Saturday 01/11/2003 Clearwater, FL Day 2717

What Happened Today? Went to the Largo Library. Golf ball walk with Ian. Found 2 golf balls. Watched football playoffs with Kay and Yvonne. Tennessee Titans beat the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Atlanta Falcons.

GAIA- Planetary Management:

811. Processing in the US food system: More than three-quarters of the food Americans eat is processed in some way, from waxed apples to frozen TV dinners.

812. In energy terms, processing now costs more than $10 billion a year, two-thirds as much again as growing the food on the farm, and almost one-quarter of all energy costs in getting food from the cropland to the table.

813. Not only is this extremely wasteful, it is also unhealthy.

814. Americans now consume one-third less fresh fruit and vegetables than in 1910, while their consumption of processed food has increased 3 times, together with a large rise in saturated fats and refined carbohydrates.

815. The advertising pressure in favor of  more “junk” foods is better understood when we note that fewer than 50 US corporations account for two-thirds of all food processing.