As we celebrate the arrival of the new year, we need to think of ways in which we are addressing the most pressing challenges of our time. The 2010’s were all about cementing the new and more inclusive Washington Consensus as the global policymaking gold standard. Thankfully, Boomers like myself have ushered in unprecedented changes in that realm, but despite our exceedingly progressive achievements, we have yet to address the climate emergency, which is the most urgent issue the world is facing. As astroturfed autist Greta Thunberg reminds us, “The climate is not going to collapse because some party got the most votes. The politics that’s needed to prevent the climate catastrophe—it doesn’t exist today. We need to change the system, as if we were in crisis, as if there were a war going on.” Yes Greta, ‘like a war is going on’, which there most certainly is. We are at war with our unwillingness to do what is necessary to avoid catastrophe. We Boomers knew what had to be done back in the sixties and we’ve been fighting the White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) power structure ever since. It’s time for one final push, that is, if Millennials could be bothered to muster the willpower.
But what exactly is needed you may ask? Well, many things, but paramount of which is an urgent and immediate change in the Millennial diet. According to credentialed media sources that can be viewed here, here, and here, our attitudes towards eating bugs have been informed by centuries of colonialism and Eurocentrism. This legacy of bigotry has culminated in rampant entomophagy phobia. That is, we’ve been conditioned to be so prejudiced against those who eat bugs all over the world, that we are unable to let go of our own sense of superiority to do what is needed. This all makes sense too. For crying out loud, our bigoted ancestors came up with a name for the practice of eating bugs, which, in a manner of speaking, otherizes those who see nothing wrong with eating one of the oldest sources of nutrients in the world. If only we could realize that not only are bugs tasty, but that they are also a sustainable food source with the potential to feed billions, we could see the answer to the climate emergency right in front of our faces. We Boomers may not have stressed eating bugs enough in the past, but that’s no excuse. We have the information now, and Millennials need to do their part.
There are about 2,100 species of bugs around the world that are safe to eat, so it’s surprising that we haven’t commercialized this sustainable food alternative before. It may be that one of the most challenging aspects of bringing the consumption of bugs into the mainstream is that bugs are often vectors for pathogens, which makes the production of bugs as a food source uniquely challenging. There are, nonetheless, many small scale farms producing bugs for consumption all over the world. But it is important to emphasize that using bugs as a food source has the potential to reduce our carbon footprint, which is already massive due to our obsession with methane producing livestock. Likewise, not a lot of water is needed to rear bugs for consumption, which goes a long way in addressing our global water crisis. Finally, we can grow them on our fecal matter in small spaces. Think about it, instead of using huge swaths of land for cattle grazing, we can grow bugs in areas the size of affordable micro apartments. That might even be an awesome side hustle for excuse-filled youngsters looking for ways to boost their income.
Millennials are always complaining that Boomers haven’t done enough to usher in progress. I beg to differ, but if Millennials really want to put their non-existent money where their mouth is, then they’d be leading the charge to eradicate entomophagy phobia. I mean, their generation is all about microbreweries and boutique coffee shops, so I’m amazed they haven’t taken the initiative and started chains of boutique cricket nurseries or something. Maybe they could even serve some of these bugs with a side of avocado. That’ll really get Millennial customers through the door. It’s time to make sacrifices and adjustments, and Millennials need a reality check. All those billions of Africans aren’t going to feed themselves, and what’s more, if Millennials saved money by eating an actually sustainable food source, they’d be able to more comfortably pay their fair share into the system. They could even afford a home eventually, although truth be told, they haven’t worked hard enough for that. Let’s have the courage to do what is right. It’s time for Millennials to eat bugs.
In their natural state, Blacks would still be turning over logs for worms and other edible crawlies
Curse the White Devil for introducing fried chicken and chitlins
You make a good point. Africans, having not adopted some of the vices of white Europeans for a long time, were historically more in touch with nature. As a result, they lived a more sustainable and environmentally friendly life. Unfortunately, due to colonialism, they have been alienated from their original state. Thank you for this opportunity to have a dialogue and reflect on how we could all be more in touch with our ancestral ways. But, I’m surprised how progressive your thought process for this comment was. You may become a progressive still, Anon.
would you repeat that, strapped to a polygraph?
Yes. We progressives always say what we mean. We are never duplicitous.
Besides fried chicken and chitlins, the White Devil has introduced then to baked goods like chocolate chip cookies and the horrors of the jelly donut.
When will it ever end?
Agreed. I think that it would have been better to share tofu, herbed quinoa and cockroach milk.
A a Christian I have no problem giving Africans all of my cockroach milk.
The other 2 can be used as fertilizer for tomatoes.
After giving this some thought I figured out that my idea of putting rotting meat diacarded from Walmart when it is ten days past best use is to raise chickens to eat the gigantic production of flies and maggots in the formerly abandoned storefronts.
When the maggots really get going then release chicks into the store so that they grow rapidly from their gluttony for the flies. You could sell them as free range chickens when they get to be edible size to the Millenial restaurant located next door.
I hate to be so obvious, but when my ideas are implemented there will be no use for even electric vehicles to get the food to the restaurant. Getting the millenials to the restaurant will take some thought but there are many discarded scooter rentals littering some cities.
Your thought provoking article has provoked me so I will pass on an idea.
What if millenials collected large amounts of meat that is to be landfilled and instead brought it to the tens of thousands of abandoned storefronts all over our lands? Now that AGW has heated up the planet it is far more compatible for insect farming on commercial scale.
I happened upon this notion years before millenials were born when I observed the darkened glass of the former meat market. There were fat bottle flies completely covering the windows so close to each other that it looked like a contemporary photo of grounded 737Max aircraft. The maggot production must have been enormous and all of the secondary protein from discarded meat went to waste.
Proper insect husbandry would have been a way to harvest the maggots and flies that could have fed many in the inner city area around the building.
With even a small amount of effort this could become a powerful surge for our economy.
Yeah, this proves that Africans were ahead of the curve. We’re only discovering that we need to eat bugs NOW, hundreds of years later!
Yes, it’s funny how that works. We thought we knew better before, but thanks to my generation’s push for more self reflection, we are now in a place where we can acknowledge that cultures in many ways superior to European culture hold the answers to our most pressing issues.
Why waste the enormous production of Mayflies along the Mississippi? Why waste nature’s bounty of Blackflies in Canada?
I even have some ideas on harvesting mosquitoes but have not yet figured out the EROI on that scheme.
I assume you welcome illegal immigrant bugs into your house. Do they bring Mexican fecal matter, or is that already inside?
I find that sort of hurtful language deeply problematic. Why can’t we engage in a thoughtful and productive dialogue about how diversity has enriched our lives in uncountable ways instead?
Yes, and by thoughtful and productive, we mean a discussion in which the benefits of diversity are accepted a-priori by all participants, and only the nature of the diversity we need and strategies to bring it about are discussed.
Yes. It is a well established fact that diversity is a strength. Harvard Business Review has some really insightful material on the topic. As a Boomer, I love to read professional periodicals from credentialed institutions.
Upon reflecting, you are correct. I should work on controlling my anger about bug-brained people. You know, like government bureaucrats. I’d just read about how much money they lose selling weed.
Are those dopes smokin’ that sh*t??? Don’t they waste enough damn money as it is????
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-cannabis-loss-1.5282994
Well I’m glad that our dialogue has given you valuable insights in how you can pursue your own personal growth journey. I must disagree with your characterization of government bureaucrats, however. They are heroes who selflessly preserve continuity and stability in our democracy.
I decline to be enriched with either cannibalism or jihad!
I want to enrich the people who practice those acts with impalement.
Yes. What’s great about that idea is that bug eating credits would have a stimulative economic effect, in addition to curbing carbon emissions.
At the moment I normally just sprinkle bug powder on my cheerios or put a scoop or two in my green smoothie, but I’m working my way up to eating actual bugs. This is definitely the future. and we are all going to have to make sacrifices if we want to avert climate change and ensure that the climate never changes by more than a fraction of a degree, which has been the norm for the past million years or so. If the climate changes even slightly, then that alone is sold proof that WE alone are affecting the climate, and it doesn’t take a genius to work out there are ONLY going to be negative consequences to these changes, and no positive ones.
That’s right. I just wish that more people realized that instead of being part of the problem, we all need to be part of the solution. And by we, I mean Millennials and Zoomers.
Beware of eating brightly colored bugs as they tend to be poisonous
of course if you want to enrich your diet with them I will take bets on how long you will be rolling around in pain and whether a White Devil tax funded ambulance makes it in time.
Remember that Pain is also enrichment!
That notion will take capital that must come from hedge funds such as Cerberus. My idea is to eat the larvae that naturally grow in my past best date use oatmeal.
I’d love to collect bug points on my starbucks card in addition to soy latte points. I just feel great when I complete a card and get a free coffee – I feel like I’ve got a gold star and done something important with my life.
Democrats make an excellent insecticide. Send email to my office. My staff will FedEx you 50 lbs of very angry fire ants.
This is great idea. We need to start reaching out to younger crowd in schools and universities how beneficial this is for planet and our future. K-12 schools should ditch the meat and candy snickers and start serving healthy nutritious cockroach diet. It will improve test scores as well.
Good point. Cockroach milk is proven to be a super food. That would for sure boost test scores.