Intro
"I want you to see how connected our lives are with the rest of the world. How we have a lot to learn from one another. How we can live lives that either exploit others or provide others with opportunity. And how our local lives impact the lives of others around the globe. We aren't just local citizens; we are global citizens. We are glocals" (xv).
Cites MLK's "A Christmas Sermon" (24 Dec 1967)
"It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality. Did you ever stop to think that you can't leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world? You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom and reach over for the sponge, and that's handed to you by a Pacific islander. You reach for a bar of soap, and that's given to you at the hands of a Frenchman. And then you go into the kitchen to drink your coffee for the morning, and that's poured into your cup by a South American. And maybe you want tea: that's poured into your cup by a Chinese. Or maybe you're desirous of having cocoa for breakfast, and that's poured into your cup by a West African. And then you reach over for your toast, and that's given to you at the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker. And before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you've depended on more than half of the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality. We aren't going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality."
Audio: https://youtu.be/1jeyIAH3bUI
Text: http://www.ecoflourish.com/Primers/education/Christmas_Sermon.html
"I'm not going to tell you what to think. I'm not going o tell you that how you live, eat, and consume is wrong. But I will ask you to care" (xvi).
Part 1. Coffee: Product of Colombia
Ch. 1: The Starbucks Experience
Tracing Starbucks cup to its source
Additional Sources:
Lots of setting the scene with facts about food production and sales in the US, e.g., how much food the US imports, the difference between organic and local, etc.(6-8)
Dole Organic Banana Farm #773 (from Trader Joe's)
http://www.doleorganic.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118&Itemid=203&phpMyAdmin=101ec4fece409t73498e50
Rainforest Alliance: http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/
Global Gap (formerly Euro Gap): http://www.globalgap.org/uk_en/
"There are 1 billion farmers on earth. Sxity percent of them live in poverty. More than two-thirds of the population is composed of rural farmers in Asia and Africa, but that is changing. It's estimated that by 2050, 70 percent of the world's population will live in the city."
"Today, 1.5 billion people eat so much food that it causes them to have health problems. They are overnourished. Yet, we have 1 billion people who are starving" (11).
Source: Raj Patel's Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
Munday Library Book Stacks (HD9000.5 .P277 2012 )
We spend less on food, but overeat, and the government doesn't track of inspect shit, especially in other countries.
His questions:
Ch. 2: The Grande Gringo Picks Coffee
What coffee production looks like in Colombia
Additional Sources:
The problem of middlemen between farmers and consumers
Ch. 3: The Cup of Excellence
Discussion of Starbucks' C.A.F.E. Practices program
Shakey evidence that the program is having any effect; it doesn't seem to have resulted in higher wages, but it did provide some farmers with beneficios (machinery for processing coffee beans) and signs around villages. (33-36)
40: Discussion of how/whether C.A.F.E. Practices had any benefit on farmers with statistics
Ch. 4: The Heart of the World
Discussion of visiting an Arhuaco Indian village
Additional Sources:
"If the world were made up of Americans, it would be as if we shared the planet with 72 billion people" (52). Based on how much Americans use/waste
"We do less to reverse the change--and more to out-engineer our impact" (53).
Seems to be making a general argument about much more strict regulation over production, working conditions, wages, etc related to food sold in US
58: How fair trade works for the Arhuaco
"Contentment is bad for some cultures where growth must be relentlessly pursued" (59).
Part II. Chocolate: Product of West Africa
Ch. 5: Solo Man
Story of Solo, a worker on a coca farm in the Ivory Coast, who may or may not be a slave
73: How the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund control these farms and exploit them
77: Stats on coca
84: Utz Certification
Additional Sources:
88: Relationship between child labor and certifications
Ch. 6: Slavery and Freedom
Helping Solo escape
Additional Sources:
94: Contrasts the difference between awareness and action
"Multinational corporations control 40 percent of the world food trade, 20 companies essentially control the world coffee trade, 70 percent of wheat trade is controlled by six companies, 98 percent of tea trade is controlled by one company, and 10 companies account for 90 percent of all agrochemical sales" (98).
99: Story of Guy Andre Keiffer and what happens to journalists that expose the corruption in the Ivory Coast.
Ch. 7: Is it Peace?
Looking for Solo's family in Ghana
If it's bad in Ivory Coast, it's worse in Ghana. Young Ghanaian men leave for Ivory Coast and work for years to amass some wealth and come back to Ghana.
Part III. Banana: Product of Costa Rica
Ch. 8: The Banana Commuter's Work
Costa Rica, Juan (a bananero) and his daily life on a banana plantation
Ch. 9: Banana Worker for the Day
Story of Timmerman working on the banana plantation and going to EARTH University
Additional Sources:
"Today, the term 'Banana Republic' is used to describe any country that relies heavily on one export crop that the government and private institutions work to exploit--often to the detriment of the nation's people" (138).
139: How US dominance/imperialism controls banana production
EARTH as an alternative, sustainable model based on small production and diversity
How Norman Borlaug's "Green Revolution" fucked everything up
Timmerman raises these questions:
How economics define taste: Addresses how the Cavendish banana is the most widely produced and basically the only one available in the US. This has to do with uniformity and durability and nothing to do with taste.
Addresses serious issues with supply chains
"BananaLink, a nonprofit in the UK, breaks down the profit of the retail price of a supermarket banana into the following percentages: the supermarket gets 41%, the importer gets 19 percent, the exporter gets 28 percent, the farm owner gets 10.5 percent, and the banana worker gets 1.5 percent" (151).
Additional Sources:
Ch. 10: Nowhere to Go But Bananas
Additional Sources:
Addresses the courts role in colluding with corporations to exploit farmers (159)
Also addresses what bananeros think about their futures
Unions were replaced by solidarismo (160), which prevents them from striking (for more on solidarismo: PDF from Banana Link: http://tinyurl.com/js5clff)
Part IV. Lobster: product of Nicaragua
Ch. 11: Life, Death, and Lobster
Jumps back to Nicaragua in 2005
Addresses lobster divers and their horrible working conditions (no training, equipment, etc)
Additional Sources:
Ch. 12: The Lobster Trap
Short chapter with Timmerman's FBI/CIA story
Ch. 13: The Future of Fish
Begins by addressing Red Lobster and Darden, moves into Global Fish Alliance and sustainable fisheries
"For aquaculture to be sustainable, it must be done in inland pools with filtered water and composted waste, raising mussels, oysters, or nonfish-eating fish, such as tilapia" (193).
Addresses Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch label, which takes into account sustainability and conditions for obtaining seafood and turns it into rankings for consumers
Bon Appétit (which runs St. Ed's cafeterias uses it)
Additional Sources:
Part V. Apple Juice: Product of Michigan China
Ch. 14: No Apples
Starts with story of children drinking apple juice, how much of our agricultural imports come from China (and how it has grown exponentially in recent years), and foodborne illnesses related to Chinese products
Additional Sources:
USFDA inspection issues:
Goes to Indian Farms in Michigan, discovers the juicer/orchard uses Chinese concentrate
"'Some companies won't buy your apples unless you have a third-party audit,' Daryl says, and then explains one problem they're having. Walmart wants farmers to use a private audit firm that it owns" (209).
Ch. 15: Mr. Feng's Apple Empire
Goes to Xi'an, Luochan to see an apple orchard (Mr. Feng's)
Very meticulous production
Famers have become quite wealthy, but kids do not want to take it over
Farming helped develop a middle class, but the kids are moving to the cities
Never gets into the company
Additional Sources:
Ch. 16: As American as Apple Juice Concentrate from China
Tries to visit a juice company in Luochan, but they won't let him in
Has a really expensive dinner with Feng's daughter
Part VI. My Life: Product of USA
Ch. 17: Food as Faith
Finds a food guru at Downtown Farmstand in Muncie, IN
Addresses the development of the store
Ch. 18: Farmers No More
Addresses his father's experience going from a farmer to a construction worker
Ch. 19: Imagined Futures
A very unnecessary chapter that limply makes a connection between chemicals in food and autism in regards to his son, who to this day can't get diagnosed as ASD
Ch. 20: Decisions about Man and Land
The conclusion
"We simply aren't going to shop our way to a better world. Buying socially and environmentally certified products is better than not doing so, but if all we do is look at a certification label and feel like we're doing our part, that's not enough" (259).
Additional Sources:
"There are responsible purchasing decisions that I can make at Walmart, but the fact is most of the decisions have already been made by the small group of companies responsible for marketing, shelving, processing, and transporting food from producers to these shelves and the policies under which they operate" (265).
"In 1950, an American farmer received half the retail price of food, but by 2000 only 20 percent went to the farmer" (266).
"In 1949 Americans spent 40 percent of their income on food. In 2012 we spent around 15 percent" (267).
Appendix A. A Guide to Ethical Labels
Addresses dfferent food certifications and what they mean:
Appendix B. The Journey Continues
What Timmerman and his family are doing personally
Appendix C. A Guide to Going Glocal (most useful for class)
Addresses what the term means and the need to take local and global action (no simply awareness)
A lot about travelling and getting close to people/issues
Chapter Discussion Questions (285-298)
"I want you to see how connected our lives are with the rest of the world. How we have a lot to learn from one another. How we can live lives that either exploit others or provide others with opportunity. And how our local lives impact the lives of others around the globe. We aren't just local citizens; we are global citizens. We are glocals" (xv).
Cites MLK's "A Christmas Sermon" (24 Dec 1967)
"It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality. Did you ever stop to think that you can't leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world? You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom and reach over for the sponge, and that's handed to you by a Pacific islander. You reach for a bar of soap, and that's given to you at the hands of a Frenchman. And then you go into the kitchen to drink your coffee for the morning, and that's poured into your cup by a South American. And maybe you want tea: that's poured into your cup by a Chinese. Or maybe you're desirous of having cocoa for breakfast, and that's poured into your cup by a West African. And then you reach over for your toast, and that's given to you at the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker. And before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you've depended on more than half of the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality. We aren't going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality."
Audio: https://youtu.be/1jeyIAH3bUI
Text: http://www.ecoflourish.com/Primers/education/Christmas_Sermon.html
"I'm not going to tell you what to think. I'm not going o tell you that how you live, eat, and consume is wrong. But I will ask you to care" (xvi).
Part 1. Coffee: Product of Colombia
Ch. 1: The Starbucks Experience
Tracing Starbucks cup to its source
Additional Sources:
- Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation
- Munday Library Media Collection (PN1995.9.M45 F378 2007 DVD )
- Munday Library On Display (TX945.3 .S355 2001 )
- Bill McKibben's Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
- Munday Library Book Stacks (HD75 .M353 2007 )
- Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma
- Munday Library Book Stacks (GT2850 .P65 2006 )
- Food, Inc.
- Munday Library Media Collection (HD9005 .F66 2009 DVD )
- King Corn
- Supersize Me
- Munday Library Media Collection (TX945.5 .M33 S87 2004 DVD )
Lots of setting the scene with facts about food production and sales in the US, e.g., how much food the US imports, the difference between organic and local, etc.(6-8)
Dole Organic Banana Farm #773 (from Trader Joe's)
http://www.doleorganic.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118&Itemid=203&phpMyAdmin=101ec4fece409t73498e50
Rainforest Alliance: http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/
Global Gap (formerly Euro Gap): http://www.globalgap.org/uk_en/
"There are 1 billion farmers on earth. Sxity percent of them live in poverty. More than two-thirds of the population is composed of rural farmers in Asia and Africa, but that is changing. It's estimated that by 2050, 70 percent of the world's population will live in the city."
"Today, 1.5 billion people eat so much food that it causes them to have health problems. They are overnourished. Yet, we have 1 billion people who are starving" (11).
Source: Raj Patel's Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
Munday Library Book Stacks (HD9000.5 .P277 2012 )
We spend less on food, but overeat, and the government doesn't track of inspect shit, especially in other countries.
His questions:
- Why, how, and by whom is dinner being outsourced?
- What does this mean for farmers in my hometown in Indiana--and farmers around the world?
- Is he increasing global nature of our food economy part of the problem or the solution?
- Do we need more farmers or fewer?
- How can we sustainably feed our growing population?
- "Less than 2.3 percent of imported food is inspected" (12). US FDA annual report... What does this mean for our national food security?
Ch. 2: The Grande Gringo Picks Coffee
What coffee production looks like in Colombia
Additional Sources:
- Anthony Wild's Coffee: A Dark History
The problem of middlemen between farmers and consumers
Ch. 3: The Cup of Excellence
Discussion of Starbucks' C.A.F.E. Practices program
Shakey evidence that the program is having any effect; it doesn't seem to have resulted in higher wages, but it did provide some farmers with beneficios (machinery for processing coffee beans) and signs around villages. (33-36)
40: Discussion of how/whether C.A.F.E. Practices had any benefit on farmers with statistics
Ch. 4: The Heart of the World
Discussion of visiting an Arhuaco Indian village
Additional Sources:
- Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
- Munday Library Book Stacks (HN13 .D5 2005 )
"If the world were made up of Americans, it would be as if we shared the planet with 72 billion people" (52). Based on how much Americans use/waste
"We do less to reverse the change--and more to out-engineer our impact" (53).
Seems to be making a general argument about much more strict regulation over production, working conditions, wages, etc related to food sold in US
58: How fair trade works for the Arhuaco
"Contentment is bad for some cultures where growth must be relentlessly pursued" (59).
Part II. Chocolate: Product of West Africa
Ch. 5: Solo Man
Story of Solo, a worker on a coca farm in the Ivory Coast, who may or may not be a slave
73: How the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund control these farms and exploit them
77: Stats on coca
84: Utz Certification
Additional Sources:
- The Dark Side of Chocolate: Child Trafficking and Illegal Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry
- DR TV (Television station : Copenhagen, Denmark); Films for the Humanities & Sciences (Firm); Films Media Group. 2010], c2010: Online access
88: Relationship between child labor and certifications
Ch. 6: Slavery and Freedom
Helping Solo escape
Additional Sources:
- Orla Ryan's Chocolate Nations: Living and Dying for Cocoa in West Africa
- Munday Library Online Access
- http://wwww.slaveryfootprint.org
94: Contrasts the difference between awareness and action
"Multinational corporations control 40 percent of the world food trade, 20 companies essentially control the world coffee trade, 70 percent of wheat trade is controlled by six companies, 98 percent of tea trade is controlled by one company, and 10 companies account for 90 percent of all agrochemical sales" (98).
99: Story of Guy Andre Keiffer and what happens to journalists that expose the corruption in the Ivory Coast.
Ch. 7: Is it Peace?
Looking for Solo's family in Ghana
If it's bad in Ivory Coast, it's worse in Ghana. Young Ghanaian men leave for Ivory Coast and work for years to amass some wealth and come back to Ghana.
Part III. Banana: Product of Costa Rica
Ch. 8: The Banana Commuter's Work
Costa Rica, Juan (a bananero) and his daily life on a banana plantation
Ch. 9: Banana Worker for the Day
Story of Timmerman working on the banana plantation and going to EARTH University
Additional Sources:
- Dan Koeppel's Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World
- Not available through Munday directly
- EARTH University
- https://www.earth.ac.cr/
"Today, the term 'Banana Republic' is used to describe any country that relies heavily on one export crop that the government and private institutions work to exploit--often to the detriment of the nation's people" (138).
139: How US dominance/imperialism controls banana production
EARTH as an alternative, sustainable model based on small production and diversity
How Norman Borlaug's "Green Revolution" fucked everything up
Timmerman raises these questions:
- What is the goal of agriculture?
- Is it to produce food?
- Or is it to produce money?
How economics define taste: Addresses how the Cavendish banana is the most widely produced and basically the only one available in the US. This has to do with uniformity and durability and nothing to do with taste.
Addresses serious issues with supply chains
"BananaLink, a nonprofit in the UK, breaks down the profit of the retail price of a supermarket banana into the following percentages: the supermarket gets 41%, the importer gets 19 percent, the exporter gets 28 percent, the farm owner gets 10.5 percent, and the banana worker gets 1.5 percent" (151).
Additional Sources:
- Banana Link
- http://www.bananalink.org.uk/
Ch. 10: Nowhere to Go But Bananas
Additional Sources:
- Bananas! On Trial for Malice(documentary)
- Amazon Prime Add On Sub or for rent (3.99): http://tinyurl.com/ztxmpto
Addresses the courts role in colluding with corporations to exploit farmers (159)
Also addresses what bananeros think about their futures
Unions were replaced by solidarismo (160), which prevents them from striking (for more on solidarismo: PDF from Banana Link: http://tinyurl.com/js5clff)
Part IV. Lobster: product of Nicaragua
Ch. 11: Life, Death, and Lobster
Jumps back to Nicaragua in 2005
Addresses lobster divers and their horrible working conditions (no training, equipment, etc)
Additional Sources:
- My Village, My Lobster
- Amazon Video rental (3.99): http://tinyurl.com/zbrfwzq
Ch. 12: The Lobster Trap
Short chapter with Timmerman's FBI/CIA story
Ch. 13: The Future of Fish
Begins by addressing Red Lobster and Darden, moves into Global Fish Alliance and sustainable fisheries
"For aquaculture to be sustainable, it must be done in inland pools with filtered water and composted waste, raising mussels, oysters, or nonfish-eating fish, such as tilapia" (193).
Addresses Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch label, which takes into account sustainability and conditions for obtaining seafood and turns it into rankings for consumers
Bon Appétit (which runs St. Ed's cafeterias uses it)
Additional Sources:
- Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch
- http://www.seafoodwatch.org/
- Bon Appétit
- http://www.bamco.com/
Part V. Apple Juice: Product of Michigan China
Ch. 14: No Apples
Starts with story of children drinking apple juice, how much of our agricultural imports come from China (and how it has grown exponentially in recent years), and foodborne illnesses related to Chinese products
Additional Sources:
- Paul Midler's Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the China Production Game
- Marion Nestle's Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety
- Munday Library Online Access
USFDA inspection issues:
- 2001: less than 1 percent of imported foods
- 2012: 2.3 percent of imported foods (but the amount of imported food has dramatically increased
Goes to Indian Farms in Michigan, discovers the juicer/orchard uses Chinese concentrate
"'Some companies won't buy your apples unless you have a third-party audit,' Daryl says, and then explains one problem they're having. Walmart wants farmers to use a private audit firm that it owns" (209).
Ch. 15: Mr. Feng's Apple Empire
Goes to Xi'an, Luochan to see an apple orchard (Mr. Feng's)
Very meticulous production
Famers have become quite wealthy, but kids do not want to take it over
Farming helped develop a middle class, but the kids are moving to the cities
Never gets into the company
Additional Sources:
- Frank Dikotter's Mao's Great Famine: The Story of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962
- Munday Library Book Stacks (HC430.F3 D55 2010)
Ch. 16: As American as Apple Juice Concentrate from China
Tries to visit a juice company in Luochan, but they won't let him in
Has a really expensive dinner with Feng's daughter
Part VI. My Life: Product of USA
Ch. 17: Food as Faith
Finds a food guru at Downtown Farmstand in Muncie, IN
Addresses the development of the store
Ch. 18: Farmers No More
Addresses his father's experience going from a farmer to a construction worker
Ch. 19: Imagined Futures
A very unnecessary chapter that limply makes a connection between chemicals in food and autism in regards to his son, who to this day can't get diagnosed as ASD
Ch. 20: Decisions about Man and Land
The conclusion
"We simply aren't going to shop our way to a better world. Buying socially and environmentally certified products is better than not doing so, but if all we do is look at a certification label and feel like we're doing our part, that's not enough" (259).
Additional Sources:
- La Via Comapesina: http://www.viacampesina.org
- International Labor Rights Forum: http://www.laborrights.org
- Slow Food: http://www.slowfoodusa.com
- Food First: http://www.foodfirst.org
- Real Food Challenge (for universities): http://www.realfoodchallenge.org/take-action
- Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in the Age of Plenty
"There are responsible purchasing decisions that I can make at Walmart, but the fact is most of the decisions have already been made by the small group of companies responsible for marketing, shelving, processing, and transporting food from producers to these shelves and the policies under which they operate" (265).
"In 1950, an American farmer received half the retail price of food, but by 2000 only 20 percent went to the farmer" (266).
"In 1949 Americans spent 40 percent of their income on food. In 2012 we spent around 15 percent" (267).
Appendix A. A Guide to Ethical Labels
Addresses dfferent food certifications and what they mean:
- USDA Organic
- Fair Trade Certified
- Fair Trade
- Rainforest Alliance Certified
- Far for Life
- Whole Trade
Appendix B. The Journey Continues
What Timmerman and his family are doing personally
Appendix C. A Guide to Going Glocal (most useful for class)
Addresses what the term means and the need to take local and global action (no simply awareness)
A lot about travelling and getting close to people/issues
Chapter Discussion Questions (285-298)