Roots

So this may be a somewhat unknown fact to those of you that know me (Not that anyone really reads this currently, but in the future...), I really like documentaries. Now that we can stream our Netflix straight to our TV, I've been checking out them out more often. Yesterday and the day before, I watched "No Impact Man" and "The Killer at Large." The first one some of you may have heard of because it was on national news for awhile there. Basically, this New York City family tries to make no negative net impact on the environment for a year. This involved not buying any new clothing, cloth diapers, homemade, environmentally safe shampoo, laundry detergent, and house hold cleaning products, only buying locally grown and organic food, no paper products which reduced their tash to basically nothing, no transportation such as cars, subways, and elevators, no electricity etc etc. It was amazing! I think it was a bit extreme and I don't think I would be a strong enough person to do that, but I really admire them for getting out there and trying to life a different kind of life. The documentary talked about how much polutants are surrounding us every day and how humans were not meant to live in this type of environment, eating the things they are with all the chemicals involved. I would have to agree. Now this is something else you may not know about me: I have the strong desire to have my own garden some day. I'm not really a country girl, but I idea of nuturing and growing something that will ultimately, nuture and grow myself and my family seems incredible. I would love to go to a Farmers Market every weekend and get my weeks supply of fresh produce, knowing that it was grown so close to home. Watching the second documentary also enforced my desire to eat better in life. "Killer at Large" is focused on the obesity issue in America, which is astronomical. It not only made me think about my decisions concerning my own health, but my future children as well. I don't want them to be addicted to McDonald's and develop hypertension by the time they're in junior high. I want them to enjoy eating healthy food and playing outside. I think that in the future, as a mother it would not be rediculous of me to restrict my child's TV/video game activitie to next to nothing. I strongly feel that Advertising has a HUGE impact on the way children perceive life and affects what they feel they need or want. I know that it is the parents job to chose wise options for their children, but when we're bombarded with 10,000+ advertisements A DAY, how can that not have a impact on person's point of view? It's Pavlov all over again. It's conditioning us and our children to have an emotional connection to food and products that destroy our health and lead to disease. It's just not worth it.