Bringing Fresh Produce to Urban Locations

Hey everyone, I saw a video on Facebook and thought some of you might find it interesting!

A man named Irving Fain started a business in New Jersey called Bowery Farming and the organization grows clean produce in warehouses right outside cities. You can learn more about it here. 

Transitioning to Local Food on a Budget

Looking further into buying local and eating in season, I found a blog from the Kalamazoo Farmer’s Market website. Alyssa Pumford gives great advice on how to shop local and essentially eat healthy on a budget. I know personally, eating healthy and sometimes local can be difficult because of the price of products. As a poor college student, buying a snack like Cheetos for $1.50 seems to make a lot more sense for my wallet than buying organic sunflower seeds for $7.99. However, Pumford gives great tips for eating clean within a budget.

To start, going in with a grocery list and only buying what you need are two important ways to not blow your budget. Buying things that don’t go bad quickly in bulk can also be helpful. Pumford also says that produce with thicker skins like cantaloupe and bananas take longer to go bad, so those are produce you should be more inclined to buy. Buying foods that are not pre-packaged, pre-cut or pre-washed go hand in hand with cutting down on sugar and processed foods, which Pumford also warns about. Finally, making your own snacks like trail mix instead of buying snacks (like beloved Cheetos) will be healthier for you and you’ll appreciate the snack more.

Pumford’s blog post gave lots of helpful informations about eating clean on a budget and doing effective meal prepping. I would highly recommend it for people interested in starting the movement to buying more local and in-season food!

10 Steps to Becoming a Locavore

As Audrey and I are continuing to research growing local and eating in season, I found “10 Steps to Becoming a Locavore” easy to read and straightforward. The article was from PBS by the author Jennifer Maiser. She is the editor of a website called “Eating Local Challenge” which has some great resources to help people begin to eat local. She also makes eating local sound feasible when she explains “The great thing about eating local is that it's not an all-or-nothing venture. Any small step you take helps the environment, protects your family's health and supports small farmers in your area.” Most of the steps in her list of 10 have links to help people get started on their local food journey, whether it be finding local farms to visit or finding CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) sign-ups near you. From going to your local farmer’s markets to finding restaurants around you that use local food, Maiser’s list of locavore possibilities made eating local sound appealing and easy to start doing.

Thoughts on the Minimalism Mindset

This weekend I watched Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things. I was already planning on going through my clothes to downsize my wardrobe for a weekend project, so I figured watching the documentary along with this would motivate me to get rid of more while also getting educated on reducing material needs.

The Minimalists, Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn

The whole concept behind minimalism, according to Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, is “Is this adding value to my life?” As Americans living in a world consumed by capitalism, we are surrounded by greed and the constant mindset that we need to outdo each other with material possessions. However, the common theme with every person throughout the documentary was finding that money does indeed not buy happiness. From tiny homes and small-scale living to buying less and minimizing clothing collections, people had several ways to see what really held value in their lives.

Carver Demonstrating Project 333

Interestingly enough, as I was going through the 27 t-shirts I can’t seem to get rid of, something called Project 333 was brought up. Essentially, a woman named Courtney Carver decided to reduce her wardrobe to 33 items total and wear them for 3 months. She was worried colleagues and peers would notice she re-wore all her clothes and that they would think less of her. However, she found most people didn’t even notice. Although I didn’t limit my clothing and accessories to 33 items yet, I was still inspired to make an effort toward that point.

The minimalist mindset seems like one of the most attainable first steps in sustainability, and to close, I picked two quotes from the documentary that stuck with me and pushed me to work towards a minimalist lifestyle:

“If I had to revise the American dream, it would be more about coming together and community. It would be more about a society which had much less inequality and more fairness in which everybody had a chance; that is responsible toward the planet and our ecosystem. To me, that would be an American dream.”

“Love people and use things, because the opposite never works.”

Buying Local and How it Effects Communities

MLA Citation:

Mcintyre, Lynn, and Krista Rondeau. "Individual consumer food localism: A review anchored in Canadian farmwomen’s reflections." Journal of Rural Studies 27.2 (2011): 116-24. Web.

This was used in the study showing how gender effects food provisioning

Essentially, Mcintyre and Rondeau’s study was done in Canada on buying local food and how it impacts communities. Growing and buying food locally, whether that be in farmers markets or grocery stores, ends up being a healthier option. People in this study really stressed the importance of and for food self-provisioning (providing and making food for oneself). Three main points to take away from this article included: 1) How location of farmers markets effects buying local, 2) How the cost of buying local or growing one’s own food may not be financially feasible, and 3) How gender roles effect the preparation of food and how it could effect growing one’s own food.

Six Degrees: The Second Degree

I noticed Six Degrees’ chapters are essentially arranged in little horror stories that occur when the global temperature rises one degree. Chapter two touches on the following: China’s Thirsty Cities, Acidic Oceans, The Mercury Rises in Europe, Mediterranean Sunburn, The Coral and the Ice Cap, Last Stand of the Polar Bear, Indian Summer, Peru’s Melting Point, Sun and Snow in California, Feeding the Eight Billion, and Silent Summer.

Save the plankton! 

The case study I found most interesting was the Acidic Oceans section. I had never put much thought into how global warming would effect the life in our oceans, let alone what the animals in the oceans do for us. Lynas cites a biology professor from Denmark who stated “These marine creatures do humanity a great service by absorbing half the carbon dioxide we create. If we wipe them out, that process will stop. We are altering the entire chemistry of the oceans without any idea of the consequences” (p. 78). Phytoplankton is suffering because of climate change, and as a vital part of the ocean ecosystem, this is distressing. If we ruin our oceans, they won’t be there to help us in the future.

I do agree with Shannon and Nick in the sense that Lynas does focus on case studies, but in doing so never really seems to hold humans accountable for their contributions to the Earth’s decaying. I felt less guilty for all of the issues pointed out because they either seemed to be natural biological processes or too far away to relate to. Other than that critique, I found the chapter intriguing.

To close, I’ll highlight the five concepts I found most interesting from this chapter:

1. Large continents like Asia are usually one degree higher than the global average (p. 75), so technically when we suffer from the effects of the global temperature raising two degrees, places like Asia will have it worse than most.
2. We need to protect phytoplankton! They serve many functions in the ocean’s ecosystem, but the acid in the oceans AND the raise in heat are both killing them. (p.78)
3. By 2040, summers like the heatwave in Paris that caused thousands of deaths will be more common. (p.61)
4. “California will no longer be the Golden State once global warming begins to bite.” (p. 110)
5. “We are living through what biologists have termed the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth...” (p.114)

Ishmael Ch. 10-13

I felt these last few chapters of Ishmael did a nice job of bringing all Ishmael’s ideas full circle to the narrator, and the narrator finally became fully receptive. From Ishmael describing us as “cultural amnesiacs” to letting the narrator explore his own thoughts, this last segment did a nice job of wrapping things up.

I found it interesting that when the narrator wanted to learn more about the Leavers, Ishmael wouldn’t accept “why not learn about them?” as an answer.

“Why? That’s what I keep coming back to. Why, why, why? Why should your people know what story they’re enacting as they destroy the world?”

“So they can stop enacting it. So they can see that they’re not just blundering as they do what they do. So they can see that they’re involved in a megalomaniac fantasy— a fantasy as insane as the Thousand Year Reich.” (pg. 213)

I think it’s important to want to actively learn and truly understand other viewpoints other than your own because it can strengthen what you already believe. However, more importantly, it can point out flaws and holes in your own beliefs and ways of thinking, leading you to learn and grow and fix things in your own life. Ishmael forcing the narrator to realize this and think this way was an important part of changing the narrator’s perspective, leading him to become more of a critical thinker and less of a student.

Ishmael made a difference by discussing thoughts and concepts about humanity with the narrator, and it changed the narrator’s life. This really speaks to student and teacher relationships in that the only way we’re truly going to change is by talking to each other and learning from each other. Now that the narrator is changed, he can take on a teacher-type roll and educate others. The only way for change to occur is for us all to talk to each other, share experiences, and most importantly, listen.

Ishmael Ch. 9

Out of all the chapters we have read of Ishmael so far, this one really blew my mind. In my opinion, chapter 9 is the most thought-provoking segment of the story yet.

My first observation is a little irrelevant to the rest of my post, but I thought it was interesting that when the narrator walks in for that day’s session, Ishmael is uncaged. I felt like this was a sign that Ishmael was going to start breaking down barriers, starting off literally. He wanted to challenge the narrator (comfort wise and intellectually) more than he had been so far, so having Ishmael unbound sets a different tone to this chapter.

Now I grew up going to church, and I’m no expert on the Bible, but I have heard countless biblical stories, including the story of Cain and Abel. However, growing up, I never thought to pair historical development with stories in the Bible. I guess looking from Ishmael’s perspective now, I implicitly thought of all these stories as myths or old tales to guide or morals and ways of living (how Taker of me). That being said, when Ishmael talked of the first people on Earth gaining knowledge and brought up biblical names like Adam and Eve, I was intrigued to hear the story I grew up with depicted in this way.

The part from this chapter that blew my mind was Ishmael essentially describing Cain as a Taker and Abel as a Leaver. Cain and the other Takers were so concerned with agricultural and population expansion, while Abel and the Leavers were attempting to be content with what they had. This disconnect is what caused them to fight, ultimately ending in Cain slaughtering Abel for Taker expansion and benefit. The fact that Taker and Leaver characteristics can be pinpointed back to one of the earliest stories humans have documented is baffling to me.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of any articles or other research to pair with this blog post, but this reading was definitely a thought-provoking one. Connecting Cain and Abel to Takers and Leavers makes me want to look at other historical and biblical stories and draw Taker and Leaver characteristics to each of them.

Ishmael Ch. 5-8

I found chapters 5-8 of Ishmael full of interesting philosophies regarding people and the way they live and perceive the world. Several quotes and segments of the book stuck out to me, but I’m just going to list a few and follow them up with why I thought they were significant.

“We’ve poured our poisons into the world as though it were a bottomless pit— and we go on pouring our poisons into the world. We’ve gobbled up irreplaceable resources as though they would never run out— and we go on gobbling them up.” (p. 80)

An ironic picture of a gorilla reading "The Origin of Man"

This one makes it pretty blatantly clear that humans are ruining our world, and we know this, but I found it relevant because we talked a lot about using up all our resources and what we would do after that while reading Eaarth. While we in this class know it’s a problem, it makes me wonder just how far using non-renewable resources will go before everyone else realizes the issue we have at hand. (However, Michigan’s not doing too bad with this concept. Read more about it here).

“There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with people.” (p. 84) was a simple line that also stuck out to me. The idea that religion and laws (which are both human constructs) run our lives is really interesting and thought-provoking to me. I totally agree that we live our lives based on these constructs because it’s scary to think about living on Earth with no blueprints or any idea of what to do to make life successful.

Ishmael also states “Trial and error isn’t a bad way to learn how to build an aircraft, but it can be a disastrous way to learn how to build a civilization.” While I feel we are currently going through a giant “error” phase, I also think once you’re into a phase this deep, it’s hard to reverse it especially when it’s all you know. That shouldn’t be an excuse for us, but I can definitely see how it’s hard to change the Taker mindset when it has been instilled in us.

These few chapters were very interesting to me, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of Ishmael has in store.

Walden Essays Part Two

After some experience with Thoreau this semester, I’ve found that some of his lines stick out so clearly to me and continue to stick with me even after I finish the essays. There are three I want to focus on: two from “The Pond in Winter” and one from “Spring”.

From hiking in Muir Woods with my family

The first one is so simple, but I think it could be a focal point for this class as a whole: “Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask.” Ever since nature came to be, it has just existed. It gradually became home and began to sustain life for animals, and things were doing just fine until humans decided to modify every bit of it. Nature has never taken from us or used us in any way, so why do we feel the need to manipulate it? Nature has never asked anything of us either, so who’s to say our duty is to take care of it (or even take from it)?

The second line from “The Pond in Winter” that caught my attention was “Our notions of law and harmony are commonly confined to those instances which we detect; but the harmony which results from a far greater number of seemingly conflicting, but really concurring, laws, which we have not detected, is still more wonderful.” Nature is its own entity; it has its own existence. Nature can get along fine without us, and it keeps growing and changing even when we’re not looking. Our laws don’t dictate nature no matter how much we want to control and “own” it.  

Onto “Spring”, it was full of imagery and detail which I loved. The line that later grew into a giant mental picture started off with “Few phenomena gave me more delight than to observe the forms which thawing sand and clay assume in flowing down the sides of a deep cut on the railroad…” I think we take things like this for granted, and I find it especially evident this winter due to the absence of it. As much as I dislike snow and the colder months, there is such beauty in the thawing and metamorphosis from winter to spring, but this past winter has been so dull and bleak; it seems more like a really cold fall with spring teasing us every few weeks. “Spring” seemed to bring things full circle and I thought it was a good way to wrap up Walden.

Walden Essays Part One

Out of the four Walden essays we were assigned to read, some of my favorite lines came from “The Bean Field”. I drew a lot of connections from this piece and related it to small scale agriculture (something that has come to my attention a lot since I started this class). It also made me think about the whole “bigger is better” epidemic America is facing right now, and how backing off and reducing our growth problem in general is something we should all start focusing on.

About six paragraphs down, Thoreau personified dirt and gave it much more significance than we would ever think to give it.

“As I drew a still fresher soil about the rows with my hoe, I disturbed the ashes of unchronicled nations who in primeval years lived under these heavens, and their small implements of war and hunting were brought to the light of this modern day.”

Thoreau hints at the way people used to live on Earth and how it was sort of primitive. However, going back to our roots isn’t something that should be looked down on. We need to start cutting back more now than ever, and bringing that mindset into “the light of this modern day” is something I find very important. Along with the idea of getting back to the soil and our roots, the second quote that really caught my attention was near the very end:

“It matters little comparatively whether the fields fill the farmer's barns. The true husbandman will cease from anxiety, as the squirrels manifest no concern whether the woods will bear chestnuts this year or not, and finish his labor with every day, relinquishing all claim to the produce of his fields, and sacrificing in his mind not only his first but his last fruits also.”

Animals don’t stress about food production or profit, so why should we? This passage made me think briefly of Ishmael and the idea of wild animals focusing on survival, but caged animals over thinking and becoming depressed. When we spend more time taking care of our land rather than taking from it, not only will our Earth be healthier, but so will we.

Ishmael Ch. 3 & 4

Because most of the text is in dialogue format and I’m used to Ishmael being a gorilla, I actually had an easier time reading chapters three and four and I’m getting a better feel for the book. The reading was short, however there was so much to get out of it.

At first, I could feel the tension and confusion the narrator was feeling when Ishmael kept asking him about a human’s idea of creation. I felt as if my own point of view was also being challenged and that what I thought was wrong. Last semester I took an evolution class that totally solidified my beliefs of the Earth’s formation, so when the narrator’s explanation almost perfectly matched up with how the course of my class went, I could see no plot holes. But what a totally self-centered idea to believe that we were supposed to be the caretakers of the Earth and that we are here to make it better!

The new bat collecting nectar 

Last class period we watched a TED talk with Michelle Ringle-Barrett about the “untamed nature” of our world which I think fits perfectly with these chapters (if you missed it or wanted to see it again, check it out here). In it, she talked about how a new species of bat was just discovered in the past decade. If new species are still being found today and creatures are still evolving, who’s to say the world is really “made for man”? Clearly the world’s creatures are not slowing their pace of diversification, so man isn’t necessarily the ideal or perfect species. And who’s to say what we have done since our culture exploded was right?

I’m not saying that humans developing culture lead to the damage of Earth or that it is even a bad thing, because culture definitely brings people together and is rich in itself. I guess the ultimate question I have after reading these chapters is when did we feel the need to be so possessive over the Earth?

Eaarth Ch. 4

McKibben wraps Eaarth up by touching on three huge important things that have to do with the quality of our environment. Of all these, one stuck out to me the most: Agriculture.

Maybe this is because most of my extended family works in the farming industry, or perhaps this jumped out to me because buying local and small agriculture have always been some things I want to look further into. McKibben caught my attention with the following:

“We need to stop thinking of farming in abstract terms as a ‘low rung on the ladder of economic development,’ and remember again what it involves: using water and sunshine to grow plants rooted in soils that can provide the nutrients people need.”

First off, I don’t think we pay enough attention to what happens to the food most of us eat day to day. Even if we do, I think it’s easy for most of us to forget about what we’ve seen and push it under the rug. Most readily available to us is also probably the most contaminated, but it’s convenient, so we decide to turn a blind eye. I would be a hypocrite if I denied doing this. I remember after watching Food Inc, I couldn’t eat most foods for days, but have I really changed my eating habits and pushed the facts out of my mind so I could justify what I’ve always been doing? Yes, and I’m not proud of it.

A look at my Aunt's garden this past summer 

If we keep treating agriculture as a “low rung on the ladder of economic development” we’re going to produce food on the low rung of quality. We can’t continue to ignore our current agricultural system.

The second half of the quote made small scale farming seem so pure and simple and clean, I felt good just by reading it! Water, sunlight, soil and nutrients are the most important entities that go into making our food, and I think we try to overcomplicate that. This segment of the quote made me think of my aunt who grows most of her own food and has a small chicken farm. She educated herself on home-grown agriculture and now she eats fresh food pretty much every day! She makes the idea of clean eating attainable for me and she’s a great example of backing off and doing things on a smaller scale.

Overall I thought Eaarth was a spectacular book. Although it was a bit overwhelming for someone who knew nothing about environmental issues at first, I found a lot of value in it and I would definitely recommend it to people.

Ishmael Ch. 1 & 2

I had never heard anything about Ishmael going into this class, and after all the dense information in Eaarth, I was looking forward to a change in book style. I was surprised and interested in what the two first chapters brought up overall, but I’m not sure how to feel about the book so far.

I understand that Ishmael is a philosophical fiction and I can appreciate it in that aspect, but I’m unsure how to feel about it overall just yet. In the very beginning we get a glimpse of some ad, and we see the narrator is frustrated but also fascinated with it, but we have no background on why this is. “Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” This unleashes several emotions in the narrator. But why? Has he tried saving the world before? What does “saving the world” even mean? For the context of this class, I would assume it means saving the environment, but we don’t really get a real answer in the first chapter.

Something I do appreciate from these first two chapters is the idea of Leavers and Takers in the world and how there is always a cycle of the two creating history. While I don’t think we can always divide the world into those two groups, it’s interesting for the purpose of the story in that both sets of people play a part in making history and effecting our world. I feel like the word Leaver has a negative connotation, but who’s to say it couldn’t be good in comparison to Takers?

Anyway, I’m still trying to see how I feel about the book overall, but it’s a pretty easy read and I’m looking forward to what else the narrator and Ishmael discuss.

Eaarth Ch. 3

Thankfully, Eaarth started to take a turn from all the disheartening facts and statistics and started to lightening up. I understand that some people have trouble listening to arguments and seeing facts, and the only way to grab their attention is by bringing out the most startling evidence; however, just as the chapter states, “backing off” is important for reflection on the issue.

The most memorable concept from chapter 3 of Eaarth was definitely that we should try to start downsizing and saving what we have rather than to continue obsessing over this idea of growth.

“After a long period of frenetic growth, we’re suddenly older. Old, even. And old people worry less about getting more; they care more about hanging on to what they have, or losing it as slowly as possible… Growth doesn’t matter. Security and stability count more than dynamism.”

Everyone can understand the concept of growing old on a human level, and I think relating personal aging to our planet aging makes the need to cut back more personal. The idea of attempting to remain secure with what we have may be surprising to some people since exponential growth seems to be such a strong value, but just like older people start to focus on retirement and restoration, so do we about our Earth.

Grand Rapids Farmers Market

We can be kinder to our Earth by taking steps in our own lives to aid this process. Something I have always been interested in (as far as cutting back is concerned) is buying more local food and buying more of my groceries from local stores and markets. I’m from the Grand Rapids area, and we have a pretty nice farmers market, but I never looked into anything like that in Kalamazoo. Recently I found there’s not only a market in Kalamazoo, but Portage as well! I’m always open to looking into more ways to use less and invest in more long term options, and I hope to spread that mindset as this class progresses.

Eaarth Ch. 2

To be honest, most of Chapter two had me feeling hopeless. On page 52, McKibben talked about how if we raised prices on fossil fuels and banned together to “build a movement more powerful than the energy industry” we could really be making a difference. Unfortunately, my experience with people has shown me many people are stuck in their ways and are not willing to change a few things in their life to better the community. Shannon said something last class that really stuck with me: People seem to value stability more than change, and I’m afraid many people really do thrive on that outlook.

With American people being so individualistic, it’s no surprise that we may not see this change as fast as we want to. While it is natural to think of yourself and family first and thrive off convenience, our world is at stake. I don’t think people realize the magnitude of this situation. McKibben talks about how America could end up like a Third World country in a few decades, but I don’t think enough Americans could even wrap their minds around that concept to realize what this could do to our country. While I don’t think collectivism works for everything, I would hope that we as Americans could get together with a collective mindset for the sake of saving our planet. However, I just don’t know how realistic that really is.

The last line in chapter two, “We’re moving quickly from a world where we push nature around to a world where nature pushes back— and with far more power” really struck me. McKibben keeps showing us all these signs and statistics of how our planet is deteriorating, and if we continue this trend of ignoring the blatant evidence in front of us, we may get pushed back so hard that it could become impossible for us to recover. I hate to be so cynical, but from what I’ve read so far, I’m afraid we’re going to be stuck in a selfish, unproductive cycle for a while.

Eaarth Ch. 1

Prior to this reading, I always knew climate change was an issue. I believed it was a totally valid threat and something had to be done to change, but never before had I realized the magnitude of it all. That being said, McKibben’s first chapter was terrifyingly serious.

Startling statistics revealed our planet is exponentially being consumed by carbon dioxide, and if things keep going at the rate they are, we may not have the most basic need of food available to us. McKibben made it very clear that the damage done really is not reversible. I know people who think recycling and carpooling will bring back the clean green Earth we all expect to have, however it’s not that simple. If we work hard enough, we may be able to slow down or stop the process of this destruction, but we can’t be fooled: what’s done is done.

I was curious about the rate of rising CO2 levels, so I searched for some graphs and information. This one interested me, so I went to the source to read more about it. Surprisingly, the author of the article was trying to argue that climate change isn’t effecting the Earth as much as everyone claims, and that we can all calm down. In my opinion, just because it may not be hitting us right this second (although, has anyone else noticed the lack of snow this January?), doesn’t mean we should ignore the problem! As McKibben brought up, how will we be able to look at our grandchildren when our planet is deteriorating and say we didn’t realize this was a problem?

In the midst of all this chaos, it is comforting to know that there are some efforts being put forward to slow our Earth from being destroyed completely. McKibben brought up the Copenhagen Accord which the U.N. put together in hopes of saving the place we call home. My hope is that we will all start to do our part, no matter how small, to try to slow the process of destruction to our planet.

"Walking" Thoughts

While he is a very respected author, I have to admit I really knew nothing about Thoreau going into this reading. I enjoy writing more than reading, so when I noticed this story would be almost 20 pages, I thought “Oh great, time to try to decode some old English I probably won’t understand.” However, I take every thought I had back. I was pleasantly surprised, and I must say, I loved every bit of “Walking”.

Thoreau had so much to say on the importance of nature and  society and how it impacts us all. I wrote down many quotes from this piece, but this one stood out to me the most:

My sister and I hiking near Tahquamenon Falls

“My desire for knowledge is intermittent; but my desire to bathe my head in atmospheres unknown to my feet is perennial and constant. The highest that we can attain to is not Knowledge, but Sympathy with Intelligence. I do not know that this higher knowledge amounts to anything more definite than a novel and grand surprise on a sudden revelation of the insufficiency of all that we called Knowledge before,— a discovery that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy.”

If everyone was conscious about sympathy with intelligence rather than focusing on obtaining pure knowledge, we would treat not only each other with more kindness, but the Earth under our feet too! I think people focus so much on trying to be the smartest and coming off as well read, and that can take away from trying to talk to and learn from others.

Not only could we learn a thing or two from each other, but by taking a walk and taking in all the nature around us, this would surely help us develop an appreciation for the serenity of our world. Pictured to the left is a plaque from the upper peninsula I found on a hike with the poem “Prayer of the Woods”. (I’ll admit the picture quality isn’t the best, but you could listen to it here.)

If we really tried to be at peace with nature every now and then, maybe we really could hear the trees whispering “Harm me not”.