Palm trees offer lazy high-fives
While little girls jump up, twirl, and lunge out of reach
and the cotton candy sky keeps watch.

Earbuds seranade the pace, slip out, are replaced
As workers stare, craning–Where’s the bus?
Each breath, each stride a glimpse into a different sidewalk saga
While the chocolate-tinged waves offer old cans and trash to the shore, so it won’t feel so alone

And then it’s over, what song just played?

Doesn’t matter, I was in the zone.

“Today, we’re mired in two drawn-out wars, we’re in a protracted economic slump, and we’re seeing the fruits of 30 years of deregulation and crony capitalism flourish in the Gulf. Yet our most visible and powerful social movement involves a bunch of “Tea Party” reactionaries attacking “big government.”

Philpott speculated whether progressives should take up the political fight for change to the American food system. He argued that food is such a huge part of society and culture, and noted (as did Pollan) that as healthcare becomes more and more exigent, our society’s interest in fighting the source of diet-related diseases—a highly industrial and unhealthy food chain—should push the food movement to the front of the political agenda.

Then, fellow Grister Tom Laskaway posted an article about how Whole Foods’ shoppers are thinner than those who buy from Albertsons, in which he outlines how low-income consumers generally buy foods with falling prices, such as highly processed foods, thus avoiding the price inflation experienced by high-income consumers. Once the negative personal externalities of these cheap foods are factored in, low-income consumers end up the losers. Conclusion: The system is unsustainable.

A few trends emerge: low-income, or even frugal consumers, are incentivized to buy highly processed and unhealthy foods. It’s cheaper to buy produce from Wal-Mart than to buy local, organic produce. What remains unclear is if they really care. As Pollan notes in his essay

“Stung by charges of elitism, activists for sustainable farming are starting to take seriously the problem of hunger and poverty. They’re promoting schemes and policies to make fresh local food more accessible to the poor, through programs that give vouchers redeemable at farmers’ markets to participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and food stamp recipients. Yet a few underlying tensions remain: the “hunger lobby” has traditionally supported farm subsidies in exchange for the farm lobby’s support of nutrition programs, a marriage of convenience dating to the 1960s that vastly complicates reform of the farm bill—a top priority for the food movement.”

For the food movement gain any momentum, those who are on the receiving end of ag subsidy effects must get on board. According to the USDA’s Food Environment Atlas areas with higher levels of adult obesity correlated to high poverty rates. Old news, but the interactive tool also shows that areas with high poverty levels also drink more soda and eat more meat, and have less access to local markets and grocery stores. These areas also had higher fast food expenditures per capita.

My hometown of Derby, Kansas is smack in the middle of agribusiness, and is pretty traditionally Midwestern. While visiting last month, I drove my family crazy by turning down home-grilled rib-eye steaks and naming the industrial corn products in our pantry items. But, as always when going home I noticed the differences in diets of my family and friends from the average diet of my current town of Monterey County, and the difference in figures (visiting friends always note the high quantity of overweight people they see in Kansas).

What I didn’t notice was anyone really wanting to change that.

Danziger spoke with me about his days at Jet Propulsion Lab, describing the moment in which a scientist co-worker devised a way to launch the Galileo to Jupiter using planetary orbits—while finger-deep in Danziger’s oatmeal raisin oatmeal demonstrating his consternation at not having proper fuel technology to reach the planet outright.

“It was totally random. I had only been working there a couple of weeks and wanted to get some breakfast and they these had big tables where everybody ate. I’m just sitting next to him, we were talking about what we did, and genius just struck him at that moment.”

Ensconced between absurd anecdotes about tart-toting energy big shots, cyanide czars, and Supertramp performances, is a testament that documents the foment of renewable energy and clean technology on a large scale. Danziger’s company, SunLaw, developed solar energy , waste-to-energy, smart-grid and other applications, as well as two of the first co-generation power plants. SunLaw was also a member of the LM Fraternity, a group of policy makers, innovators and businessmen who Danziger says first sparked movement towards renewable energy in the country. Danziger writes

“Perhaps the most significant part of the LM Fraternity story is that it is one example of an idea going from concept to massive worldwide implementation. Any new energy or environmental technology that is going to make a difference will have to do something on this scale or larger.”

Danziger explains how more than 20 years later the dialogue about energy and the environment has gone global, metamorphosing the conversation from his early days attending solar conferences. ”I heard of a woman in India who makes $30 a month and spends $10 a month on electricity for light so that her daughter can study for school and make a better life for herself. She is willing to provide a third of her income so her daughter has a chance at a better life. As an inventor of alternative energy I need to find something that works for them, and I also need to provide something where a country that is developing can use its native resources. If we can design something that meets those goals then we have something universal.”

Danziger's new book is available at www.energylaughs.com

Danziger says his book speaks to his most memorable lesson from an arguably charmed existence in a not-so-charmed industry.”I did a lecture series last year and, the general subject of which was the emerging framework for renewable energy. In this series I really wanted to hear what people had to say and I wanted to hear it form as broad a group as possible. When I was done with it I assembled my notes, and when I wrote it up it was getting more and more depressing. I started looking at some of the notes I made during the funny parts, and just for the heck of it I started writing those up and showing them to acquaintances across a broad range of the political world—and I found that everybody laughed. Then I really looked back and went back to people I’ve met along the way and started trying to figure out why we had the differences we had and what we really had in common.”

The key, Danziger says, is threefold: “Everybody likes a laugh. Everybody likes music, and everyone agreed that a worthy goal is energy independence and a clean environment coupled with prosperity.”

Danziger proceeded to vet his book through a gamut of political diversity. “I really wanted to know what the most curmudgeonly right-wing person and most aggressively left-wing person thought, and what I found is that we all really agreed on where we wanted it to go.”

Aside from promoting his book, Danziger is currently on the advisory committee for JPL, and is working on some smart-grid developments for California, among other policy and energy work. A fascinating musician, Danziger is currently working with a Tasmanian rock band for a rock and roll project.

Danziger discusses his hilarious new animated nonfiction at this month’s Meet the Author Series at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas this Friday, June 4. The free reception at 6:30pm (6pm for Steinbeck Center members) is followed by a book signing. [MC]

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