Here are a few provocative & paradoxical pieces to chew on:
Questions About Organic Produce and Sustainability
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/31/science/earth/questions-about-organic-produce-and-sustainability.html
Obesity rise prompts Wash. ferry capacity change
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Obesity-rise-prompts-Wash-ferry-capacity-change-2418972.php
The Role of Rising Food Prices in Egypt’s Revolution
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/july-dec11/egyptfood_11-30.html
Farmers Strain to Hire American Workers in Place of Migrant Labor
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/us/farmers-strain-to-hire-american-workers-in-place-of-migrant-labor.html
L.A. schools’ healthful school lunches panned by LAUSD students
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-food-lausd-20111218,0,2593733.story
Harlem Success Academy Prepares for Tests at Queens Farm Museumhttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/education/20farms.html?scp=1&sq=farm%20and%20education&st=cse
“Food… Don’t Waste It”, US Food Administration Poster, 1914-17.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/wwi/41864/100.html
Farms of America in color 1939-1943: Life on the Farm
http://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/photos/farms-of-america-in-color-1939-1943/life-on-the-farm
The Idea of a Local Economy | Wendell Berry | Orion Magazine
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/299
Food and Food Systems
• These WSDA maps outline Washington state by county, indicating what is grown where and the annual value of those industries, and what is processed where:
• This article, the spark for Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food, discusses our dietary habits and what humans are meant to eat, or not:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html
• Stalking the Vegetannual: A Roadmap to Eating with the Seasons, By Barbara Kingsolver:
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/239/
• Feeding Our Kids the Right Food…and Inspiring Them to Eat It, By Pamela Koch:
• Terra Madre:
• Reniewing America’a Food Traditions:
• The San Francisco Collaborative Food System Assessment:
• Growing a Community Food System:
• “Food Rules: Your Dietary Dos and Don’ts”, The New York Times Magazine, October 11, 2009.
This article offers 20 of the 2,500 submissions posted to Tara Parker Pope’s health blog after Michael Pollan’s request for readers’ rules about eating.
• William Saffire, “Locavorism,” The New York Times Magazine, October 9, 2008.
This article discusses the emergence of “local” as the hot to-do phrase among grocery shoppers at farmers’ markets and super stores alike, and its newfound prominence over organic.
• Valerie Easton, “In Uncertain Times, Growing Your Food is Fashionable Again” The Seattle Times, February 2, 2010.
This article discusses the growing trend of growing your own food rather than flowers and hedges, and the transformation of Northwest lawns into vegetable gardens. It also addresses the impacts of this food trend on the formation of greater community connections.
• Claudia Kalb, “Culture of Corpulence: American innovations in food, transportation, and technology are threatening to supersize us all”, Newsweek, March 14, 2010.
This article discusses the vast and complex nuances of America’s obesity problem, from causes to consequences. Kalb calls for a stringent approach to the problem, saying serious steps by the government need to be taken – education, taxation, and incentives – in order to ameliorate this problem.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/03/13/culture-of-corpulence.html
• Warren Olney, “Is Obesity a Problem that’s Too Big to Solve?”, KCRW To the Point, March 18, 2010.
This KCRW radio special talks about America’s growing obesity problem, what steps are being taken to solve it now, and what may be called for in the future.
http://www.kcrw.com/news/programs/tp/tp100318is_obesity_a_problem
• Roni Caryn Rabin, “Proximity to Fast Food a Factor in Student Obesity”, The New York Times, March 25, 2009.
This article discusses the correlation between fast food and obesity, specifically highlighting a study done by the University of California and Columbia University that claims the proximity of fast food to schools is determinant of student obesity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/health/nutrition/26obese.html?_r=1&hp
• Dan Shapley, “FDA Cracks Down on Food Label Lies”, The Daily Green, March 3, 2010.
This article briefly discusses the FDA’s newest action against misleading labeling on processed food items, and gives a list of the specific food products that are said to be breaking the law.
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/reading-food-labels-0303?src=rss
Farming
• “Theme Guide: Food For Everyone”, Yes! Magazine, February 13, 2009.
This publication of YES! Magazine discusses the idea of “how to grow a local food revolution”, offering several articles and how-tos on reconnecting people, food, and culture.
Farm School Programs
• Caitlin Flanagan, “Cultivating Failure: How school gardens are cheating our most vulnerable students”, The Atlantic Magazine, January/February 2010.
In this article Flanagan poses a counter-argument to the local food frenzy in Berkeley, CA, saying that what the school garden program really does is take away from the more traditional and necessary lessons (i.e. math, social studies), and place the children of immigrant families back in the field picking crops, thereby limiting their education and upward mobility.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/01/cultivating-failure/7819/
• Darrin Nordahl, “When Apples no Longer Grow on Trees, Obesity Not the Only Nightmare for America”, The Huffington Post, March 10, 2010.
In this piece Nordahl discusses the newest generation of Americans who have no food knowledge – what it is, where it comes from, how it grows – and the impacts of that on our eating habits. He argues that if we want our kids to be healthy, we need to teach them about food and healthy eating habits, most effectively through hands on experience in schools.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darrin-nordahl/when-apples-no-longer-gro_b_493382.html
Education for Sustainability
• This article discusses the “critical pedagogy of place”, which challenges all educators to reflect on the relationship between the kind of education they pursue and the kind of places we inhabit and leave behind for future generations”:
http://www.pieducators.com/files/Critical-Pedagogy-of-Place.pdf
• Carmela M. Federico, Jaimie P. Cloud, Jack Byrne, and Keith Wheeler, “Kindergarten Through Twelfth-Grade Education for Sustainability”, ELR News & Analysis, 2003.
This article discusses the history of sustainability education in the U.S., new ideas about education for sustainability, an evaluation of current efforts to educate for sustainable development, and recommendations for what should be done.
http://www.sustainabilityed.org/download/pdf/Cloud_K_12Chapter_ELI_2003.pdf
• Slow Food in Schools Project:
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/details/in_schools/