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An array of fueling options at a gas station in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Even the gasoline contains a corn product-it is 10 percent ethanol.
The wastes from making ethanol are fed to
beef and dairy cows, pigs and chickens. |
Fueling up in Cheyenne, Wyoming
By Bill Duesing
The American way of eating is shaped more by the availability of
low-cost fossil fuels and government crop and other subsidies than it is by
nutrition, health or flavor.
I took the photo above while buying gasoline at a station in
Cheyenne, Wyoming this summer. This array is an example of the ubiquitous
advertising for these kinds of foods: ground beef sandwiches, often with bacon
and/or cheese or processed hot dogs on white bread buns. (For the chicken
nuggets, their wheat breading is the bun equivalent.)
It also made me think about the health consequences of eating
this kind of food: weight gain, obesity, diabetes, sore joints, heart disease,
cancer and possibly even schizophrenia!
Why are foods that may cause so much damage so heavily
advertised? A rhetorical question really. The answer: profit. Much of that profit comes because food
industry accounting doesn't include many significant costs. Health care costs are not included. The illnesses above, and the foods that
cause them, are responsible for millions of dollars in health costs.
