Lesson 05 Guided Contemplative Practice: Feeling Hunger was too spiritual for me and I strongly dislike the word “hunger” was used metaphorically; i.e. Einstein’s quote. Considering the gravity of malnutrition and hunger, I am dismayed we sit thinking about ourselves instead of ways to reduce food waste or increase access to food.
My takeaway from this week’s material is that our planet is in a constant tug of varying systems. Large, complex systems that often seem random and complex viewed from afar, but manage to sustain themselves in relative harmony. For example the industrialized food system has both adopted to and influenced the planet’s water cycle. Each system is a set of… Read more »
Food ecology of the world was a very thought provoking subject that I did not know anything about. Prior to the class, I thought that it would only be about the countries in the third world and how people suffer from hunger and poverty. I had no idea that there are many factors that come into consideration when examining the… Read more »
The two most vital resources that humans need for survival are water and land. Both resources are environmentally, politically, and ecologically significant as they support the food production system for human survival and sustainability. As the world population grows larger, there is a growing concern for providing food, for generating food into biofuels, and people wanting to move up the… Read more »
Regarding the seed and meat industry and our contemplative practice for module 9. I thought a lot about how I feel about the choices I make when I eat and why I chose to make them. Do I even care, or do I choose what to eat because I like it? Thinking about this module and then doing the contemplative… Read more »
My big takeaway from the class is that I will be more conscious about what I am eating. We covered a lot of information in this class. I thought week after week that I would get to a place that made everything feel full circle. I was often frustrated to feel that the world food system isn’t operating in a… Read more »
Seeds are both natural and engineered, just as we are. In fact, in the act of creating modified seeds, “a great deal of effort is required to separate undesirable from desirable traits.” (Wieczorek 2012) Seeds follow the same paths that we do, so I think it is inaccurate and perhaps unwise to elevate and revere processes that are considered “natural”… Read more »
One thing that will really struck me over the quarter was learning about Globalization, specifically in the chocolate industry. Chocolate is such a common product in many people’s day to day life. Learning of how much of a disconnect there was between the farmer harvesting the cocoa crops and the product he was making was shocking. As was learning about… Read more »
When I used to facilitate anti-oppression workshops, I often would talk about the process of recognition and disentanglement from –isms that occurs as one learns about oppression. First, there is unconscious ignorance, which through learning is followed by conscious ignorance. This means that you are aware of what you don’t know and are taking the time to learn. Next, there… Read more »
As we proceed further into the Anthropocene, we are entering the unknown as a planet. Many aspects of our world are behaving less predictably than ever as a result of human impact. Shocks to the complex global food system can come in many forms, from natural disasters to world trade disputes to pest outbreaks. How resilient is our food system,… Read more »