It is the year 2016 and the citizens of the world, specifically those who reside in the United States, remain imprisoned by the delusion that Earth’s resources are infinite. The articles Why We Need Religion to Solve the World Food Crisis by Whitney Sanford and Saying Grace: Transforming People, Transforming the World by Norman Wirzba examine the issue of resource abuse. These authors focus specifically on the problems of the food industry and their effects on different ecosystems. The fact of the matter is simple: the ways in which we produce and consume foods are neither “sustainable” nor “equitable” (Sanford, 977). We are going about food production in a way that is both wasteful and, frankly, cruel. Even if we do not truly have the resources,
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In a world with an increasing pace, many people have become far too busy to take the time to appreciate and analyze the blessings that they have been given, “we expect the world in an instant, on demand, and at a cheap price” (Wirzba, 201). Both Wirzba and Sanford suggest that a solution to the broken industrial model of agriculture is to consider the origins of the upon our plates. This reality is horrific and to hide it from consumers the food industry has slowly “sever[ed] the link between us and nature” (Wirzba, 202). Because people refuse to acknowledge this process, it is impossible to be truly grateful. Wirzba believes that saying grace with sincerity will force us to look deeper into these roots because saying grace is not simply restating a few ritualistic words but rather “commit[ting] ourselves to the nurture, protection, and celebration of the gifts of creation” (Wirzba, 196). If this commitment is as genuine as Christians claim, then it is a religious obligation to realize that the current actions of the food industry take creation for granted. Sanford describes the food crisis as a “moral crisis” seeing as food production is reliant on our food choices (Sanford, 978). One way to better the morality of our food choices is to look at the cruelty behind meat production and cut back, if not completely cut
In a world with an increasing pace, many people have become far too busy to take the time to appreciate and analyze the blessings that they have been given, “we expect the world in an instant, on demand, and at a cheap price” (Wirzba, 201). Both Wirzba and Sanford suggest that a solution to the broken industrial model of agriculture is to consider the origins of the upon our plates. This reality is horrific and to hide it from consumers the food industry has slowly “sever[ed] the link between us and nature” (Wirzba, 202). Because people refuse to acknowledge this process, it is impossible to be truly grateful. Wirzba believes that saying grace with sincerity will force us to look deeper into these roots because saying grace is not simply restating a few ritualistic words but rather “commit[ting] ourselves to the nurture, protection, and celebration of the gifts of creation” (Wirzba, 196). If this commitment is as genuine as Christians claim, then it is a religious obligation to realize that the current actions of the food industry take creation for granted. Sanford describes the food crisis as a “moral crisis” seeing as food production is reliant on our food choices (Sanford, 978). One way to better the morality of our food choices is to look at the cruelty behind meat production and cut back, if not completely cut