Honorable Forum and Francesca:
Please define, in scientific terms, sustainability.
Thanks,
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 2:15 AM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Case studies: food & energy sustainability
The Story of Stuff Project has put together and made avai
Dear Shelly,
The Story of Stuff Project has put together and made available for download
some teaching material on sustainability that might give you some nice ideas
(I think it's for high school but likely it can be adapted to higher
education):
http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/BuyUseToss/tabid/469/Default.aspx
The movies series:
http://storyofstuff..org/about.php
Also the "No impact" project as put togheter some downoadable material for
educators including lessons on food and energy:
http://noimpactproject.org/educators-middle-high-school-environment-curriculum-html/
For success stories aroud the world (including the desert) I strongly
suggest to look through the list of permaculture initiatives:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_permaculture_projects
Or the tranistion town initiatives:
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/
Surely when talking of energy students should get a good grasp on the peak
oil concept and its consequences and for this the Post Carbon Institute
should be resourceful:
http://www.postcarbon.org/issue/13910-education
As it would be any lesson available on youtube from Richard Heinberg, the
Post Carbon Reader book might provide some good material:
http://www.postcarbon.org/book/161233-the-post-carbon-reader
Other resources specifically on diet and food:
Big organizations reports on impact of diet:
FAO
2006:
http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm
UNEP 2010:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet
Food energy consumption statistics:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug97/livestock.hrs.htmlDocumentaries:
Meat the thruth; Food Inc; Fast Food Nation; The world according to
Monsanto; The future of food interview and others with Vandana Shiva;
Books: The food revolution (John Robbins), Eating animals (Jonathan Safran
Foer);
For fisheries: The "End of the line documentary"; The Good Catch manual:
http://www.seafoodchoices.com/whatwedo/TheGoodCatchManual.pdf.pdf;
And when talking about sustainability and the big picture it would be
essential to consider looking at material on new types of economy:
http://steadystate.org/discover/video-audio-and-presentations/
http://steadystate.org/foreword-enough-is-enough/
http://www.neweconomics.org/about
For bad case studies, after going through the above material, my guess is
that there is no need for field trips, just ask the students to look around
in their classroom or home, look in their fridge, switch on their tv, walk
outside the door or go to a shopping mall!
Kind regards
Francesca
________________________________
From: David Inouye <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2011 2:29 PM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Case studies: food & energy sustainability
Dear Colleagues,This fall I will be teaching an undergraduate general
education science course that will focus on sustainability, especially
concentrating on how our daily choices of food and energy (procurement and
use) affect people and the environment around the world.1) I am looking for
papers (peer-reviewed would be excellent), book chapters, websites,
(possibly movies), etc. - especially those that have a strong scientific
background - that describe either the big picture or case studies. Students
will read these for class discussion. (Are there any examples with positive
results? There was a problem, it was addressed, now things are
good/better).For example,Food:-In Peru, under the Bush administration,
asparagus agriculture was begun and subsidized in order to provide a product
to replace poppies for the drug trade. Unfortunately, asparagus uses much
more water, and the aquifer is quickly being drained = unsustainable, but
important for jobs.-Low
worker protection standards in developing countries (ex. exposure to
pesticides) = cheaper products for US consumers, but pollution & health
issues on the farms.Energy:-Wind power = renewable, but problems for birds
and bats and some bugs-Fracking = short-term incomes & job opportunities,
but massive short- and long-term health and ecological problems2) I am
looking for potential projects that students can do as a group of 4-5
students that will also address these same issues. For example, tracing food
to its source (ex. buy all the products from local supermarket, follow it
back, see how much energy is used, etc). Other ideas? My class is too large
for field trips.If you have any ideas, please email them to me directly (or
through ECOLOG if you prefer).
I will be happy to make a list of the responses and post it to ECOLOG.Thank
you,ShellyShelly Thomas, Ph.D.James Madison UniversityHarrisonburg, VA
Shelly Thomas <[email protected]>
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