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.
你好。我的名字是 Birke Baehr, 我已經11 歲。 我今天來到這裡是為了談論我們的糧食系統究竟出了什麼問題 首先,我想說 這使我很驚奇地發現孩子們是很容易被 所有的營銷和廣告引導. 在電視上,在公立學校 和任何你看得到的地方。 具規模的公司總是 試圖讓像我的孩子們 使父母買東西給自己 對於我們或者對於環境來說也是不好的. 尤其是小孩子 總是被彩色的包裝 和塑膠玩具所吸引 我必須承認,我曾經是其中之一。 我也常想像,我們所有的食物 都是來自這些幸福的小農場 那裡整天總有些豬滾在泥裡和牛在草地上放牧。
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.
我發現這是不正確的. 我開始研究這些東西, 在網路上,在書籍和紀錄片, 在我和我的家人旅行時. 我發現了工業化食品體系黑暗的一面. 首先有種子和生物基因工程. 這就是當一所實驗室為一顆種子 做一些不適合的某些事情-- 就像把一條魚的DNA 放入番茄的DNA中--噁心 ! 不要誤會我,我喜歡魚和番茄, 但這是讓人毛骨悚然的。 (笑聲) 然後種植種子,它們成長. 他們生產的食品已被證明 會導致實驗室中的動物患上癌症和其他問題. 而人們一直在吃這種生產方式的食品 自20世紀 90年代起。 大多數人甚至不知道它們的存在。 你知道當老鼠吃了基因工程的玉米 便逐漸出現肝、 腎毒性的跡象嗎? 這些包括腎臟炎症、病變、和增加腎重量。 然而我們吃的玉米 的基因都是以某種方式去改變的。 讓我告訴你, 玉米的一切。 但請不要讓我由密閉飼養作業開始. 所謂 CAFOS(美國集中動物飼養中心)。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
傳統農民使用的化肥 是由化石燃料的污垢所製成, 他們把污垢混合,使植物生長。 這些行為是因為他們已把土壤中所有的營養 從一遍又一遍的種植中剝奪殆盡了。 接下來,更多水果和蔬菜被噴上有害化學物質, 如農藥和除草劑, 用於殺死雜草和昆蟲 下雨的時候,這些化學物質會滲入地表, 流進我們的水道, 污染我們的水源. 然後試著讓這些食物長久生輝, 好讓它來到千里之外 的超市出售
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.
所以我問自己, 我可以怎樣改變?我怎樣才能改變這些東西? 這是我發現的。 我發現有一個更好的運作模式。 現在,前陣子, 我想成為一個 NFL(美國欖球聯盟)的運動員。 但是現在我寧願成為一個有機的農民。 (掌聲) 多謝 而且那樣的話我可以對世界產生更大的影響力。 這個是 Joel Salatin,人們叫他瘋狂的農夫 因為他是反對這些作物系統的。 由於家裡的薰陶, 我用了一整天去聽他說話。 這個人,這個瘋狂的農夫 不使用任何殺蟲劑、 除草劑 或基因改良的種子。 因此這一點,那些人稱他為瘋子
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.
我想讓你們知道誰都可以分別 提出不同的選擇, 通過直接從當地的農民購買食物, 或我們的鄰居,認識我們生活的人。 有些人說有機食品的價格相比當地的食物是較昂貴的, 但是否真的? 我一直在學習有關食品系統中所有的事情, 我感覺我們要不是支付給農民 不然就是付錢給醫院。 (掌聲) 現在我肯定知道我會選擇哪一個。 我想讓你知道,那裡有一些農場 -- 比如 在田納西州 Sequachie Cove Farm 農場的 Bill Keener 那裡有母牛吃草 就如同我想像中有豬在泥中翻滾 我有時和志願者去比爾的農場, 因此我可以親眼見到到 我吃的食物是從那裡來的 我希望你們知道,我相信 孩子們會選擇吃新鮮的蔬菜和良好的食物 如果他們更了解它是來自哪裡的話。 我希望你知道每個農民在社會中 也是有市場的。 我想讓你知道,我和我的弟弟和妹妹 很喜歡吃烤綠菜片。 我無論去哪裡也嘗試給別人分享的。
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.
不久以前, 我的叔叔說他把穀物烤片給我六歲的表弟。 他問, 他是否想要有機烤片 或是糖衣烤片-- 你知道,那就是用大條紋卡通人物在前面包裝的。 我的小表弟對他的爸爸說 他寧願得到有機穀物烤片, 這是因為 Birke 說,他不應該吃閃閃發光的烤片。 然而,大家,我們可以怎樣改變 一個孩子的一生.
So next time you're at the grocery store, think local, choose organic, know your farmer and know your food. Thank you.
所以下次你們光顧雜貨店時,請考慮買本地食材, 選擇有機,並了解你的農民和你的食物。 多謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)