“Made in China.” That is one of the signature labels within American culture. Everything, from our clothing to our staple food items (such as cereal, and sometimes even meat). In 1993, China stopped being independent and internal with resource use, and started being a major manufacturer of just about, well, everything for the rest of the world, the US included. (Info taken from pg. 93). Personally, I feel that this is where the spiral downward started. As implicitly stated by Dodson, China is now consuming more than it can produce. Although they may seem far from where America is, waste wise, leaving room for unneeded use of the country’s assets and depleting resources (especially when the majority of them are just being exported to other countries!) is terrible.
The one element of research that, perhaps, Dodson is missing is the impact of the US on China’s consumption. Naturally, the Chinese people are more slender and shorter than those of an American citizen, but that is slowly, and very sadly, changing. More fast food restaurants and advertising are being put into place. Manufactured, “American” looking foods and trends are becoming the prized way to live and ideal to the Chinese who buy into media advertising. Although China does not consume nearly as much oil as the United States (or any other resource, really, including food), they are starting to become more and more unhealthy. It is as if they are trying to be more “American.” Perhaps this stems from the desire to be more urban and have more wealth, but the want is overpowering the sense in this notion.
One thing that shocked me was that China had actually bought land in Africa to meet the quota for grains and meats (pg. 89). How ironic that the US also imports goods needed from other countries. So, in an essence, the sirloin steak sitting on the plate in front of you has a high chance of being imported from China, who has actually imported the animal from Africa. This not only has severe negative nutritional effects on the human body (especially when one is eating meat that was not even grown in an environment within the country’s borders), but it also makes everything more complicated in business. I feel that both the US and China are going through all of these short-cuts and dead ends in order to get somewhere that is just right outside their front doors. For some people, this is a literal statement. How many farmers do we have here in the US that are, instead of working locally, are bought by big companies (for instance, Monsanto), and then lose the right to producing their food how they truly believe that it should be produced. In the same way, China is also outsourcing, instead of using the country farmers and village people to grow so that food can be sold locally. I truly believe that re-sustaining both China and the US’s agriculture can only be done successfully if we get re-in -touch with what our bodies need in order to survive. This does not just include food, but all aspects of life: from transportation to technology. If we can just go simple again, then maybe things wouldn’t be quite so complicated.
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