Daily post 009 of 260

Ambivalence seizes me as I take in the verdant prosperity of the Ohio countryside that stretches from the highway to the horizon. The orderliness and vibrant colors of this landscape seem reassuring, a bit nostalgic. On the other hand, its quaint picturesque appeal masks a disturbing reality of the genetically modified, chemically scaffolded scene.

This land and the millions of acres like it across America feed billions of people. Nevertheless, our exorbitant investment in food stability accentuates the inequities of an overpopulated modernity. Agribusiness prospers at the expense of environmental sustainability. An overabundance of food production grows alongside debilitating poverty for too many of the world’s people. The rich eat well and worry over the attractiveness of their waistlines, while the poor worry over the prospects for their next meal.

But those realities all seem distant from this calm land. For now all is well on the farm, where at least a few hardworking Americans have earned their good lives. ♨