I found this article in which Mike Coupe director of Sainsbury's, one of the UK's leading grocery stores, in response to a statement about reducing consumption as the only viable way to cut carbon emissions said "Managing needs versus demand seems like a form of communism," he said. "It's something the world we are living in isn't ready for." This statement is not surprising coming from someone who makes his money off of people buying surpluses of food that they never use. How true is this? Are people not ready to reduce their consumption?
Just from the recent price jumps in gas, people are in mass finally shying away from excessively large cars and getting on waiting lists for hybrids. So, how far do you have to push people before they reduce their consumption? The world didn't have the problem of extreme excess production 200 years ago. When food was industrialized in the early 20th century produced in extreme excess, we provided too much food for the consumer. This made obesity eventually a national epidemic. I can't see why it should be a problem to reduce food consumption. People lived perfectly happily for thousands of years before they had the choice of Cheetos or Fritos or Doritos or Tostitos. At what point will we realize that maybe the health of the nation and the environment is more important that making this crap food that helps line the corporations pockets. It's a natural response to eat what is in front of you, and with this lining our shelves, how are we supposed to resist?
Ok, so it's viable to say maybe people are not ready to reduce consumption. But I firmly believe that mass production, leads to mass consumption.
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I don't think it's right to blame our obesity problem on the large amount of food available. There is a lot more that goes with it, the chief reason, in my opinion, being the general lifestyle and culture of modern-day America. I don't think I agree, either, with the sentiment that the government needs to get involved and limit our choices and freedoms with our food. We as consumers should be more aware of the issues related to overconsumption, yes. But government-initiated policies saying "You can't eat Fritos" would be unacceptable.
I can't deny that overconsumption is bad, but I don't think most of the blame lies with the supplier. It's the people who consume who need to learn a thing or two.
Well, I realize my article sounds like I'm asking the government to control what people eat, and that is not what I intended. I do think though that policy choices have made it so that food that has little to no nutritional value is the cheapest, and therefore the only thing available in areas of the lower socioeconomic class. The government does need to reinforce what is actually healthy, both with an educational agenda, and a reconsideration of policies.
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