I tried to keep what I loved about the flow of this great poem, and paint on some of what I hate about the flow of “nutrient” toxic waste. I think the addition of color effectively sets the mood for this reprint of the black and white version in Family Farm Fun.
In the 60s, when the fines for industrial pollution were so small that the polluters never even paused; our government vowed to change all that. They did — they removed the laws.
Nowadays, with Industrial Agriculture polluting the all groundwater that they haven’t sucked dry; what advice does our government give to the rural poor? Mix bottled water with your well water to bring it below the maximum health limit levels. Thanks!
The bottom line is [if they still use “bottom line”] that if you don’t take responsibility for your family’s health, no one will. In their “wrong place at the wrong time” – “fall through the cracks” way; Authorities have more important things to worry about than the people.
I live in an Ag Ghetto. I call it an Ag Ghetto because the local policy is one of containment: contain the poverty, contain the crime, contain the drugs. The deputies patrol the borders of the Ag Zone and only enter when called, write a report, and leave. A kid was tossed onto the road outside my house while playing a game where they stand on the truck of a car as it drives around. It’s the sort of games they allow kids to play in the Ag Ghetto. He landed on his head. He died.
The Ag Zone is no Old MacDonald’s Farm; it more like “Fire Down Below”: people use the land as a dumping ground, buy off the residents futures with next to nothing, while telling them they’re lucky to get anything at all — and the residents know who calls the shots at the sheriff’s dept. and the regulatory offices.
In Rural America the biggest threat to the health and well-being of the community is the same activity that once strengthened and nurtured it — farming. Industrial farming is rolling the dice against a dystopian future of environmental meltdown, antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and genetically modified organisms in a race to quickly amass wealth. Using a simple picture-book style, and the buoyancy of humor, this book navigates the flood of destructive farming practices that have already engulfed the rural community, and are spreading.
Print and eBook available at
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Amazon.com |
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eBook available at
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And other retailers worldwide
A preview of the second book in the Factory Farm series:
Over a hundred pages of jokes, riddles, games and activities, mazes, poems, sing-a-longs, connect-the dots, humorous stories and more!
New group of ten pages from the book:
New group of ten pages from the book:
Another five pages from the book:
Five pages from the book:
More pages will be posted in future blogs.
Part 7c – A Cyclic History – Pollute-Distort-Pacify-Repeat –Committees and Cover-ups
Part 7a – A Cyclic History – Pollute-Distort-Pacify-Repeat –The Never Ending Cover-up
