Hello. My name is Birke Baehr, and I'm 11 years old. I came here today to talk about what's wrong with our food system. First of all, I would like to say that I'm really amazed at how easily kids are led to believe all the marketing and advertising on TV, at public schools and pretty much everywhere else you look. It seems to me like corporations are always trying to get kids, like me, to get their parents to buy stuff that really isn't good for us or the planet. Little kids, especially, are attracted by colorful packaging and plastic toys. I must admit, I used to be one of them. I also used to think that all of our food came from these happy, little farms where pigs rolled in mud and cows grazed on grass all day.
Dobar dan. Moje ime je Birke Baehr, i imam 11 godina. Došao sam danas ovamo kako bih govorio o tome što ne valja s našim prehrambenim sustavom. Prvo, želio bih reći kako sam doista iznenađen kako je lako navesti djecu da povjeruju u sav marketing i oglašavanje na TV-u, u javnim školama i gotovo svugdje gdje okrenete glavu. Čini mi se kako korporacije uvijek pokušavaju navesti djecu poput mene da nagovore svoje roditelje da im kupe stvari koje doista nisu dobre ni za nas a ni za naš planet. Malu djecu, naročito, privlače šarolika pakiranja i plastične igračke. Moram priznati, bio sam jedan od njih. Isto tako sam mislio da sva naša hrana dolazi s tih sretnih, malih farmi gdje se svinje valjaju u blatu, a krave po cijeli dan pasu travu.
What I discovered was this is not true. I began to look into this stuff on the Internet, in books and in documentary films, in my travels with my family. I discovered the dark side of the industrialized food system. First, there's genetically engineered seeds and organisms. That is when a seed is manipulated in a laboratory to do something not intended by nature -- like taking the DNA of a fish and putting it into the DNA of a tomato. Yuck. Don't get me wrong, I like fish and tomatoes, but this is just creepy. (Laughter) The seeds are then planted, then grown. The food they produce have been proven to cause cancer and other problems in lab animals, and people have been eating food produced this way since the 1990s. And most folks don't even know they exist. Did you know rats that ate genetically engineered corn had developed signs of liver and kidney toxicity? These include kidney inflammation and lesions and increased kidney weight. Yet almost all the corn we eat has been altered genetically in some way. And let me tell you, corn is in everything. And don't even get me started on the Confined Animal Feeding Operations called CAFOS.
Ono što sam otkrio jest da to nije točno. Počeo sam promatrati te stvari na Internetu, u knjigama i dokumentarnim filmovima, u putovanjima sa svojom obitelji. Otkrio sam tamnu stranu industrijaliziranog prehrambenog sustava. Prvo, postoje genetski modificirane sjemenke i organizmi. Oni nastaje kada se sjemenkom mamipulira u laboratoriju kako bi se stvorilo nešto što priroda nije predvidjela -- kao uzimanje DNK ribe i ubacivanje istog u DNK rajčice -- fuj. Nemojte me pogrešno shvatiti. Volim ribu i rajčicu, ali ovo je naprosto zastrašujuće. (Smijeh) Sjemenke se zatim sade, a onda uzgajaju. Dokazano je kako hrana koju proizvode uzrokuje rak i druge probleme kod laboratorijskih životinja. A ljudi jedu ovako proizvedeno hranu još od 1990-ih. A većina ljudi ni ne zna da to postoji. Jeste li znali da su štakori koji su jeli genetski modificiran kukuruz razvili znakove trovanja jetre i bubrega? To uključuje upalu bubrega i lezije te povećanu bubrežnu masu. Ipak, gotovo sav kukuruz koji jedemo je genetski promijenjen na neki način. Dopustite da vam kažem, kukuruz je sve. Nemojte da uopće počnem o zatvorenim pogonima za prehranu životinja zvanim CAFOS (ZPPŽ).
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Conventional farmers use chemical fertilizers made from fossil fuels that they mix with the dirt to make plants grow. They do this because they've stripped the soil from all nutrients from growing the same crop over and over again. Next, more harmful chemicals are sprayed on fruits and vegetables, like pesticides and herbicides, to kill weeds and bugs. When it rains, these chemicals seep into the ground, or run off into our waterways, poisoning our water too. Then they irradiate our food, trying to make it last longer, so it can travel thousands of miles from where it's grown to the supermarkets.
Konvencionalni farmeri upotrebljavaju kemijska gnojiva dobivena iz fosilnih goriva koja zatim miješaju sa zemljom kako bi biljke rasle. To rade jer su uništili sve hranjive tvari u zemlji od uzgoja jednog te istog usjeva iznova i iznova. Nadalje, voće i povrće se šprica sve štetnijim kemikalijama, kao što su pesticidi i herbicidi, kako bi se uništio korov i kukci. Za vrijeme kiše, te kemikalije procure duboko u tlo, ili se sliju u naše kanale za vodu, trujući isto tako našu vodu. Zatim ozračuju našu hranu, kako bi dulje izdržala, kako bi mogla putovati tisućama milja od mjesta gdje je uzgojena do supermarketa,
So I ask myself, how can I change? How can I change these things? This is what I found out. I discovered that there's a movement for a better way. Now a while back, I wanted to be an NFL football player. I decided that I'd rather be an organic farmer instead. (Applause) Thank you. And that way I can have a greater impact on the world. This man, Joel Salatin, they call him a lunatic farmer because he grows against the system. Since I'm home-schooled, I went to go hear him speak one day. This man, this "lunatic farmer," doesn't use any pesticides, herbicides, or genetically modified seeds. And so for that, he's called crazy by the system.
Stoga se pitam, kako se mogu promijeniti? Kako ja mogu promijeniti te stvari? Ovo je što sam saznao. Otkrio sam kako postoji pokret za bolji način. Prije nekog vremena, želio sam biti nogometaš u NFL-u. Nedavno sam odlučio kako bih ipak radije bio organski farmer. (Pljesak) Hvala vam. A na taj način mogu imati veći utjecaj na svijet. Ovog čovjeka, Joel-a Salatin-a, zovu ludi farmer jer uzgaja protiv sustava. Kako se školujem doma, otišao sam ga jedan dan čuti kako priča. Taj čovjek, taj ludi farmer, ne koristi nikakve pesticide, herbicide, ili genetski modificirane sjemenke. I zbog toga, sustav ga je proglasio ludim.
I want you to know that we can all make a difference by making different choices, by buying our food directly from local farmers, or our neighbors who we know in real life. Some people say organic or local food is more expensive, but is it really? With all these things I've been learning about the food system, it seems to me that we can either pay the farmer, or we can pay the hospital. (Applause) Now I know definitely which one I would choose. I want you to know that there are farms out there -- like Bill Keener in Sequatchie Cove Farm in Tennessee -- whose cows do eat grass and whose pigs do roll in the mud, just like I thought. Sometimes I go to Bill's farm and volunteer, so I can see up close and personal where the meat I eat comes from. I want you to know that I believe kids will eat fresh vegetables and good food if they know more about it and where it really comes from. I want you to know that there are farmers' markets in every community popping up. I want you to know that me, my brother and sister actually like eating baked kale chips. I try to share this everywhere I go.
Želim da znate kako svi mi možemo napraviti razliku ako drugačije biramo, ako kupujemo našu hranu direktno od lokalnih farmera, ili naših susjeda koje poznajemo cijeli svoj život. Neki ljudi kažu kako je organska ili lokalna hrana skuplja, no je li stvarno? Od svih stvari koje sam naučio o prehrambenom sustavu, čini mi se da možemo platiti farmera, ili možemo platiti bolnicu. (Pljesak) Definitivno znam koje bih ja odabrao. Želim da znate kako tamo postoje farmeri -- kao Bill Keener na Sequachie Cove farmi u Tennesseeju -- čije krave pasu travu i čije se svinje valjaju u blatu, baš kao što sam i zamišljao. Ponekad odem do Billove farme i volontiram, kako bih osobno i izbliza vidio odakle meso koje jedem dolazi. Želim da znate kako vjerujem da će djeca jesti svježe povrće i dobru hranu kada saznaju više o njoj i od kuda zapravo dolazi. Želim da znate kako postoje farmerske tržnice u svakoj zajednici, koje samo niču. Želim da znate kako ja, moj brat i sestra doista volimo jesti pečeni čips od kelja. Pokušavam to podijeliti gdje god krenem.
Not too long ago, my uncle said that he offered my six-year-old cousin cereal. He asked him if he wanted organic Toasted O's or the sugarcoated flakes -- you know, the one with the big striped cartoon character on the front. My little cousin told his dad that he would rather have the organic Toasted O's cereal because Birke said he shouldn't eat sparkly cereal. And that, my friends, is how we can make a difference one kid at a time.
Ne tako davno, moj ujak je rekao kako je ponudio žitarice mom šestogodišnjem rođaku. Pitao ga je želi li organske tostirane "O" žitarice ili pahuljice obložene šećerom -- znate, one s velikim prugastim likom iz crtića na prednjoj strani. Moj mali rođak je rekao svom tati kako bi radije organske tostirane "O" žitarice, jer, reče Birke, ne bi smio jesti svjetlucave žitarice. I tako, prijatelji moji, možemo napraviti razliku dijete po dijete.
So next time you're at the grocery store, think local, choose organic, know your farmer and know your food. Thank you.
Idući put kada ste u trgovini, razmišljajte lokalno, odaberite organsko, znajte svog farmera i znajte svoju hranu. Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)