Comfortably Unaware by Dr. Richard Oppenlander Page A

being just that—comfortably unaware—about this truth and how we can make a change for the better.
    The intent of
Comfortably Unaware
is to provide an unbiased informational base upon which readers can, at the very least, be afforded the opportunity to increase their awareness of food choice as it affects their lives and the life of our planet, each and every day. I wrote
Comfortably Unaware
to dispel widely held myths and offer a clearer and more truthful perspective about this suppressed subject. From this informational base, there is hope that proper decisions will be made to make a positive impact on the health of our world.
    Food and the nutrients it contains are essential to our very existence. Food has been the nucleus around which social and cultural experiences occur. Food has been the reason for the success or failure of past civilizations, as well as for us as individuals today. Over the previous century, the food we’ve consumed in developed countries—and particularly in the United States—has become more industrialized and more commercialized. As such, the origins of our food have become less understood and less important,with little or no appreciation of the resources required to produce it. The current state of our food industry is forged by business and often political agendas, whereby the only measurement of success has been with economic standards. Unfortunately, this myopic and selfish view has created a food production system that overlooks public and environmental health. So strong has this industrial food system become that the realities of food origins and true cost of damages to our planet’s health have been obscured and suppressed by a complex overlapping of large business interests and political, media, social, and cultural influences.
    You and most other consumers make purchase decisions, including those involving food, based on one or a combination of factors: price, trusted recommendations or by association, convenience, taste familiarity, necessity, etc. Rarely does one choose and buy food items based on where, how, why, or from what that item was derived or its cost to our environment. Certainly, the true origin of what we eat—the path and story of how it arrived on your plate or in your mouth—should be known. This journey and the true cost in used resources and the effect on your health and that of our planet should be understood and taken into consideration with each food choice made. These food choice realities should also be placed back into the equation as a parameter of success or failure of our entire worldwide food production system.
    Comfortably Unaware
reveals facts and provides fresh perspectives by exploring how food choices affect our land, water, air, pollution, biodiversity, true sustainability, and our personal health. I structured
Comfortably Unaware
to resemble more of a symphony than a conventional nonfiction book—that is, the initial chapters serveas a prelude that establishes an appreciation and better understanding for hearing the crescendo—the final chapters that follow.
    I would like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Jane Goodall for authoring “Harvest for Hope,” which provides a global view of our current food choices with themes of sensitivity and hope. Other authors have paved the way and have written about food choices as they relate to our health and various disease states. To them, I am very grateful and acknowledge their commitment and accomplishments. Although there have been many, specifically I would like to thank Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and Dr. Dean Ornish of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute.
    Over the years, I have lectured extensively on this topic to numerous audiences and have written many, many notes and articles. In fact, each chapter of
Comfortably Unaware
and many of the subtopics could have been developed into multiple books. The