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Thank you.

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Hello. My name is Birke Baehr
and I'm 11 years old.

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I came here today to talk about
what's wrong with our food system.

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First of all, I would like to say
that I'm really amazed

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how easily kids are led to believe 


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all the marketing and advertising
on TV, at public schools,

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and pretty much everywhere else you look.

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It seems to me like corporations

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are always trying to get kids, like me,

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to get their parents to buy stuff


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that really isn't really good
for us or the planet.

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Little kids, especially, are attracted
by colorful packaging and plastic toys.

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I must admit, I used to be one of them.

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I also used to think that all of our food

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came from these happy little farms

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where pigs rolled in mud
and cows grazed on grass all day.

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What I discovered was this is not true.

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I began to look into the stuff


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on the Internet, in books,
and in documentary films

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in my travels with my family.

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I discovered the dark side
of the industrialized food system.

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First, there's genetically engineered
seeds and organisms.

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That is when a seed
is manipulated in a laboratory

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to do something not intended by nature.

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Like taking the DNA of a fish

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and putting it into the DNA of a tomato.

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Yuck! Don't get me wrong,

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I like fish and tomatoes,
but this is just creepy.

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(Laughter)

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The seeds are then planted, then grown.

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The food they produced
has been proven to cause cancer

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and other problems in lab animals.

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And people have been eating food
produced this way since the 1990's.

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Most folks don't even know they exist.

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Did you know that rats
fed genetically engineered corn

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have developed signs of liver
and kidney toxicity?

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These include kidney inflammations,
and lesions and increased kidney weight.

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Yet almost all the corn we eat

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has been altered genetically in some way.

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And let me tell you,
corn is in everything.

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And don't even get me started

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on the confined animal feeding
operations called CAFO's.

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(Laughter)

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Conventional farmers
use chemical fertilizers

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made from fossil fuels

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that they mix with the dirt
to make plants grow.

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They do this because they've stripped
the soil of all nutrients

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from growing the same crop
over and over again.

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Next more harmful chemicals
are sprayed on fruits and vegetables

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like pesticides and herbicides
to kill weeds and bugs.

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When it rains, these chemicals
seep into the ground

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or run off into our waterways
poisoning our water too.

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Then they irradiate our food
trying to make it last longer,

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so it can travel thousands of miles

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from where it's grown to the supermarkets.

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So I ask myself,

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"How can I change?
How can I change these things?"

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This is what I found out.

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I discovered that there's
a movement for a better way.

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Now a while back, I wanted
to be an NFL football player.

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I decided that I'd rather be
an organic farmer instead.

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(Applause) (Cheers)

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Thank you.

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And that way I could have
a greater impact on the world.

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I learned from this guy
named Joel Salatin.

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They call him a lunatic farmer


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because he grows against the system.

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Since I'm home schooled,
I want to go hear him speak one day.

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This man, this lunatic farmer,


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doesn't use any pesticides, herbicides,

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or genetically modified seeds.

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And so for that he's called crazy
by the system.

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I want you to know
that we can all make a difference.

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By making different choices.

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By buying our food
directly from local farmers

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or neighbors we know in real life.

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Some people say organic
or local food is more expensive.

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But is it really?

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With all these things I've been learning
about the food system

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it seems to me that we can
either pay the farmer

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or we can pay the hospital.

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(Cheers) (Applause)

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I know definitely
which one I would choose.

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I want you to know
that there are farmers out there

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like Bill Keener
in Sequatchie Cove Farm in Tennessee

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whose cows do eat grass,

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and whose pigs do roll in the mud
just like I thought.

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Sometimes I go to Bill's farm
and volunteer,

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so I can see up close and personal
where the meat I eat comes from.

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I want you to know that I believe kids
will eat fresh vegetables and good food

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if they knew more about it
and where it really comes from.

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I want you to know that there are farmer's
markets in every community popping up.

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I want you to know that me,
my brother and sister

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actually like eating baked kale chips.

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I try to share this everywhere I go.

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Not too long ago my uncle said

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he offered my six-year old cousin cereal.

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He asked if he wanted organic toasted oats

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or the sugar coated flakes.

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You know the one with the big striped
cartoon character on the front?

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My little cousin told his dad

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that he would rather have
the organic toasted O's cereal,

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because Birke said
he shouldn't eat sparkly cereal.

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(Laugher)


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And that my friends
is how we can make a difference.

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One kid at a time.

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So next time you're at the grocery store,


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think local, choose organic,

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know your farmer and know your food.

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Thank you.

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(Applause) (Cheers)