{"id":238,"date":"2021-05-12T16:47:51","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T16:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/?p=238"},"modified":"2021-06-07T04:58:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T04:58:31","slug":"climate-series-food-ag-events-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/climate-series-food-ag-events-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Series\/Food & Ag Events and Other Resources: Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amalia Leguizam\u00f3n: “Environmental Injustice and Genetically Modified Soybeans in Argentina” <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Prita Lal and Amalia Leguizam\u00f3n, May 12, 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Amalia Leguizamon walks us through her research for her book Seeds of Power<\/em>, which examines GM soy crops in Argentina. It was a stark view into the machine of global industrial agriculture, very thorough research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Her reference to state and corporate actors reminded me of a book I read years ago, Confessions of an Economic Hitman<\/em> by John Perkins. The calculated effort over generations to put GM soy in the fields of small communities feels like something similar to red lining, but on a much larger scale. How can or could or should we “liberate” a community that doesn’t understand, or doesn’t want to face, or doesn’t even realize that they are being exploited? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Excerpts from The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance <\/a><\/em>by Robin Wall Kimmerer<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

“To name the world as gift is to feel one\u2019s membership in the web of reciprocity. It makes you happy\u2014and it makes you accountable. Conceiving of something as a gift changes your relationship to it in a profound way, even though the physical makeup of the \u201cthing\u201d has not changed. A wooly knit hat that you purchase at the store will keep you warm regardless of its origin, but if it was hand knit by your favorite auntie, then you are in relationship to that \u201cthing\u201d in a very different way: you are responsible for it, and your gratitude has motive force in the world. You\u2019re likely to take much better care of the gift hat than the commodity hat, because it is knit of relationships. This is the power of gift thinking. I imagine if we acknowledged that everything we consume is the gift of Mother Earth, we would take better care of what we are given. Mistreating a gift has emotional and ethical gravity as well as ecological resonance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we think ripples out to how we behave. If we view these berries, or that coal or forest, as an object, as property, it can be exploited as a commodity in a market economy. We know the consequences of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why then have we permitted the dominance of economic systems that commoditize everything? That create scarcity instead of abundance, that promote accumulation rather than sharing? We\u2019ve surrendered our values to an economic system that actively harms what we love. I\u2019m wondering how we fix that. And I\u2019m not alone<\/strong><\/span>.”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStore my meat? I store my meat in the belly of my brother,\u201d replied the hunter. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In summer, when the boughs are laden, Serviceberry produces an abundance of sugar. Does it hoard that energy for itself? No, it invites the birds to a feast. Come my relatives, fill your bellies, say the Serviceberries. Are they not storing their meat in the bellies of their brothers and sisters\u2014the Jays, the Thrashers, and the Robins?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t this an economy? A system of distribution of goods and services that meets the needs of the community? The currency of this economic system is energy, which flows through it, and materials, which cycle among the producers and the consumers. It is a system for redistribution of wealth, an exchange of goods and services. Each member has an abundance of something, which they offer to others. The abundance of berries goes to the birds\u2014for, what use does the tree have of berries other than as a way to make relationships with birds?”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If the abundance had been hoarded, if Juneberries acted solely for their own benefit, the forest would be diminished.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could have really quoted the whole essay because every word was placed appropriately and with such thoughtfulness. I drank them up like cool well water on a warm day, deeply. It seems to me that a gift economy would be the answer to redistribute our resources and feed our neighbors. I guess the biggest hurdle is that not everyone wants to keep their brother’s or their neighbor’s belly full. I too have thought of the fruits of shrubs and trees as gifts, it’s hard not too. And yet have felt frustrated when the birds get there first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Diana Wilson: Seeds for Seven Generations<\/a>, An Expansion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cLand was considered a gift from the Creator. Therefore, it could not be sold. It belongs only temporarily\u00a0to the generation that was using it who were essentially\u00a0stewards\u00a0of that land for future generations.\u00a0Among\u00a0some of the\u00a0plain’s\u00a0tribes,\u00a0land was\u00a0inherited\u00a0from mother to daughter.\u201d\u00a0 23:25<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I found Diane Wilson’s expansion of her essay, Seeds for Seven Generations, very profound. Her story telling abilities combined with historical knowledge felt like a walk through history. I am even more inspired to pursue the craft of gardening, especially now that I can see it as an act of disobedience against capitalism. I really appreciated her insight into Three Sisters Gardening, seeing as how that’s a part of what I am working on now. It is a little warmer here than where she is, but it was still valuable to hear her thoughts on planting beans and corn separately, which was something that came up in research as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Rob Smith: Climate Change Modeling With Lichen Communities <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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This lecture was so totally fascinating! Lichen are some of the oldest organisms in the world, and are made up of an amazing relationship between fungi and algae. It makes so much sense that we could use them to measure air quality and gauge temperature change. Dr. Smith had many great graphs that I thought really helped make the data he was presenting tangible. I am hopeful for a future where we can be more in tune with the natural world, be aware of multiple biological indicators, and use the tools that nature grows to restore our biosphere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vivien Sansour<\/a>: Palestine Heirloom Seed Library and The Traveling Kitchen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Photo credit: https:\/\/viviensansour.com<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Photo credit: https:\/\/viviensansour.com\/Traveling-Kitchen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Vivien Sansour is a writer and activist who founded the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library. After witnessing the decline of her native foods, Vivien started the seed library, and later the Traveling Kitchen, to keep the culinary traditions of Palestinian foods alive. You can now buy Palestinian varieties of okra, chard, spinach, wheat, mallow, a squash called Yakteen and more, available at Disarming Design<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Heirloom seeds also tell us stories, connect us to our ancestral roots, remind us of meals our families once made at special times of the year. The Palestine Heirloom Seed Library (PHSL) is an attempt to recover these ancient seeds and their stories and put them back into people\u2019s hands. The PHSL is an interactive art and agriculture project that aims to provide a conversation for people to exchange seeds and knowledge, and to tell the stories of food and agriculture that may have been buried away and waiting to sprout like a seed. It is also a place where visitors may feel inspired by the seed as a subversive rebel, of and for the people, traveling across borders and checkpoints to defy the violence of the landscape while reclaiming life and presence.”

-Excerpt from https:\/\/viviensansour.com\/Palestine-Heirloom<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found this work to be incredibly important because so much of the “Western diet” has commodified the same 30 or less single varieties of crops on such a vast scale that many varieties and species of edible foods are going extinct. We will need heirloom varieties if we want any chance to adapt to climate change. Often it is small home gardeners who are the stewards and seed keepers, and who are responsible for heirloom varieties still existing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Point of Origin: One on One with Reem Assil<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This was one of my favorite episodes of the podcast. It gave the listener significant insight into the food service industry and an example of how to cultivate a better work and community environment. I think the model of employment and employers should be implemented at every restaurant ever, because too often do you hear someone in the industry telling the absolute worst stories about working in kitchens. I appreciated Reem Assil’s total honesty when it came to leadership and business and the pressure she feels to keep up the momentum for a better future for restaurants. Her openness about the struggles of Palestinian identity erasure certainly put into perspective a harsh reality that is for many Palestinian people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States By: Seth M. Holmes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

“Although the farm management – including Shelley, who supervises the white picking and checking crew – sees the employment of white teenage checkers as developing positive values toward agriculture and diversity in the valley, checkers learn also that they deserve to have power over Mexicans, even those old enough to be their parents or grandparents. The teenagers are paid minimum wage while being allowed to talk and sit most of the time; the pickers have to kneel constantly and work as fast as possible in order to keep their jobs. The white checkers are given power over how many pounds are marked for the pickers, and I observed more often that not that checkers marked less weight on the cards that the scale displayed. Numerous times over the course of my fieldwork I observed supervisors telling checkers that the laborers should not pick more than thirty pounds of berries per bucket. In addition, they indicated that the pickers would try to “get away with” putting more berries per bucket because they were “lazy”. Of course, There was no way for me to estimate precisely how much the berries in my bucket would weigh. And I experienced picking strawberries as anything but lazy. The checkers are also allowed to treat the pickers as people who do not deserve equal respect. This serves to further develop the lenses through which symbol violence, the naturalization of inequality, is effected. In additional, Laura pointed out that the farm’s management sometimes work directly to keep labor positions and ethnicities segregated.”
-Chapter 3, p.70<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This book was hard to read. There are so many layers to peel back here, in this specific passage. I wonder if white teenagers were assigned as “checkers” on plantations, if plantation owners put their family members in positions of powers on the farm. Surely, those teenagers would grow to be grown people who then have these set of opinions about other people with different skin. Who would go on to raise and teach their teenagers an inflamed sense of superiority, and this cycle could have lasted until the industrialization of agriculture, where it is still happening now. I have a younger sister who is very impressionable, granted I don’t think now, at this time, she could learn this bad behavior, but what if this was 20 years earlier, or just 10 years earlier. Aren’t we all just a product of our environment, good or bad? What would my role have been and would I have continued the cycle? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amalia Leguizam\u00f3n: “Environmental Injustice and Genetically Modified Soybeans in Argentina”  Amalia Leguizamon walks us through her research for her book Seeds of Power, which examines GM soy crops in Argentina. It was a stark view into the machine of global industrial agriculture, very thorough research. Her reference to state and corporate actors reminded me of a … Continue reading Climate Series\/Food & Ag Events and Other Resources: Reflections<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":460,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"geo":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/460"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":498,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions\/498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-ashley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}