money that at any period in history (adjusted for inflation, naturally). For the first time ever, we are suffering health problems due to food surplus, rather than scarcity. We have so much food that we now are in the business of converting it to fuel. This must be a good thing, right? Let’s look a little deeper.
The primary calorie source for food in the U.S. is corn. More specifically, processed derivatives of corn such as corn syrup and meat raised from corn. Corn prices are kept artificially low through government subsidies, which allows food processors to sell their food very cheaply. Prior to the early 1900s, market forces regulated the price of corn. This was problematic, as farmers suffered devastating losses when prices dropped too low. This problem was solved by a federal subsidy program that set a floor for corn prices and regulated the amount of production to prevent flooding the market. In the 1970s this problem was un-solved by an overhaul of the subsidy program that kept the price floor but did away with the production control. With our current farm bill, corn farmers are paid by the bushel to grow corn, giving them the incentive to grow as much as possible, regardless of market demand.
Food is unique from a free-market model because of the “finite stomach” concept. Simply put, a given population can only eat so much food. As supply increases, demand will remain largely static. When we’re full, we’re full. Seeing this barrier to corn sales, the agricultural industry devised new, novel ways to use corn over the past few decades. This is why 99% of beef is raised on corn. High fructose corn syrup is a cheap sweetener and food additive made from corn. Factories can split the lowly corn kernel into dozens of derivatives to mix & match and create totally new foods. Since corn is artificially cheap, so is the food made from corn.
The problem with all this cheap corn is multi-faceted. First, farmers are virtually forced to over-produce and rely exclusively on artificial inputs (fertilizers and herbicides) in place of natural soil chemistry. This style of agriculture causes a host of environmental problems, relies on cheap oil and natural gas, and is ultimately unsustainable.
Another problem with this cheap corn is the cattle feed issue. Instead of grazing cattle on grass (like their bodies have evolved to digest), feedlots pack cattle together in dense blocks and feed them corn. Their stomachs can’t digest the corn properly, so they are prone to disease. To combat disease, they are pumped full of antibiotics, leading to an explosion in antibiotic-resistant bacterias. This is bad.
All this cheap food is also just plain bad for us. High fructose cord syrup and high-saturated fat corn fed beef does not make for healthy food. But because of the cheap corn, it makes for very cheap food. You could never produce a 99-cent McDonald’s hamburger by grazing the cattle on grass. (But it would be much more delicious and nutritious!)
The high fructose corn syrup is where we get so-called empty calories, and they’re everywhere. Living in Milwaukee, I can confidently declare that we have a collective weight problem. When calories are so cheap, it’s all too easy to eat yourself fat.
I could go on and on on this topic, and it really is a fascinating one. But for the sake of you, dear reader, I will wrap things up here. If you want to learn more, please read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma for an excellent chapter on corn.
As you can see, cheaper is not always better. If we were to factor in the costs of farm subsidies, environmental degradation due to industrial agriculture, and the health implications of antibiotics for cattle and poor nutrition for the rest of us, we might discover that our cheap food has a lot more costs than meets the eye.
Filed under culture, politics : Comments (3) : May 31st, 2007
Meta-post
As the reader has noticed, I have increased the frequency of my blogging quite significantly. A little over a week ago, I set a goal of one blog post per day. This quickly proved to be unfeasible, as this weekend proved–I simply don’t have the time/energy/desire to write on tadfad every single day. (And until I get a phone with a qwerty keypad, blogging on the go is out of the question.)
I declared that I had failed a few days ago, but I’m not going to give it up so easily. New plan: 4 blog posts per week. And not just 4 junk posts, but 4 with some meat on their bloggy bones. And meta-posts like this (posts about tadfad) don’t count.
So check back this week to read about:
- The cost of cheap
- My new apartment in Milwaukee
- The eternal time/money trade-off
- . . . and something else!
I think this schedule will be the ideal balance between frequency and quality. You, kind reader, deserve better than a “crap! It’s late and I forgot to blog today” posts. I hope I can deliver.
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : May 28th, 2007
Junk
I’m in the process of moving apartments right now. I wisely negotiated a two-week overlap between the start of my new lease and the termination of the old. Wisely, I say, because I am shocked at how much junk I have accumulated. I’ve been moving stuff continuously for 10 days now and I’m still not finished. Gasp!
I moved to Milwaukee a year ago, and at the time everything I owned fit into two cars. Somehow since then, my possessions have ballooned to the point where I required a U-Haul truck in addition to multiple car loads. I don’t remember buying this much stuff. What gives?
If nothing else, this move has motivated me to think seriously about how much stuff I need to own. Just today I took a full load of junk to the Goodwill, and I have a few more bags of old clothes destined for the same. As I don’t intend on “settling down” anytime soon, I want to live a fairly lean lifestyle so I can stay mobile. The only really big things holding me down right now are my couch & love seat set; aside from this I could probably cram my belongings into a storage unit if need be.
You can be rich in possessions or rich in experiences but rarely will you be rich in both. I choose the latter.
Filed under culture : Comments (0) : May 25th, 2007
Vacation
Monday marks the first day-off-from-work U.S. holiday since New Year’s. I, for one, am burnt out. I think that as a nation we have bad habit of workaholism.
This summer marks one year in the professional workplace. On the one hand, I can’t believe how quickly this year has flown by. Time is truly speeding up. On the other hand, I can’t believe that we’re all expected to work all year with so few breaks. I get 10 days vacation plus 11 holidays but this really doesn’t seem like enough. We should be looking towards our friends in Europe who get at least a month off of work every year.
Work, after all, is supposed to enable us to live our lives. By selling our time and efforts to an employer (or selling goods & services directly if you’re self-employed) we earn enough money to live. What worries me is how so many people reverse the roles and starting living for work. Your job should not define who you are, nor should it take too high a priority.
We all have a fixed time here on earth. I, for one, intend on living a rich life full of diverse experiences and relationships. And that means getting away from work once in awhile!
Filed under culture, work : Comments (0) : May 24th, 2007
It’s sunlight
I think one of the problems with conceptualizing the problem of our reliance on carbon-heavy fossil fuels is that they are rather abstract concepts. What is oil? What is coal?
Of course, we all know what oil and coal are. Most of us even know where they come from. But I would wager that relatively few of us stop to think about how they are formed. Instead, we think about them merely as energy sources, detached from their root source.
To help with our conceptualizing of fossil fuels and their source, I propose a handy aide: fossil fuel is sunlight!
As the reader will recall, all fossil fuels start their life as plant matter. And since all plant matter derives its energy from sunlight, it’s appropriate to say that the plant is merely a holding vessel for this solar energy. Plants are pretty nifty in that they convert diffuse solar energy into useful (and often delicious) carbon energy. This energy is passed up the food chain as animals eat plants, then eat each other. Alternately, we can release this energy directly by burning the plant material. Regardless of how we use the plants, the result is the same: solar energy is converted into a usable form of energy.
The reason fossil fuels are so tricky is that the represent stored solar energy from millions of years ago. Think of these fuels like a time machine capable of transporting prehistoric sunlight. (A misconstruction to be sure, but here me out.) In this light, it’s almost poetic that excessive reliance on fossil fuels is causing a shift in global climate. We’ve greatly increased the amount of energy in play by digging up long-dead plant matter and burning it.
This time-machine-sunlight concept is also a frightening reminder to our looming energy predicament. The Western world is still pretending that alternate fuels will simply step in for oil and coal without so much as a hiccup. Problem is, green energy by its very nature relies on contemporary solar energy, which is rather diffuse. The energy equation changes greatly when we’re forced to live within our means and not rely on ancient sunlight.
Filed under climate change, energy : Comments (2) : May 23rd, 2007
I have failed
Without realizing it, I have already failed my blog-a-day promise. I had a streak of about a week going there, but yesterday I totally dropped the ball. Ooops.
I’m working on a good post to publish, but I’m having a hard time ending it. (Much like every essay I’ve ever written, actually.) Hopefully I can get that done today and get back into the swing of things.
Thanks for all the comments–it really makes this whole thing much more fun.
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (4) : May 23rd, 2007
Smoking ban
Seriously now, all joking aside. Wisconsin needs a state-wide smoking ban. I don’t care how many smokers claim that it’s their right to smoke any place they please–once their smoke intrudes on my fresh air (and permeates my fresh clothing) we have a problem. Smoking is very unique in that one persons actions are visible and smellable from across the room. More so, their smellable actions can lead to cancer and an ugly death. All things considered, it’s time that we join the majority of modern metropolitan areas and ban smoking in public, indoor locations.
I’d love to hear a reasoned rebuttal in the comments!
Filed under culture, politics : Comments (6) : May 21st, 2007
Where is the wireless?
I’m disappointed by the rate of progress in the wireless internet field. It’s been over 5 years now since 802.11b really started to take off, and we’re still getting by with kludgey wifi routers and mile-wide security holes.
[Side note: I am able to write this post due to one such security hole. Thanks to whomever is running the open network 'Anothrcld1' in the Prospect neighborhood!]
I’m waiting for the promises of city-wide wifi and bone-head simple wifi access points. Apple has made good progress on the latter, but they represent only a sliver of the market. The big players (Linksys, Netgear, D-link, etc.) need to step up their game and be smart about things like enabling security by default.
Both Madison and Milwaukee have attempted the city-wide plan, but neither has been terribly successful. Last I checked, Madison had a network available to some areas, but the quality was lackluster and the fees too steep. Milwaukee has been bogged down in negotiations with the contractor they hired after multiple missed deadlines and a runaway budget.
Given our sluggish progress with broadband technology in general, and wireless specifically, its not hard to see why the U.S. is falling behind Europe and Asia in technological prowess. We need to reinvigorate the drive for innovation. . . now please, give me my wifi!
Filed under technology : Comments (1) : May 20th, 2007
rent a cops
I’ve had some rather unpleasant experiences with rent a cops lately. a couple weeks ago i was hassled for taking photos at an outdoor, public event. tonight i was confronted by a rental running bouncer duty at the liquor store. he was so proud of his position that he informed me that he carries a gun and will shoot me if i cause trouble.
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (1) : May 19th, 2007
The danger of certainty
[First, a personal note: I packed up my computer & cable modem today as part of my move so I had to get creative to keep my blog-a-day record alive. Bear with me if this post isn't up to snuff as I'm writing under some duress.]
Certainty is a tricky concept. I am certain of a lot of things–I am certain that the earth is round and orbits around the sun. I am certain that gravity will keep me firmly planted on the ground. I am certain that I will get old and die some day. These are pretty universal certainties, and fairly safe.
Now consider some more extreme examples: some people are certain that abortion is wrong and should be a crime. Some people are certain that homosexuality is a sin. Some people are certain that immigration hurts American interests.
What does it mean when you adopt a level of certainty about such topics? Sadly, certainty in this context is an enemy of democracy. It’s nearly impossible to hold a fruitful debate when one (or both) parties is certain that their position is right.
Certainty should be a rare breed in politics. Lately, we’ve seen just the opposite as certainty has come to dominate the public discourse. Be aware and be wary–certainty is dangerous indeed.
Filed under culture, politics : Comments (0) : May 18th, 2007
