Media Constructions

Of Sustainability:

Food, Water & Agriculture

PowerPoint Slide Show, Lesson 1

Lesson Questions: 6-19

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 6

Between 1994 and 2011 the number of farmers markets in the US...

• Remained about the same

• Doubled

• Tripled

L1, Slide 3

Source: US Dept of Agriculture press release, April 18, 2011 “Since 1994, USDA has counted the number of operational U.S. farmers markets. During that time the number of farmers markets listed in the USDA National Farmers Market Directory has skyrocketed from 1,755 to 6,132.”

In 1997, retail sales of organic food in the U.S amounted to $3.6 billion.

In 2008, retail sales of organic foods amounted to...

L1, Slide 4

• $5 billion

• $10 billion

• $20 billion

Between 1994 and 2011 the number of farmers markets in the US…tripled.

In 2008, retail sales of organic foods amounted to…$20 billion.

L1, Slide 5

How do these two fill-in-the-blanks point toward a bias on the part of the writer of the question?

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 7

L1: Slide 7

Do you think these statistics are accurate? Why or why not? How could you find out?

75%

30%

Less than 2%

What percent of the U.S. workforce was engaged in farming in 1914?

What percent of the U.S. workforce was engaged in farming in 2011?

What percent of the U.S. workforce was engaged in farming in 1776?

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 8

Quotes

1. “Nature will decide what is sustainable; it always has and always will.”

- Eric Zencey

2. “Innovators and entrepreneurs around the world are finding ways to use natural physics and bio-chemistry to cascade matter and energy in fully harmonious and renewable flows.”

- Gunter Pauli

3. “It takes no great stretch of the imagination to picture, within the next five to ten years, a "U.S. Solidarity Economy Summit" convening many of the thousands of democratic, grassroots economic projects in the United States to generate a stronger shared identity, build relationships, and lay the groundwork for a U.S. Solidarity Economy Alliance.”

- Ethan Miller

L1, Slide 9Read these quotes from magazine articles on economics and sustainability. Match each quote to the magazine it appeared in.

Magazine Mission Statements

A. Ode Magazine: our readers are “cultural creatives” and early adopters whose purchasing decisions are guided as much by ethical and environmental concerns as by economic considerations.

B. Orion Magazine: our mission is to inform, inspire, and engage individuals and grassroots organizations in becoming a significant cultural force for healing nature and community.

C. Dollars & Sense Magazine: publishes economic news and analysis, reports on economic justice activism, primers on economic topics, and critiques of the mainstream media's coverage of the economy.

Answers

1. “Nature will decide what is sustainable; it always has and always will.” - Eric Zencey

Orion Magazine: our mission is to inform, inspire, and engage individuals and grassroots organizations in becoming a significant cultural force for healing nature and community.

2. “Innovators and entrepreneurs around the world are finding ways to use natural physics and bio-chemistry to cascade matter and energy in fully harmonious and renewable flows.” - Gunter Paul

Ode Magazine: our readers are “cultural creatives” and early adopters whose purchasing decisions are guided as much by ethical and environmental concerns as by economic considerations.

3. “It takes no great stretch of the imagination to picture, within the next five to ten years, a "U.S. Solidarity Economy Summit" convening many of the thousands of democratic, grassroots economic projects in the United States to generate a stronger shared identity, build relationships, and lay the groundwork for a U.S. Solidarity Economy Alliance.” - Ethan Miller

Dollars & Sense Magazine: publishes economic news and analysis, reports on economic justice activism, primers on economic topics, and critiques of the mainstream media's coverage of the economy.

L1, Slide 10

How do the mission statements and readership of magazines shape the ideas within the articles they print?

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 9

420 million people do not have enough to eat.

True or false?

L1, Slide 12

What are questions one should ask about this or any fact?

It depends…

What is the source and is it credible?

When was this fact stated? Is it current?

How was the fact determined?

“…at least 420 million people do not have enough to eat.”

- the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO)

L1: L9, Slide 13

Is this a credible source? Why or why not?

This statistic is from 1981.

Does the date matter? Why?

“at least 420 million people do not have enough to eat” UNFAO, 1981

What is important to know about how UNFAO determined this fact?

L1, Slide 14

What people were counted?

How did they determine who has and does not have “enough to eat” and how is “enough to eat” defined?

According to Professor Thomas Poleman, there are ''three great unknowns'' in trying to estimate the extent of hunger. These are:• the actual availability of food• the exact amount of food people need for

nourishment • how access to food varies among different income

groups within a country. Because of these uncertainties, predictions of

future global famines, or of the numbers of starvation deaths that will occur by the year 2000, are widely viewed as meaningless. Even the figures on existing hunger and malnutrition vary wildly. (as cited in Crittenden, 1981)

L1, Slide 15

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 10

T.E.K. is an acronym

It has to do with the ancient wisdom of indigenous peoples in relation to the natural world.

What do you think the letters stand for?

L1, Slide 17

Why is it important to hear the voices of traditional land-based people in the 21st century?

Traditional

Ecological

Knowledge

T...

E...

K...

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 11

Access to safe drinking water is a human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold.

True or false?

L1,Slide 19

Access to safe drinking water is a human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold. True

L1, Slide 20

Is this a fact or an opinion? Why?

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly declared “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.”

Does this make the above statement a fact? Why or why not?

How many people gained access to safe drinking water between 1990-2002?

L1, Slide 21

• 500 million• One billion• One and a half billion

Source: UN Fact Sheet on Water and Sanitation, 2005

1.1 billion people gained access to safe drinking water between 1990-2002. The greatest access gains were achieved in South Asia , where water access increased from 71 per cent in 1990 to 84 per cent in 2002. In sub-Saharan Africa , access grew minimally, from 49 percent in 1990 to 58 per cent in 2002.

Is this source credible? Is this fact credible?

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 12

Match these quotes to their sources:

A. The private sector has made significant and lasting contributions to the delivery of reliable, safe water worldwide. By 2007, private water operators were delivering services to around 160 million people in emerging markets. These private-public partnerships have delivered water access to an estimated 24 million people since 1990.

B. Imagine a world where every single drop of water is the private property of a company, maybe a country foreign to your country Imagine a world where, if you collect rainwater or water from the river without paying a foreign company for it, you may be prosecuted by your own government…Sadly, we already live in such a world.

L1, Slide 23

“The World Water Crisis: A Challenge to Social Justice” from the Faith and Society series published by Paulines Publications Africa

or“Water, Water Everywhere” from the journal Handshake of the International Finance Corporation: World Bank Group

“The World Water Crisis: A Challenge to Social Justice” from the Faith and Society series published by Paulines Publications Africa

“Water, Water Everywhere” from the journal Handshake of the International Finance Corporation: World Bank Group

Where does your water come from?

Who controls your water source?

L1, Slide 24

Are these important things to know?

How can you find out if you don’t know?

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 13

Advances made in light-weighting bottled water containers reduce waste, preserve resources and deliver a sustainable product to consumers.

True or false?

L1, Slide 26

Despite these advances, the production, distribution and disposal of plastic water bottles requires the use of significant amounts of energy and materials.

Advances made in light-weighting bottled water containers reduce waste, preserve resources and deliver a more sustainable product to consumers.

True or false?

L1, Slide 27

These advances will lead to a MORE sustainable product than without these advances.

Advances made in light-weighting bottled water containers reduce waste, preserve resources and deliver a more sustainable product to consumers.

L1, Slide 28

Which of these do you think is the probable source of this quote? Why?

• Joseph Doss, president and CEO of the International Bottled Water Association

• Charles Fishman, author of The Big Thirst, a book critical of the bottled water industry

We spend almost as much on crushable plastic bottles of water as we do maintaining the U.S. water system.

True or false?

L1, Slide 29

What questions should you ask about this fact?

What is the source?

How did they calculate these costs?

What are the two costs?

How current is the information?

We spend almost as much on crushable plastic bottles of water as we do maintaining the U.S. water system.

L1, Slide 30

Which of these do you suspect is the source of this quote? Why?

• Joseph Doss, president and CEO of the International Bottled Water Association

• Charles Fishman, author of The Big Thirst, a book critical of the bottled water industry

Would this fact be more credible if it came from Joseph Doss?

We spend almost as much on crushable plastic bottles of water as we do maintaining the U.S. water system.

Charles Fishman, The Big Thirst, 2011

L1, Slide 31

“In the U.S., we spend $21 billion a year buying bottled water, and we spend $29 billion a year maintaining the entire water system: pipes, treatment plants, pumps.” Charles Fishman, The Big Thirst, 2011

Given this clarification, is Fishman’s statement at the top accurate?

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 14

4.4 million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf following the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout on April 11, 2010.

from a study published in the journal Science in October 2010 by Columbia University scientists Timothy Crone and Maya Tolstoy

L1, Slide 33

Does this seem like a credible fact?

Why?

L1, Slide 34

No accurate estimate of the amount of oil spilled can be made without additional study and analysis.from the BP webpage, “Containing the Leak,” accessed in June, 2011

Does this seem like a credible fact?

Why?

4.4 million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf following the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout on April 11, 2010.

from a study published in the journal Science in October 2010 by Columbia University scientists Timothy Crone and Maya Tolstoy

No accurate estimate of the amount of oil spilled can be made without additional study and analysis.from the BP webpage, “Containing the Leak,” accessed in June, 2011

L1, Slide 35

What questions do you need to ask about these statements to determine their credibility?

Which statement do you believe to be more accurate? Why?

What does your answer you about your own biases?

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 15

The amount of corn products eaten by U.S. consumers increased dramatically between 1970 and 1993.

True or false?

L1, Slide 37

USDA report on “Major foods: U.S. per capita consumption” reported consumption of corn sweeteners and other corn products: 1970: 30.2 lbs per person each year

1993: 100.3 lbs per person each year

Are these figures credible? Why?

L1, Slide 38

25% 50% 75% 100%News Analysis: UC's Biotech Benefactors, by Miguel Altieri and Eric Holtz-Gimenez, Berkeley Daily Planet, February 6, 2007.

According to Berkeley professor Miguel Altieri and Food First executive director Eric Holt-Gimene , the percentage of the U.S. corn crop that was genetically modified in 2007 was...

Are these figures credible? Why?

What does this list refer to?

Black Aztec Long Ear Pop Hopi Blue Bear Island Hopi Pink Flour Chippewa Flint Mandan Bride Seneca Red Stalker Hominy Cherokee White Flint

L1, Slide 39

These are examples of dozens of varieties of traditional or heirloom corn grown by Native Americans.

From “Heirloom Seeds: Our Cultural Past” by Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservationist E. John Rogers

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 16

What was the green revolution?

a. A social movement to overturn governments in the Soviet bloc during the late 1990s

b. Agricultural research and technology leading to large crop yields in the mid-20th century

c. 21st century campaign urging investment in environmentally conscious “green companies

L1, Slide 41

Who was Norman Borlaug?

a. A primary critic of green revolution initiatives

b. A Swedish farmer who invented DDT

c. U.S. scientist named as the “father of the

green revolution”

L1, Slide 42

Which of these statements about Norman Borlaug are true?

a. He did more than anyone else in the 20th century to teach the world to feed itself.

b. He planted the seed for future environmental woes.

c. His "green revolution” led to the death of peasants by the

million.

d. He was arguably the greatest American of the 20th century.

L1, Slide 42

They were all asserted in media articles.

Justin Gillis in the New York Times

Leo Hickman in The Guardian

Alexander Cockburn in Counterpunch

Gregg Easterbrook in The Wall Street Journal

How can we distinguish fact from opinion in media articles?

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 17

What are food miles?

a. the distance food travels from where it is grown to where it is ultimately purchased or consumed by the end user.

b. the distance one can run per calorie of food intake.

c. a term used in a McDonald’s advertising campaign comparing the average distance between fast food franchises in the U.S.

L1, Slide 45

In 2003, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University released a study entitled Checking the food odometer: Comparing food miles for local versus conventional produce sales to Iowa institutions.

It stated:

Fresh produce arriving by truck at the Chicago Terminal Market from within the continental United States traveled an average one-way distance of _____ miles in 1998, a 22 percent increase over the miles traveled in 1981.

15 151 1,518 15,180

L1, Slide 46

Where does your food come from?

L1, Slide 47

How can you find out if you don’t know?

Is this important to know?

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 18

What is ethanol?

a. a waste product of natural gas

b. a type of rubbing alcohol

c.a biofuel made from corn used in gasoline.

L1, Slide 49

Raise your hand if you think the following statements about ethanol are true:

L1, Slide 50

1. It is a good alternative to fossil fuels.2. Producing it creates jobs for the unemployed.3. It contributes to the destruction of rainforests.4. It is a good investment opportunity.5. It causes hunger by raising grain prices.6. It is responsible for the huge dead zone in the Gulf.7. It burns cleaner than gasoline.8. It accelerates global warming.9. It enriches lobbyists and agribusiness.

10. It helps to protect our national security

If you were writing a brochure for the Renewable Fuels Association which of these statements would you use and why?

L1, Slide 51

1. It is a good alternative to fossil fuels.2. Producing it creates jobs for the unemployed.3. It contributes to the destruction of rainforests.4. It is a good investment opportunity.5. It causes hunger by raising grain prices.6. It is responsible for the huge dead zone in the Gulf.7. It burns cleaner than gasoline.8. It accelerates global warming.9. It enriches lobbyists and agribusiness.

10. It helps to protect our national security

If you were writing a brochure for the Anti-Ethanol Coalition which of these statements would you use? Why?

1. It is a good alternative to fossil fuels.2.Producing it creates jobs for the unemployed.3. It contributes to the destruction of rainforests4. It’s a good investment opportunity.5. It causes hunger by raising grain prices.6. It is responsible for the huge dead zone in the Gulf.7. It burns cleaner than gasoline.8. It accelerates global warming.9. It enriches lobbyists and agribusiness.10. It helps to protect our national security.

L1, Slide 52

Self-Assessment Questions: Lesson 19

• We will not have a sustainable future unless social justice becomes a primary goal of our society.

• We will not have a sustainable future unless we can reverse climate change.

• We will not have a sustainable future unless we fundamentally transform our economic system.

• We will not have a sustainable future unless we eliminate the use of all fossil fuels.

L1, Slide 54

Which of these statements are facts and which are opinions?

Here are some of the questions and answers posed in this quiz.

• In 2008 retail sales of organic foods amounted to...$20 billion• From 1994 to 2011 the number of US farmers markets... tripled• T.E.K. is an acronym for... Traditional Ecological Knowledge• Safe drinking water is a human right. True• 4.4 million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf following the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout on April 11, 2010.• The percentage of the U.S. corn crop that was genetically modified in 2007 was... 50%

L1, Slide 55

What might the choice of questions say about the perspective or bias of the creator of these lessons?

Reference List

Crittenden, A. (1981, October 5). Food and Hunger Statistics Questioned. New York Times.

Dollars and Sense. (2011). About. Dollars and Sense. Retrieved from http://www.dollarsandsense.org/about4.html

Dimitri, C. & Oberholtzer, L. (2009, September). Marketing US organic foods: Recent trends from farms to consumers. Economic Information Bulletin 58. Retrieved from: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib58/eib58.pdf

International Finance Corporation. (2011, March). Water, water everywhere. In Tapped out: Meeting the challenges of water scarcity and distribution through PPPS. (1), p. 4-5. Retrieved from www.ifc.org/ifcext/psa.nsf/.../Handshake.../Handshake_Issue%231.pdf

Miller, E. (2006). Other Economies are Possible!. Dollars and Sense. July/August, 11-15. Retrieved from http://www.populareconomics.org/ussen/webfm_send/14

Ode Magazine. (2008) Advertise: A Positive Change Experience. Ode Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.odemagazine.com/p/advertise

Orion Magazine. Mission and History. (n.d.). Orion Magazine. Retrieved 8/28/11 from http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/mag/5863/

Pauli, G. (2009). Building the Blue Economy. Ode Magazine. 65, December.

Rastello, E., & Sipalla, H. (2007). The world water crisis: a challenge to social justice. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa.

States Department of Agriculture. (2011, April 18). Release No. 0167.11. Retrieved from: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/

Zencey, E. (2010). Theses on Sustainability: A Primer. Orion. May/June.