Assignment 4

During the course of this class we have talked lots about the disconnect people have from their food. People don’t really think beyond the fact that their food is coming from the supermarket. Where is MY food coming from for that matter when I go to Safeway and pick up some broccoli or some lettuce? Where are the soy beans being grown that make up the tofu that I constantly stock my refrigerator with? It’s a very common problem. People, me included, need to start paying attention to where the things we put into our bodies are coming from. In Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan writes, “When did we get to a point where we need investigative journalists to tell us where our food comes from?” And it’s true, even if I did decide to only buy foods that I knew where they were coming from; it would be trickier than just that. Therefore, food knowledge is a big problem in this day and age. A co-op like People’s is there to help you know more about the food you are putting into your body, and helping to make sure that that food is relatively healthy and cruelty free. When perusing the produce section at peoples, all the items have the location that they are grown listed on the tag. If the farm that grew the food is local, of which there are many; it too is listed on the tag. For our group project, we want to take this knowledge one step further. We plan to research why eating locally grown organics is important in general, whether that be in terms of the environment, the economy, or health. The knowledge gained will be used to take intelligent, insightful questions to a local farmer and while touring the farm, have a discussion about issues that farmers are facing. We want to learn about the farmer and be able to bring back the knowledge we gained and present it to the People’s customers so that they can receive answers to questions that they may have but lack the time to go straight to the source themselves.

I would expect that there are many reasons why local organics are important with the most important to me personally being health and environment. In an Environmental Sustainability class that I took before, we talked a lot about the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico where the Mississippi River flows into the Gulf. The hypoxic environment there kills everything because of the excessive waste, fertilizer, pesticides, and sediments running into the river from all the farms along its banks.

For our presentation at the end of term, we would like to have a poster for possible use in the store that has a picture of the farmer at his farm with some general information about their personal philosophy. Something simple that will serve as an efficient way to try and bring the farmer into the coop to “meet the people” so to speak.

I personally would like to be involved in all aspects of this project. I would like to visit the farms and help with the design of the ad; I want to be as helpful as possible to my group.

I think this project touches on each of the University studies goals. For example, diversity of human experience: we are learning about a farmer which is a very different lifestyle than the majority of us lead. Ethics: there are many ethical issues surrounding local organic foods versus regular non-organic foods from a regular supermarket, which we have discussed in great lengths during the course of this class. Communication: we are planning on providing the communication between the consumers at People’s and the farmers who are growing their food. And finally, critical thinking: I feel like all the things listed before tie back into critical thinking. Looking at two sides of the food issue and finding which side makes more sense.