Pollan VS Mackey Smackdown Fizzles
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 6.07
We tried to watch the University of Berkeley's debate between Michael Pollan and John Mackey, which we thought would be a continuation of the online argument they have been having about the industrialization of organic food. Being in the east, we fell asleep in the middle of Mackey and never got to Pollan. However Berkeley has now posted the video and we watched it, expecting fireworks.
As Website Chewswise points out, debates work best if speakers are on opposing sides, and Mackey has moved quickly to reposition Whole Foods, investing in artisan producers and bringing in more local food. Pollan has also moderated his position, and so it was more of a love-in than a fight. The strongest line from Mackey was “You exaggerated the extent of industrialization of organic, you’ve done some damage!”
Even without fireworks, definitely worth watching (two hours) while awake at ::University of Berkeley and read more at ::Chewswise
It's kind of funny this was presented as a 'smackdown'. Anyone who's actually read their letters can see that they have mutual respect and are both interested in similar concerns (if from very different vantages). People can disagree without being pitted as all or nothing enemies. Right? It'd just be nice if we could move beyond polarizing people's ethical/political/etc. opinions all the time. Says me.
exactly! shouldn't they both be praised for the fact that they've been able to have a civil discourse on the topic? and shouldn't we be glad that mackey has jumped to bring in more local foods? perhaps it would have been more entertaining for them to be at each other's throats, but it certainly wouldn't have been of much benefit to either side.
University of Berkeley? Sorry, but it's the University of California at Berkeley, or UC Berkeley, or Cal. It's my alma mater so it matters to me, but it should matter to TreeHugger especially since it's the birthplace of the organic food movement, a hotspot of green/sustainable activity, and very well may have been the place where people started hugging trees to make a statement.
LA: UC Berkeley, Like I said in the post, I am in the East.
A longtime follower of what has become "the organic food movement," I enjoyed the comments on this story immensely.
Glad to see these 2 gentlemen took the high road, rather than chew each other's heads off:)