Babbling Blueberry

From Freakonomics: Some guy inherited $70 million and asked some ex-street hustlers/gang members how they think he should donate it. They had very wise and well-spoken words that I should not even try to summarize because I couldn’t do it justice. But I will insert a brief quote, from Shine (but the other quotes are great too!):

“I can’t tell you how many n– -s do stupid shit because they couldn’t get no food. Lot of people rob and steal to put some food in their belly. Make sure people got food. A man stops feeling angry against the world when his belly is full. That’s what I’d tell the brother to do with his money. And, make sure the older folks got food, not just the kids.”

But at the same time, the rate of obesity in the U.S. is skyrocketing! I went to a talk yesterday Steve Schroeder at UCSF. He used to be the President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and his talk was about how foundations can affect change in the U.S. One of the most striking things that I realized from this talk was how bogged down policy makers are because of corporations and lobbyists and that whole mess. So foundations are often better able to tackle issues that the government is afraid to take on. I’ve been thinking about getting into science and/or education policy, but maybe working with a foundation is the best way to go. I don’t know that the grip that corporations and their lobbyists have will be loosening up anytime soon.

Back to obesity. Another striking thing was a time-lapse series of maps showing obesity rates in the U.S. over time… I actually had seen this speaker give a talk previously and I had seen these same slides before and I remembered that it was striking. But even remembering that, I still couldn’t help but exclaim at how fast obesity is increasing. It’s really an epidemic. And man, things are bad in Mississippi… the speaker said that when he goes to Alabama and Georgia, they always say, “Thank goodness for Mississippi!”

So why are people hungry and getting more obese all at the same time? I think it (at least partially and probably significantly) comes back to the government and Big Agriculture and how the government subsidizes the production of corn that’s going into the production of nutrient-poor foods. And the subsidies are going into the pockets of big corporations rather than the pockets of farmers. How about this suggestion for how to use the $70 million… subsidize fruit and vegetable farmers to help them grow and fresh and nutritious food. By subsidize, I mean bypass the government completely. Then the struggling farmers who are growing actual food can be helped, people will have more affordable nutrient-rich foods, and the obesity epidemic will be slowed.

Or even better, what if we could somehow use the money to stop corporations and their lobbyists from having such an enormous influence on our country’s policies? That would be great and that would solve a lot of other problems too… health, insurance, climate change. Unfortunately, it seems like $70 million is a small drop given how much money is coming from the corporations.