I am so grateful for the opportunity to have taken this course. Some the information I had some previous knowledge of, such as some of the politics behind the world trade and how corn, soy and wheat dominated our grocery stores, but much of the information was new. I was challenged in my thinking in some modules, but in other… Read more »
When I think of how much water I consume, and where it comes from I think of Spain. Here in the Netherlands, most of the fresh produce is labeled with the country of origin. I eat a variety of fruits and vegetables and I see Spain on a lot of my fresh produce purchases. In that sense, I consume Spain’s… Read more »
Week nine’s information about meat and seeds caused me to reflect upon my own beliefs, practices, and ideas. I became very interested in food and its effect on my health in December 2016, when my sister-in-law’s father-in-law was diagnosed with stage III cancer. Before that, both of my grandfathers had been diagnosed with cancer and one had passed away while… Read more »
I enjoyed reading Karen Litfin’s work in “Thinking Like a Planet.” It goes along with some of the questions I have been asking about using Earth Systems to inform human systems, making them circular rather than linear. It was nice to see ideas and examples of how it is being done, such as virtuous cycles rather than vicious cycles. I… Read more »
I chose a family in the developed world with a relatively low budget, $159.18 per week, and a developing world family with a relatively high budget, $75.70 per week, at least compared with other countries in their “developed” and “developing” groupings. In the US family I see an overwhelming amount of processed foods—frozen pizzas, corndogs and quick fix meals like… Read more »
During Week 3, when the Contemplative Practice on chocolate was done, I had a rough time. First, I was recovering from a bad cold and second, my grandfather had passed away the day before I did my contemplative practice, so my mood was anything buy joyful. One thing that I did notice when I did the practice though, is how… Read more »
The Real Cost of Cheap Food has got me thinking about the hidden costs of “cheap food.” What may seem cheap in terms of the grocery bill total is truly quite the opposite. Thinking about this issue in terms of systems theory brings a sense of organization to such complex ideas. On a local scale, “cheap food” effects the healthcare… Read more »
The industrialization of food has brought along with it billions of dollars of food marketing to get the shopper to spend that extra few dollar on the newest product. Pollan mentions that the food marketing industry has an annual budget of about thirty-two billion dollars (4). Along with the marketing being shown on television commercials, on billboards, there are more… Read more »