1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,000
Hello. My name is Birke Baehr,

2
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,000
and I'm 11 years old.

3
00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,000
I came here today to talk about what's wrong with our food system.

4
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:10,000
First of all, I would like to say

5
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,000
that I'm really amazed at how easily kids are led to believe

6
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,000
all the marketing and advertising

7
00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,000
on TV, at public schools

8
00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,000
and pretty much everywhere else you look.

9
00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,000
It seems to me like corporations

10
00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,000
are always trying to get kids, like me,

11
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:25,000
to get their parents to buy stuff

12
00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:27,000
that really isn't good for us or the planet.

13
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,000
Little kids, especially,

14
00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,000
are attracted by colorful packaging

15
00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,000
and plastic toys.

16
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,000
I must admit, I used to be one of them.

17
00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,000
I also used to think that all of our food

18
00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,000
came from these happy, little farms

19
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,000
where pigs rolled in mud and cows grazed on grass all day.

20
00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,000
What I discovered was this is not true.

21
00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,000
I began to look into this stuff

22
00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,000
on the Internet, in books and in documentary films,

23
00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,000
in my travels with my family.

24
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:56,000
I discovered the dark side of the industrialized food system.

25
00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,000
First, there's genetically engineered seeds and organisms.

26
00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,000
That is when a seed is manipulated in a laboratory

27
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,000
to do something not intended by nature --

28
00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,000
like taking the DNA of a fish

29
00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,000
and putting it into the DNA of a tomato. Yuck.

30
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,000
Don't get me wrong, I like fish and tomatoes,

31
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,000
but this is just creepy.

32
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,000
(Laughter)

33
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,000
The seeds are then planted, then grown.

34
00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,000
The food they produce have been proven

35
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,000
to cause cancer and other problems in lab animals,

36
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,000
and people have been eating food produced this way

37
00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:27,000
since the 1990s.

38
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,000
And most folks don't even know they exist.

39
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,000
Did you know rats that ate genetically engineered corn

40
00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,000
had developed signs of liver and kidney toxicity?

41
00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,000
These include kidney inflammation and lesions and increased kidney weight.

42
00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,000
Yet almost all the corn we eat

43
00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,000
has been altered genetically in some way.

44
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,000
And let me tell you,

45
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,000
corn is in everything.

46
00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,000
And don't even get me started on the Confined Animal Feeding Operations

47
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,000
called CAFOS.

48
00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,000
(Laughter)

49
00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,000
Conventional farmers use chemical fertilizers

50
00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,000
made from fossil fuels

51
00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,000
that they mix with the dirt to make plants grow.

52
00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,000
They do this because they've stripped the soil from all nutrients

53
00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,000
from growing the same crop over and over again.

54
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,000
Next, more harmful chemicals are sprayed on fruits and vegetables,

55
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,000
like pesticides and herbicides,

56
00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:11,000
to kill weeds and bugs.

57
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,000
When it rains, these chemicals seep into the ground,

58
00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,000
or run off into our waterways,

59
00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,000
poisoning our water too.

60
00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,000
Then they irradiate our food, trying to make it last longer,

61
00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,000
so it can travel thousands of miles

62
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,000
from where it's grown to the supermarkets.

63
00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,000
So I ask myself,

64
00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,000
how can I change? How can I change these things?

65
00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,000
This is what I found out.

66
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,000
I discovered that there's a movement for a better way.

67
00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,000
Now a while back,

68
00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:39,000
I wanted to be an NFL football player.

69
00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,000
I decided that I'd rather be an organic farmer instead.

70
00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:51,000
(Applause)

71
00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,000
Thank you.

72
00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,000
And that way I can have a greater impact on the world.

73
00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,000
This man, Joel Salatin, they call him a lunatic farmer

74
00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,000
because he grows against the system.

75
00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:03,000
Since I'm home-schooled,

76
00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,000
I went to go hear him speak one day.

77
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,000
This man, this "lunatic farmer,"

78
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,000
doesn't use any pesticides, herbicides,

79
00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,000
or genetically modified seeds.

80
00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,000
And so for that, he's called crazy by the system.

81
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,000
I want you to know that we can all make a difference

82
00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,000
by making different choices,

83
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:22,000
by buying our food directly from local farmers,

84
00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,000
or our neighbors who we know in real life.

85
00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,000
Some people say organic or local food is more expensive,

86
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,000
but is it really?

87
00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:31,000
With all these things I've been learning about the food system,

88
00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,000
it seems to me that we can either pay the farmer,

89
00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,000
or we can pay the hospital.

90
00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:43,000
(Applause)

91
00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,000
Now I know definitely which one I would choose.

92
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,000
I want you to know that there are farms out there --

93
00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,000
like Bill Keener in Sequatchie Cove Farm in Tennessee --

94
00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,000
whose cows do eat grass

95
00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,000
and whose pigs do roll in the mud, just like I thought.

96
00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,000
Sometimes I go to Bill's farm and volunteer,

97
00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,000
so I can see up close and personal

98
00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,000
where the meat I eat comes from.

99
00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,000
I want you to know that I believe

100
00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,000
kids will eat fresh vegetables and good food

101
00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,000
if they know more about it and where it really comes from.

102
00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,000
I want you to know that there are farmers' markets

103
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:11,000
in every community popping up.

104
00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,000
I want you to know that me, my brother and sister

105
00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,000
actually like eating baked kale chips.

106
00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,000
I try to share this everywhere I go.

107
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,000
Not too long ago,

108
00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,000
my uncle said that he offered my six-year-old cousin cereal.

109
00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,000
He asked him if he wanted organic Toasted O's

110
00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,000
or the sugarcoated flakes --

111
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,000
you know, the one with the big striped cartoon character on the front.

112
00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,000
My little cousin told his dad

113
00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,000
that he would rather have the organic Toasted O's cereal

114
00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,000
because Birke said he shouldn't eat sparkly cereal.

115
00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,000
And that, my friends, is how we can make a difference

116
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,000
one kid at a time.

117
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,000
So next time you're at the grocery store, think local,

118
00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,000
choose organic, know your farmer and know your food.

119
00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,000
Thank you.

120
00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,000
(Applause)