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Hello. My name is Birke Baehr,

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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

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that I'm really amazed at how easily kids are led to believe

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all the marketing and advertising

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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 good for us or the planet.

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Little kids, especially,

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are attracted by colorful packaging

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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 this 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. Yuck.

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Don't get me wrong, I like fish and tomatoes,

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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 produce have been proven

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to cause cancer and other problems in lab animals,

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and people have been eating food produced this way

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since the 1990s.

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And most folks don't even know they exist.

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Did you know rats that ate genetically engineered corn

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had developed signs of liver and kidney toxicity?

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These include kidney inflammation 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,

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corn is in everything.

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And don't even get me started on the Confined Animal Feeding Operations

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called CAFOS.

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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 from 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,

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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,

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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,

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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)

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Thank you.

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

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This man, Joel Salatin, 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,

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I went 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 our neighbors who 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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(Applause)

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Now I know definitely which one I would choose.

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I want you to know that there are farms 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

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where the meat I eat comes from.

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I want you to know that I believe

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kids will eat fresh vegetables and good food

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

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I want you to know that there are farmers' markets

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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,

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my uncle said that he offered my six-year-old cousin cereal.

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He asked him if he wanted organic Toasted O's

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or the sugarcoated 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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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, think local,

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choose organic, know your farmer and know your food.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)