WHERE DOES MY WATER AND FOOD COME FROMAND DOES IT MATTER?

Photo: Center for Economic and Social Rights

Jose G. Gonzalez, June 21, 2010

First some thinking.

30 seconds to think about:

What did you eat yesterday or today? From where did you get your water? Where did your food come from?

Turn to a partner and share

Inquiry Chart

What do you know about food and water? What do you want to know more about/learn?

Guiding Questions

What do we mean by food? Where does your food and water come from? How do we produce our food and what do we eat? How do we get our water? To whom does it belong? So why does any of this matter?

Why?

Questions of Ethics and Equity Health Environment Economics

FirstWATER

Sierra Forest Legacy, Water Education

Water

What rights do you have to water? How is water necessary for you to drinkbut how else is it used in production? Water in industrialized agriculture and other production cycles Do we have enough?

CA Dept of Water Resources

USGS

Water in food production and more

Source: UNEP

Commoditization and Privatization

How did you get your water today? This week? Who gave it you?

Story of Bottled Water

Story of Bottled Water

What do you agree or disagree with about the film? What surprised you and why? What further information would you need to agree with its argument or to challenge it?

SecondFOOD

Food

What do we mean by food? Political, economic, environmental issues Is access to food a right? How does food get to your plate? Consumption levels? Local vs. globalized Agrochemical vs. organic Industrial vs. small scale Genetically modified foods

Hungry Planet: What the World Eats

Australia

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html

Guatemala

India

United States

Mexico

Mali

Turkey

Think and Discuss

What key differences and similarities did you notice? What questions did it arise? What surprised you? What didnt surprise you? What assumptions did it challenge or confirm?

How does food get to my plate?

Source: CDC

Is access to food a right?

We need more for everyone to eat like we do

Tradeoffs

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/fellows/mexico_2008/

What do we mean by food?

Food Policy

According to the Farm Bill this is food

these are Specialty Crops

Colorado State University

What ended up on your plate: How was it grown? How was it harvested? How was it processed? How was it shipped/transported? How was it prepared?

Genetically Modified Food

But we need to feed the world right?

Would you deny starving people food because it is a frankenfood? If a corporation creates a food, do they own it? Do they own the genetic material?

Questions and more discussion