Organic food, sustainable living with Birke Baehr

Activists and educators come in all sizes and ages, so it really depends on whether you should pay attention to these numbers of irrelevance. 11-yr-old Birke Baehr knows this and it is testament to the power of social media that the video of the talk he gave in Asheville is currently viralizing. TEDx provided the platform for young Birke and he jumped on the chance to talk about ethical consumption, green living through organic food and his ambitions to be a farmer when he grows up.

In his talk, he covers CAFOs, GM food, Joel Salatin - most things that the average 11-yr-old couldn't care less about; heck! most things an average adult couldn't care less about. Using the internet and documentaries like Food Inc. Birke became knowledgeable about the unhealthy food system in the US and now wants to do something about it. Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in Virginia is his mentor in his quest for a new agricultural system. He also visits local organic farms and has learnt techniques for vermiculture, composting, canning, food preservation.  By helping his Granddaddy in his organic garden he is learning how to grow his own vegetables. He says he likes to volunteer at local organic  farms and visit civil war battlefields and hang out with his grandfather.

He has many thoughts on how to fix the food system and starting with school kids and school lunches. He thinks that schools should partner with local organic farms so kids can get fresh vegetables and good food for their food lunches. He thinks that education is the key towards a healthy future and kids should learn what "they" are doing to our food and looking beyond advertising and marketing. "From what I've seen it's difficult but not impossible. A majority (of kids) think organic is the best and then others think cheese puffs are made from real cheese.", he says.

In his talk he eloquently says that, "you can either pay the farmer or the hospital" - when I asked him about this, he said that GM food increases liver and kidney toxicity, other kidney problems as well cancer. He said, " that seems like a $150,000 hospital dollar bill to me rather than fifty extra dollars on your grocery bill." When I asked him why he thinks the government endorses a unhealthy food system, he replied that, "conglomerations involved with agriculture hire goodlooking men in suits that take our senators and congressmen out to very fancy dinners and practically bribe our politicians."

Finally he tells me that, "sustainability is very important to me" and that, "I have been brought up to ask a lot of questions and look beyond the colorful ads". He adds that his family didn't eat organic or local until a few years ago; it started when he read that there were high mercury levels in HFCS and he immediately stopped drinking sodas. Then he started reading labels and and from there "just really became more and more aware."

When I asked him what he liked to eat he said, "good ole' country cooking like turnip greens, fried okra and green beans - those are just a few and I can't stand fast food, I dislike it. But I have never said that I don't enjoy a good pasture fed local organic beef hamburger with organic french fries!"

So now we have a 11-yr-old telling us that the food system is wrong, what are the so-called adults going to do about it? Especially those lunching with the lobbyists.

Photo: Birke Baehr. Thanks to Birke and his Mum, Tricia for their time.