Commodity Corner
Views on commodities and energy
Michael Pollan: “What’s in the beef?”
Where does your burger come from? Journalist and food writer Michael Pollan has traced back the source of much of what we eat, and says that the ultimate answer is oil. Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, argues that it takes massive amounts of petroleum-derived fertilizers and pesticides to run industrial farms and feed lots, with dire consequences for human health and the Earth’s climate.
Check out Pollan’s multimedia presentation below, from the Poptech conference in Camden, Maine last month.
[Editor's note: After some Reuters fact-checking, Pollan withdrew his Poptech assertion that "A vegan in a Hummer has a smaller carbon footprint than a meat-eater in a Prius," and his statement has been edited out of the video. The erroneous meme has nevertheless continued to spread on Twitter]
Pollan writes books for affluent Americans who don’t have real problems and need something to get worked up about.