low prices: good for consumers, bad for people

You always have to wonder when people repeat something over and over again. They must be trying to make you accept something that does not make sense. And low prices don't make any sense. Low prices not only send the wrong message, they are downright harmful for your health and your environment.

At first it seems like a no-brainer. Why would you not buy something for less money? Why would you pay more? Why would you not buy the same thing cheaper? Would that not be a stupid thing to do?

There is a catch of course. But let me first say this. Let's take a look at those examples where people prefer to pay more money and buy items that are more expensive and let's see why they do it. There are items, such as soap and toiletries that people will gladly pay more money for. There are also services, some of which are free, like education, that people will pay a lot for. And in both cases, people will pay more because they think the more expensive product is better. While that may not always the case, in many instances you really do get what you pay for.

You get what you pay for in two ways. If you pay fair value, you receive a lot of value. And if you paid a lot of money, you will value what you got more. Not only will the seller be satisfied and able to make an honest living, which contributes to the good of society, you will be more satisfied too. You will truly feel that you acquired something of value and cherish it as such.

That is not all. If people are able to sell you items at rock-bottom prices, there has to be a catch somewhere. Nobody can sell items below cost. In essence the sellers are "stealing" from somewhere to support their business. And when they do, nasty consequences are likely to follow. Unfortunately, it is not always obvious where the damage happens.

If a food corporation can sell you calories below cost, it isn't just due to "efficiencies." It is due to heavily subsidized petroleum and wanton environmental destruction. To say nothing of worker exploitation. You could shrug and say our environment is alright, and the immigrant workers make a better living here than they would in Mexico or South America. Or you may not care about what goes on as long as you get food for less.

However, I can assure you that you will pay for those "savings" many times over. And the destruction that goes on is in many cases irreversible.

Already we have a situation where over half the population is overweight or obese. Soon up to 1/3 will suffer from metabolic disorders such as diabetes, hypertension and other chronic ills. These conditions will extract an immediate price in medical care, and a long term price in lower life-expectancy, amputations, kidney failure, and blindness. The money we saved on food is going to be spent many times over on medical care. And even if we are personally unaffected, we all have to pay for the ballooning medical costs.

Mass production of food is also wrecking the environment and contributing to global warming, ocean and air pollution, and other ills that make our survival on the planet more precarious by the day. Already a huge area in the Gulf of Mexico is so polluted that no fish can survive there.

We also pay direct costs. We support an enormous military and fight endless wars just to ensure access to cheap petroleum. The cheap petroleum is what keeps our economy humming but because it is so cheap, people do not value it either. They waste it in enormous amounts. In doing so they once again pollute the environment, contribute to inactivity and obesity, To say nothing of the many accidental deaths from traffic accidents.

There are simple ways to make a difference in this madness. You can get a smaller car and drive less. You can have your kids walk to school. You can bike to work. You can buy and eat only locally produced foods. You can stop wasting energy unnecessarily. You can do what is good for you and your community.

a most destructive fall ritual

We are in the middle of fall and that means plenty of leaves everywhere. Although leaves are a natural product and many people profess to be nature lovers, fallen leaves are not welcome in most neighborhoods. The more upscale the neighborhood, the less welcome those pesky leaves are. Unfortunately, well-off neighborhoods have plenty of leaves. Not only do folks in suburbia love trees, they love deciduous trees even if such trees are somewhat misplaced as is the case in much of California. Rich people, it seems love leaves. As long as those leaves hang on trees.

Come fall though, the nature lovers engage in a myriad of destructive habits to get rid of fallen leaves. Many prefer the highly polluting and noisy leaf-blowers, a "high-tech" solution to a non problem. Honestly raking leaves give many people some much needed exercise. But leaving the leaves where they are would be best of all.

Much of suburbia is too lazy and too obese to rake or even to handle something as bulky as a leaf-blower. So in come hundreds of immigrants driving old polluting trucks that are overloaded with junk, to blow away and scoop up those leaves. Will they take the leaves? Of course not, that is what the garbage company does. Another truck to clear the air.

Another method that is often used, especially on patios and driveways is to spray gallons of water. Yesterday we had a horrible storm that dumped more water on San Francisco in a 24hr period than any other storm in the last 47 years. Yet everyone let the water run off, overflow the drains, and flood the streets. And today many were happily spraying the debris and leaves off their driveways using fresh clean water from the tap. And I bet they thought nothing of it. They probably thought they were doing the planet a favor. Cleanliness above all else my friends!

After the leaves have been blown or sprayed onto a heap, they are quickly deposited in those big yard waste bins that Waste Management is so eager to provide. Then they will be hauled out with big polluting trucks driving through the neighborhoods. A third collection cycle with its own truck just to suit our needs. Garden debris makes up almost half of the garbage collected in the US. That is why your garden bin is the largest one you got.

I doubt many people realize that they have just hauled away (or let others haul away) valuable biomass; biomass that when left on the ground will form quality topsoil and replenish the lost nutrients. In any case, it is not the American way to re-use things. We need to get rid of what we have and buy new stuff. So to finish the cycle, our suburban homeowners will now go to the store and purchase petroleum-based fertilizers for their lawns. Fertilizer to provide nitrogen and other ingredients the plants need to grow new leaves. But when those leaves get too long (as in grass), or fall off (as in trees) they get cut and carted away. There goes the fertilizer. At least the part that did not run off and pollute the waterways. Because like all good citizens we dump plenty of fertilizer to grow our environmentally destructive lawns.

Instead of letting the soil reabsorb these nutrients, we blow them around, put them on big trucks and ship them away. Then we go out and buy new fertilizer. Does that make sense to you?

food shortage

Nothing drives home the image a serious food shortage like seeing obese people hauling 25lbs bags of rice and 24 packs of soda to their cars while complaining of not being able to afford food. While you may accuse me of being overly cynical that was exactly the image that Channel 2 news in the Bay Area chose for its special report a few days ago. If they were trying to rally empathy for those in need, they could have done better. The people they interviewed looked like they would be better off in the long run with some forced dieting.

Truth is there is a real food shortage and current conditions are making it worse. In response to the emergency President Bush quickly decided to announce millions more in food aid. The question is of course, who is he trying to aid? Food aid means the US government buys staples from US farmers and then gives them to starving people in Africa and elsewhere. This type of aid does very little to alleviate the real problem as people need to keep eating and a one time handout is no solution. But don't say that to the farmers in the midwest. Food aid is a very popular item in an election year.

Before we say more nasty things about President Bush, we should realize that this is the only type of aid our beloved farmers are willing to accept. They are 100% opposed to a more efficient type of aid consisting of donating money to poor countries to help develop their agricultural infrastructure. That type of aid, favored by the United Nations and Europeans puts money into other farmers pockets and risks to stimulate the competition. That smacks of communism to us.

The food crisis is exacerbated by the oil crisis and the two markets are now marching in lockstep. So much oil is needed to produce food at current yields that any price movement in oil is immediately reflected in food. This mechanism is key but often ignored in the media. Nobody likes to be reminded that it takes us on average 8-9 calories of energy to produce 1 calorie of food. The other problem is one known as a vicious circle. The higher food prices go, the more demand there is for pesticides and fertilizers in order to drive up yields. Because money can be made. That puts further pressure on oil prices, effectively nullifying all yield gains and making food even more pricey.

The second player is biofuels. This brain-dead idea is wreaking havoc with all agricultural planning. It too is especially powerful in the midwest, a major food exporter and provider for the world. Here farmers can see dollar bills in ethanol and ethanol plants are springing up quicker than bars after Prohibition. No wonder Iowans think biofuels are manna from heaven.

As for their impact on global warming, it is 100% negative. I have already pointed out the biofuels can only hope to affect global warming by driving food prices so high that many people will starve. And less people will mean less pollution. At least for a while until we all catch up. Meanwhile in the West, we could do with some high prices. That way we may be able to cure our latest health threat, the epidemic of obesity that is about to overwhelm our health care system.

All of these concerns are temporary of course. It is estimated that before 2025 the US will stop exporting food in any case. If the population keeps growing and keeps consuming at today's rates there won't be enough land to produce a surplus crop. And considering all the runoff into the Gulf of Mexico, there won't be any more seafood there either.

Time to get out the SUV. Gentlemen, start your engines.

chemistry

In 1960 the US used 7,464 tons of fertilizer, 37% of it nitrogen, 34% phosphate, and 29% potash. By 1970 the total had more than doubled to 16,068 tons, and the nitrogen component had risen to 46%. By 1980, the total stood at 23,083 with 49% nitrogen, 24% phosphate and 27% potash. Since the 1980's use has been more or less steady at slightly over 21,000 tons, but the nitrogen component has gone up to as high as 57%, with the rest equally divided between phosphate and potash.

Fertilizer uses are heavily concentrated in states draining into the Mississippi watershed. Other high use areas include the Eastern seaboard, Florida, California's central valley and Eastern Washington state.

In 1995, about 4.5 billion pounds of chemicals were used as pesticides in the US every year. Half of that is chlorine and chlorine products used to treat water. A quarter are conventional pesticides, petroleum and sulfur. The majority of these are used in agriculture to produce food and fiber. That amounts to nearly 1 billion pounds. Another one billion pounds is in herbicides.

Pesticide uses have leveled off too, especially in agriculture. But in-home uses are skyrocketing and in-home uses are quickly making up for any losses. Surveys estimate that home owners use as much fertilizer and pesticide per acre for lawn care as agriculture does to grow food. 

Excess fertilizer and pesticide run off into rivers and streams and end up in the oceans. There the fertilizer can powerfully boost algae and micro-organism growth. These critters can grow so quickly that they choke off oxygen supplies and kill fish and shellfish. Algae blooms also produce toxins that find their way to people.

Pesticides accumulate in filter feeders that are eaten by fish and so these end up in the food supply as well.

Think about that when you look at your green lawn.