May 2006 | Conscious Culture
Book / Film Reviews
Diet for a Dead Planet: How the Food Industry is Killing Us, by Christopher D. Cook (The New Press, $24.95).
As you walk through the supermarket, do you ever stop and wonder how fruits and vegetables that are out of season continue to remain in stock? Or how about the working conditions in those slaughterhouses where the meat you purchase comes from? Well, for those of you who have , Diet for a Dead Planet, written by Christopher D. Cook, sets out to answer these questions and much more.
From the start, Cook makes it clear his book is not about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or fast food. Instead, he tackles the much more important issues that the American food system is facing. These include the family farms crisis and the grim conditions faced by food-industry workers.
Through engrossing examples, this well-written book explores what our society eats and the devastating effects our choices can have socially, economically and environmentally.
Yet, Cook contends the outlook for the food industry might be changing. After all, organic foods have become increasingly popular over the last dozen years. Isn’t some hope on the horizon? But Cook points out the popularity of organic food is simply not enough. And he makes a valid point. After all, what does organic food really mean if the workers who produce it are subjected to horrendous working conditions?
Ultimately, Cook believes, every part of the food process must be taken into account–“consumers, workers, farmers, the environment, and even animals”–in order to save the food industry. That, he argues, is the only way to ensure our survival.
—Christine Mangan
Thank You For Smoking, Directed by Jason Reitman, Starring Aaron Eckhardt, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright and Katie Holmes.
“We don’t sell Tic Tacs, we sell cigarettes. And they’re cool, available, and addictive. The job is almost done for us,” says a tobacco executive in Thank You For Smoking. The film is Jason Reitman’s big-screen debut.
Although lines like these could come across as overly sarcastic, overly serious or preachy, Reitman’s deft treatment of Charles Buckley’s novel hits just the right tone: tongue-in-cheek, wry, clever and hilarious.
The casting is genius: Aaron Eckhart makes the perfect Nick Naylor, the charming spokesman for Big Tobacco who’d be detestable if he weren’t so entertaining (or so good at his job); William H. Macy as the flappable Vermont official trying to pass an anti-tobacco bill; Rob Lowe as the obnoxious Hollywood exec who aggress to help Naylor “make smoking cool again”; and Katie Holmes as a conniving but naive reporter who screws Naylor (in more ways than one).
And though it does have an agenda (hint: it’s not a love letter to the tobacco industry), it’s remarkably even-handed, treating both Big Tobacco and its opponents to the same unblinking satire and sarcasm.
The result is a blissfully well-paced and engaging film that’s more than worth watching.
— Molly Freedenberg
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