Science Friday
Michael Pollan - The Omnivore's Dilemma (April 14, 2006)
Run Time: 37:25
Hosted by Ira Flatow, Science Friday is a weekly podcast featuring the latest news and trends in science. This podcast is my favorite single podcast from 2006. It featured Michael Pollan, author of the Omnivore’s Dilemma. It’s an eye-opening podcast focusing how the eating habits of most Americans have turned from good to bad in the past half century, and how the food industry is mostly responsible for that change.
Some facts from the podcast:
- A prominent fast food chain's soda is 100% corn-based carbon
- The same fast food chain's burgers are 56% corn-based carbon
- 1 bushel is 56 pounds of corn kernels
- 1/3 gallon of fossil fuel required to grow 1 bushel of corn
- America grows 10 billion bushels of corn/year - roughly 3.3 billion gallons of fossil fuel used to accomplish this growth
- 20% of fossil fuel consumption in America goes to feeding humans
- 80% of food for human consumption in Iowa is imported
- 56 calories of fossil fuel to move 1 calorie of organic lettuce from California to New York
Words cannot do the podcast justice in its scope and depth regarding corn overuse, fossil fuel consumption for agriculture, politics in agriculture, water pollution from nitrates from the overuse of cornfield fertilizers, hidden fossil fuels use in organic agriculture and many other points. He does provide solutions to some of the problems and cites examples of farms that have taken steps to get back to basics and really get a free lunch out of nature.
The podcast can be found on the Science Friday homepage in the Archives section. Select April and choose the April 14, 2006: Hour Two link. From there, choose the Michael Pollan mp3 download on the right side of the page.
Enjoy!
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