Harvest For Hope: A Guide To Mindful Eating Book Analysis

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Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating

By Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall, a renowned scientist of primatology, ethology, and anthropology, began her studies when she ventured to Africa to work for Dr. Louis Leakey in 1957. From there Goodall earned her PhD at Cambridge University in 1965. She continued her studies, focusing especially on the study of chimpanzees; hence Goodall's nickname "the chimpanzee lady." In 1977, she established the Jane Goodall Institute to educate young people about conserving chimpanzees and all the other animals of this planet.

Most of Goodall's books focus on her progressing studies, however, in Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating, she discusses another issue focusing on human consumption. Goodall begins her book by touching on the roots of early agriculture, including national dishes from many different cultures and traditions. Then, she dives into modern agribusiness, a new lifestyle where commonsense farming has become more and more rare, especially in the United States. She discusses how mass consumption has developed from the idea of a monoculture, where farmers plant acres of the same crop. This creates a problem because if that one crop fails to grow, then the farmer has no other crop to rely on for profit, causing the farmer to use chemical pesticides. Insects developing resistance towards these pesticides led to the idea of genetically modifying crops so that they develop their own "natural" pesticide. Nonetheless, all of these techniques are poisoning our foods and our environment. The issue is rapidly destroying all farms mainly because GMO's spread easily through pollination and are difficult to kill.

Furthermore, Goodall addresses the issue of animal rights, going into detail...

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...ade, and how it got to his or her plate. Even when people are eating healthier foods, most are still unaware of why it is important to eat organically and locally. They do not realize what a huge contribution just one person is when they eat a diet based on organic and local foods. When you put into a perspective how much money is spent on just 3 months worth of food for one person that is from global supermarkets or fast food restaurants, you realize how much damage that is to the environment by supporting foods that are unnatural, unethical, and damaging to soil. A majority of people, especially Americans, is very unaware of how this is a serious issue. By educating people and encouraging them to eat for peace instead of pleasure, slowly and hopefully the world can change into a cleaner, healthier, and safer place, in which everyone can gain awareness and happiness.

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