The more I read about sustainable agriculture and the necessity of fixing the current, bloated, inhumane and ecologically unsound system of food production, the more I am met with the image of the "consumer": a sketchy character invented by economics professors, and cast-- whether in the comments sections of New York Times articles or in the body of sustainably-minded blog posts--as the savior of a party that had seemed, prior to the consumer's arrival, on its last legs.

Having nearly exhausted the easy conversation piece offered by the ultra-modern freak show that is our disturbingly deformed food system--"have you read The Omnivore's Dilemma? Isn't it just tragic what's happened to food in this country?"--and arrived at the uncomfortable position of either turning the conversation to solutions or simply leaving the party altogether (and it isn't even midnight yet), the "consumer" and his famous "buying power" arrive-- just in time to revive the party from what had seemed an inevitable turn to unsexy discussions about conservation, scaling down our CAFO-fueled meat eating, making changes in domestic agricultural and global trade policies, instituting better urban planning (perhaps even-- gasp-- the possibility of phasing out suburbs), educating women and girls and ensuring acces to health care (the most effective and least eugenic options for controlling population growth, and thus ensuring food security).

Of course, there's a certain symbolic significance to putting your money where your mouth is. But given that, as a recent study suggests, "green" buying habits become a kind of superficial penance or bargaining chip traded for the privilege of continuing otherwise ecologically destructive behavior with a clean conscience, perhaps we should rethink trying to consume our way out of this problem. Green buying choices are important, but should be an expected norm, not an exception worthy of excessive praise.

The other problem posed by the "consumer" is his compete overshadowing of the "citizen"-- where the consumer reigns, he who wields the dollars wields the power. When consumers take the place of citizens and markets determine politics something has gone seriously wrong.

Perhaps the easiest way to puncture the myth of the all-powerful consumer is to state a simple fact: even if every American began buying only sustainably raised meat and produce, a portion of our population and lands would be healthier, but by and large our rural communities, lands, and farm animals would continue to suffer the abuses of factory farming. Why? Because much of what is grown in the U.S. is destined for global markets. And, until the unfair trade policies and domestic subsidies that encourage ecological abuse change, the realities of rural America will not.

Note: Ok, so I've put in the links. Yes, they're a tad schizophrenic, but you can deal with that, right? Good.