You Say Eco-Friendly, I Say Extremist?

The August 2007 edition of Utne Reader carried on its banner the headline: What You Need to Know About Soy. The article, written by Mary Vance (from Terraine magazine) discusses the hidden dangers about America’s favorite health food.

Apparently, the non-native soy plant and soy derived products that we have held in high regard for many years as the poster child for health food are actually BAD FOR US. Now, I like soy products, having grown up with tofu and soy milk mixed into our meat and vegetable diet on a regular basis. However, I was pretty aghast as I read the following information provided in the Utne Reader about some of our favorite soy “health” foods:

Tofu: “Soy milk, curdled and pressed into cubes of varying firmness...A non-fermented product, tofu contains antinutrients, which can block the absorption of essential minerals.”

Soy Milk: “A processed beverage made of ground soybeans mixed with water and boiled, which removes some toxins. Sugar is added to improve flavor. An eight-ounce serving contains up to 35-milligrams of isoflavones, which may change estrogen levels and hormonal function.”

After reading such tidbits of information, it made me rethink my Grande Iced Soy Caramel Macchiato I was thinking of getting tomorrow morning. This may explain some of the crazy mood swings I’ve been having. SOY IS OUT TO KILL ME! I knew it wasn’t just me being irrational!

…but I digress…

A little over a decade ago, the issue of saving the planet and ourselves came to the forefront. We started recycling paper, plastic, and glass. Hybrid cars and alternative fuels are making their way into the market place. Cities try keep nature’s surrounding in mind when planning sprawl. Cheers organic; Jeers to pesticides! Boo synthetic fabric; Hoorah for hemp cloth! Clearly, we are stumbling in the right direction…but is it worth it?

Vance’s article is just another in a line of articles I’ve been reading lately regarding the state of environmental affairs. If soy can kill me, what else out there that’s Green and healthy that’s bad? Thank goodness for Google!

I came across a blog bit regarding the age old argument of cloth diapers versus disposable diapers. Apparently, the more environmentally “safe” cloth ones are just as horrible for the environment as their plastic counterparts. For years I’ve personally wondered what turned such a good idea like PETA into anti-human culture (You seriously think a chicken should have more rights than me?). And Al Gore’s musical crusade to stop global warming known as Live Earth, turned out to be a financial and environmental disaster.

Apparently, environmentalists have to live with a new Inconvenient Truth: They’re killing the planet just as fast as the rest of us unenlightened humans.

The quiet and ugly little shadow setting in above the heads of our Green-Until-I-Die-Processed-Food-Is-Evil friends is basically the one maxim I know is true in human life. As my grandmother used to tell me, “Too much of anything is bad. Anak, even too much water will kill you!” Life as we know it succeeds only when we can find balance. Whether it’s too many emissions or too much soy, EXCESS ALWAYS KILLS.

It is an admirable thing to want to make our lives better environmentally. We only have one Earth, and last time I checked, we weren’t as advanced as the folks on Battlestar Galactica that we can hope aboard space ships and seek out some new digs. So yeah – we should take care of what we have. However, are a few dozen Snickers bars over my lifetime really going to kill me?

No matter how you cut it…being extremely green/healthy is just as bad as being extremely ignorant of the problems we face as the human race on the planet Earth. When it comes to these matters, we really need to do the whole Column A + Column B thing. There’s room for everyone! Telling me that I’m killing the Earth and myself because I’m not using solar panels or washing my clothes by the river bank on a rock or enjoy eating Coco Puffs rather than Grapenuts just smacks of fundamentalism.

…and we all know how much the world loves fundamentalists!