College Eight Core Course
Integrative Essay #2
Fatefully Together: The Environmental Reach of the US Consumer
Based on readings from the reader and the C8 core wiki.
First version due, bring four copies for your editing group and the instructor:
The first version should be at least 4 pages. The final version must be 5–6 pages (approx. 1500 words; please include a word count).
If you have felt removed from the environmental issues that are a major theme of this course, that is about to end. Thus far in core, we have been examining the historical, political and economic roots of contemporary environmental problems. At this point, we begin to turn a sharp eye on our current situation, our ecological footprint—that is, the human demand on the natural world—and the costs of the way we live, and in particular, of the way we eat. Are there better alternatives than the solutions we currently employ for growing and producing what we use, manufacturing it, disposing of waste and so on? We are reading a few proposals for better solutions. What do they offer in the way of other—better—solutions, and why and how are they better?
This assignment focuses on something central to the health of all life forms: food. Everyone must eat to live. Yet, as our readings and plenary lectures over the next several weeks will demonstrate, the consequences of our food choices are incredibly complex, far-reaching and frequently damaging to our environment. In framing your solution to this food fiasco, consider how to repair the damage done to physical, psychological, and cultural health by conventional, industrialized agriculture. Consider how these methods of farming have severed our ties to the land on which our food is grown. Project how this paradigm affects your generation of consumers. What do you propose we do about it?
This assignment incorporates an environmental audit focused on food to help you start thinking about it what we might consider the necessities of a twenty-first century diet. Then, choose a specific food, and educate your audience about the costs of doing business as usual for this item. Think carefully about downstream effects. Finally, speculate intelligently about other better solutions, based on the readings.
First, collect some data: Write a list of everything you eat in two days. You may list your items in categories, e.g., bread, meat, salad and so on, or you may list it meal by meal. Next to each category or item, note where it came from, what raw materials went into it and where those raw materials came from, if you know or can guess. In addition, note down all the food you threw away, and the associated products that become waste (e.g., a burrito wrapper). This data will become an appendix to your second essay.
Once you have the data, spend some time thinking about it. You may find it helpful to free-write on some of the following questions. Your paper need not present answers to the questions; instead, use the inquiry to generate ideas.
• What was the most surprising thing you discovered?
• What patterns do you see in where your food came from?
• What do you know about the regions or countries the food came from, and how it was produced?
• What are the consequences of the fact that your food comes from places far from where you—the consumer—are?
• If you don't know where some food item comes from, why not? Does it matter that you don't know? Would you know if you made or bought it yourself?
• What kind of waste was associated with your food? Which of it would be most challenging to dispose of? Why? Would any of it be toxic to the environment if disposed of?
• How are you connected to the people who made what you consume? Do you have any responsibility to them?
• When you throw something away, where is “away”?
When you've gathered enough ideas, choose a particular food item. Discuss where it came from, what you know about its historical roots, the environmental and social costs of producing it (think about the wastes and hazards in the system too), and how the process might be improved. Where and how could we influence the system with a better solution? Remember, systems are very complex—as we've been seeing; make your best attempt to think about the complexity of the system you want to influence and speculate smartly!
You may find it helpful to frame your essay in an epistolary form—that is, as a letter to a person who has some power to affect the situation á la Pollan's letter to the President-elect in the New York Times , October 12, 2008. If you choose this form, the essay must still take the form of a persuasive argument; you are trying to convince this person to take action through your presentation of compelling data and appeal to reason, emotion and good character.
Whichever form you choose for your essay, you need to draw on concepts, principles, and facts from the readings as well as the lectures and class activities. Be sure to cite your sources. You may also draw from your own experience. Consider how your thinking on the subject has progressed since you arrived at College Eight. Think carefully through your point of view, and do not ignore valid arguments that might complicate your own. Grapple with the possibilities!
Vital: Make certain to read my corrections and suggestions on your first integrative essay and do your best to improve the trouble spots. If you have any questions about the edits or concerns, please see me or your writing assistant as soon as possible.
Thanks to Susan Watrous