Category Archives: Group Projects

How to change the system

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The core intellectual concept of this course, systems thinking, was ultimately for me the most valuable aspect of the curriculum. However, thinking systemically in the context of the world this quarter also made me feel relatively powerless as an individual. Systemic issues have been at the forefront of global discourse over the past several months. The coronavirus pandemic has rattled human society revealing our vulnerability within Earth’s ecosystem and reminding humanity that however much we resist this reality: we live under nature’s laws. 

Those of us who live in the United States have been reminded how badly our healthcare system is broken and inadequate at handling crises. Similarly, our globalized and industrialized food system has revealed its clumsiness and vulnerability to disturbance as the pandemic has challenged supply chains and means of production leading to vast amounts of food waste and threats of hunger around the globe. 

Source: Rebecca Conway for The New York Times — daily wage works stand in line for meals in New Delhi where for many with little social safety net “hunger is a more immediate threat than the virus”

In these past two weeks, incited by the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, people all over the world are rising up against the systemic racism ingrained in our political and social institutions. Many of us (especially those with privilege) are learning just how blind we have been to systemic injustice and just how inadequate our individual intentions are at making change. 

In many ways I felt my individual actions this quarter to be futile. Working with Community Alliance for Global Justice to acquire auction items for their upcoming fundraising dinner required my group members and I to reach out to over one hundred local small businesses. Most never responded to our requests (surly overwhelmed with the weight of owning a small business during these times), other folks responded with apologetic nos saying they simply were not in a place to donate, others were angry that we were asking for contributions given the context of the world. Working with CAGJ was a swimming-upstream type of fight and in the end I am not sure we moved an inch. 

However, after a quarter of feeling powerless as an individual amidst human systems so massive, convoluted and ignorant of nature’s reality that it almost seemed hopeless to take individual action, these past couple weeks have given me new hope. Taking to the streets with thousands of other individuals I am suddenly immersed in collective individual action unlike I have ever experienced before. And it feels like we may be on the precipice of actually forcing systemic change if we individuals keep on the collective pressure. Collectively we are opting out of leading our daily lives and choosing to sustain civil disobedience such that those in power are forced to listen. 

My own photo from a recent protest at Cal Anderson park in Seattle

I have often thought that we could alter our unjust and environmentally destructive food system if only everyone could come together and collectively opt out of consuming destructively and unjustly produced products. It surely is not that simple, but at the very least I have learned from this moment that we can feel less powerless as individuals if we band together in collective action. I hope dearly that we can maintain this fight for racial justice and in doing so create long-sustained collective action which can be continued into a fight for a more just and sustainable world generally. 

-Aisling Doyle Wade

 

ENVIR 385: A Reflection

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My group had the opportunity to work with Landesa; a non-profit organization that helps secure land rights for the world’s poorest. Although Landesa covers a more general scope, our focus was to bring awareness to the issue of women land rights in underdeveloped countries, and to learn more about how it connects to resilience-building within communities in the face of a pandemic. 

We learned that the women in the regions we researched make up the vast majority of the agricultural workforce, but due to the huge gender disparity, the lack of land rights puts women in vulnerable positions, especially when facing a health crisis. If the patriarch falls ill or passes away, there isn’t much a woman can do to support her family. At least not with the current system.  

Women’s Land Rights infographic. (Created by Ashley Wright)

This quarter we talked about systems theory. We are all part of a system(s). If a part of the system is changed, then the other parts will be affected– impacting the system as a whole. This impact could either be negative or positive. Through our research we found that by giving women legal access to land, it could be the latter. They have the ability to help their communities build resilience by making an economic and ecological impact; all they need is change. The current status quo is an example of an unsustainable system.

Unsustainable systems are everywhere. We don’t have to go to an underdeveloped country to see them. Our food system is a big one. 

Individual, institutional, and structural racism lives in our food system. In the reading, “The Color of Food”, Raj Patel concludes that racial disparity in wages and representation can be found in most occupations along the food chain. POC are often limited to low-wage food jobs in the food industry, leading them to experience high rates of food insecurity, malnutrition and hunger. But consumers are oftentimes unaware of these exploitations because there is a great disconnect between consumers and the food chain. 

The Color of Food, Raj Patel

With the BLM movement in full force right now, it is important to understand that racism goes beyond just police brutality. It lives in different parts of our society. 

As this class comes to an end and our projects wrap up, I can’t help but think about the systems I belong to and the impact I’m having on them. Raj Patel stated that, “consumers vote with their purchases”. As a consumer in this unsustainable system, my choices matter when it comes to food. 

Food sovereignty in the Shellfish Industry

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In regards to action projects, I participated in working with the Center for Food Safety (CFS) on creating a sustainable shellfish scorecard. The scorecard can be utilized by restaurant owners, chefs, and consumers who are demanding to be knowledgeable of which shellfish producers follow sustainable procedures. CFS is a national non-profit public interest and environmental advocacy organization working to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. CFS also educates consumers concerning the definition of organic food and products. Producing a scorecard to determine shellfish producer’s level of sustainability with the help of CFS will certainly be a meaningful contribution to the larger community because it will be functional to exclude shellfish producers that execute practices that degrade biodiversity and the environment it surrounds it. 

What I learned through working with the CFS is the idea of food sovereignty and how important it is for consumers to be knowledgeable about the process of how sustainable the food is being produced. Included in the scorecard, are criteria based on the feasibility and sustainability of shellfish producers in the shellfish industry. The criteria includes; pesticide use, transparency over regulations and environmental legislation, seeding and harvesting methods, and lastly, processing methods. This action project promotes people’s right to to healthy and culturally-appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems which are all tested through the criteria we have generated.

Another thing I wanted to bring up is our capability of getting involved in projects like this simply in our homes, and through our computers. I find it amazing how we integrated elements of collaboration, grasping and creating ideas, and completing tasks without ever seeing each other in person. As Karen said, we really are working and living in unprecedented times, and yet we continue to strive for greatness. We continue to do as much as we can to stay involved, despite limitations. Then, I realized that this is the type of vitality we need to make positive changes within the food system. We have to keep educating ourselves, and work together to amplify what the system lacks and the assistance it needs.

ENVIR 385: One Heck of a Ride

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In order to understand the world food system, we need examine it through the lens of systems theory; the interdisciplinary study of systems. In the videos from Complexity Academy we were introduced to concepts like nonlinear systems, earth systems, and resilience thinking as well as the differences between mechanical and living systems. These are critical concepts in understanding how the global food system is organized and how the various parts interact with one another through positive and negative feedback loops.

I was able to interact with the food system through my group action project working with the Center for Food Safety. Our group developed a social media campaign, legislative toolkit, petition, and wrote letters to the editors of multiple local papers in order to raise awareness regarding the dangers of Washington state dairy CAFOs. These kinds of campaigns take time to develop and timing is very important. Because of COVID-19 and the recent death of George Floyd, the media climate and public zeitgeist limited our ability to message effectively. Even though our real-world impact was minimal, I found the experience to be valuable because it allowed me to engage with our course material in ways that would not have been possible otherwise.

When viewing my action project through the lens of our class material we can see the negative effects that factory farming cause to the larger earth system as well as its negative ecological and social justice impacts. In Washington state over 260,000 adult dairy cattle generate more than 26 million pounds of manure daily. CAFOs are prevalent in communities surrounding the Puget Sound, with 400+ unlined manure lagoons near waters that feed into the Sound. About 35% of all Washington dairy cows are located in a 280-square-mile area in Yakima County, equating to a city of 2.3 million people without any sewage treatment (CFS).

CAFOs are externalizing public health and environmental costs to the public, including the costs of contaminated drinking water and the subsequent health impacts. The cost of fixing nitrate pollution of drinking water can run into the millions of dollars and the costs to fix them are borne, in part, by local residents. The average cost of water to avoid contaminated tap water exceeds affordability thresholds, and disproportionately affect low-income and Spanish-speaking residents (CFS).

My action project allowed me to develop some important tools that I can use to explore complicated topics about our world food system. It also helped me learn how to ask the right kinds questions.

Women’s Land Rights and the Pandemic

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For our action project, we worked with Landesa. We focused our efforts on connecting the current pandemic to the role of women’s land rights and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. We concentrated on this region, as it has faced the epidemics of HIV/AIDS and Ebola, and has had to overcome these crises while dealing with the ongoing natural problems that are endemic to the climate and region (drought and political instability). Additionally, the region has long-suffered from exploitation and pressures of global imbalances of power. What has become evident, is that developed countries are able to leverage local resources, which are developed and cultivated by African nations to advance their own stability and serve as a source of resilience. Against this backdrop, the region will continue to evolve as “an arena of geopolitical and resource competition…” and this can be problematic, as Africa may be disenfranchised from ‘solutions’ that are developed within the region. This is where the role of women’s land rights becomes a driver of law and policy reform and economic self-reliance and community leadership. Allowing women to have direct and impactful roles in the food system will foster a resistive and durable base that the communities of Africa can count on for stability and lean on in times of crises.

An infographic created for our Landesa Project (Graphic by Ashley Wright)

What I have recognized in Landesa is that many of the defining attributes and workings of systems theory are functioning through this organization and the work it is doing to make an impact on society. We were able to connect seemingly individual and distinct topics into an aggregate context relevant to human systems and, by extension, the ecosystem. (from lecture) What is common across developed, developing, emerging, and underdeveloped economies is growth. This trend towards an improved standard of living does not emerge in isolation. In this case, women’s land rights connect to all of us, even if we benefit indirectly. Through a woman’s ability to own and control land in Africa, the role of my country (or another developed country) will shift as it benefits from concurrent growth. And this shift can impact my community whether it is through the flow of money or access to food as a whole. We all benefit from socio-political stability, as instability can result in a misallocation of resources. Currently the IMF projects negative growth for the region through this year, but forecasts a return to positive growth through 2021.

Reforming Climate Change Policies

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During the pandemic, besides the growing public concern over the rapid spread of the disease, news about the sharply falling greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand in China because of the mandatory stay-at-home order drew my attention and raised my interest to join the Citizens’ Climate Lobby action group.

The fundamental purpose of the CCL is to work toward the adoption of fair, effective, and sustainable climate change policies, and the piece we have been working on is the Energy, Innovation & Carbon Dividend Act, which aims to put a fee on fossil fuels and use that money as a dividend and allocate to every American. My group’s objective is to participate in lobbying for the passage of the Energy Innovation Act. I have never known something about lobbying, let alone have the chance to participate in a real Lobby Day Event at a conference. Surprisingly, we will have a precious opportunity to join a lobby team preparing for and attending the conference. This experience also taught me how to interact with members of congress and government representatives.

As the project proceeded, I found that it is closely related to our course material and what we are doing now really matters in real life. The Act is trying to take political action to influence legislators and major oil companies to reduce carbon footprint through a top-down approach. At the same time, it uses individualized actions as a supplement to the policy change. Thinking systematically, citizens are core elements of the Act, and we will make a difference through a bottom-up approach in a way that individuals unite as teams to lobby for a real systematic change in climate policy. Meanwhile, the taxes collected will be allocated back to individuals, helping them live a more sustainable life. It works as a reinforcing feedback loop that accelerates our progress in fighting climate change.

Also, I learned to cooperate with group members. Teamwork is an essential element of the success of a project. Instead of doing all the weekly training on our own, we decided to each take one training and summarize for the group. Therefore, we were able to grasp the main ideas in the most efficient way. I’m really impressed by my members, they are confident, knowledgeable, and brave. Rachel is a really good leader; she takes notes and organizes every meeting for us. Dakota integrates course materials with the project very well, Tebow and Alan always give us thoughtful ideas. Thanks to Karen, Ryan, my group members, and other classmates for a great and meaningful quarter.

Turning Individual Action into Systemic Change

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During this course I had the opportunity to work with Citizens’ Climate Lobby on HR 763, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend act. CCL is a national, bipartisan, grassroots lobbying organization that supports volunteers through online trainings and connects them to groups in their area. We started social media campaigns on Facebook and Twitter and learned how to lobby.

HR 763 would put a price on carbon that would reduce US emissions by 40% in the first 12 years. Economists agree that this is the most effective and cost-efficient way to reduce emissions which is why it has drawn support from Republicans and Democrats. Additionally, the Act is revenue-neutral which means that the government doesn’t keep the tax collected. Instead, it gets sent back to low- and middle-income American taxpayers who will be most affected by the higher prices of a green economy.

Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. Effective, good for people, good for the economy, revenue neutral.

In working with CCL, I found that the politics of food and the politics of climate change are similar in many ways. People tend to be very opinionated on both sides, both issues are complex and affect everyone differently, and both require a combination of personal choices and systemic government change to be solved.

It is key that the Act is bipartisan because the only way that we can fight climate change is together. A resolution such as this is only the first of many legislation actions we will need to take, so it is important that everyone is behind it.

Systems theory shows us that everything is connected, and climate change is no different. A lifecycle analysis of any product shows the ecological impacts along the entire commodity chain. Ecological impacts are usually higher during the production/processing stages, so the externalities are often placed on low income communities. This is just one example of the Triple Inequality of climate change.

Scene of the Oncler's factory from the Lorax by Dr. Seuss.

Stories like the Lorax teach us that it’s okay to replace traditional citizenship duties with purposeful individual consumption, and it shifts the blame from producers to human nature (Maniates). When people are made aware of a dangerous product, they can make the individual choice not to buy it (Szasz). This protects them from the product but does nothing to address the problem for others. We need more than individual choices to combat climate change. HR 763 is one way of collective change, but people still have to make the individual choice to be politically active.

This is a picture from Environmental Lobby Day in Olympia, WA in 2019 that I went to with WashPIRG.

Advocacy & Systemic Thinking

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During this quarter, I had the opportunity to work with my group in aiding Slow Food Washington in raising awareness and support among the chapters in Washington for House Bill 2777 and Senate Bill 6463. If passed, the bills would regulate the use of micro-enterprise kitchens and permit the sale of food made in one’s home. This can provide a stream of income for those affected by the turbulent job market due to COVID-19, and empower individuals who are interested in starting a restaurant but lack the capital to do so. Through the experience, my group has learned about community mobilization and the importance of storytelling. We also learned about legislation advocacy strategies that aided in a similar bill in California gaining support and becoming law. My group specifically developed a Digital Media Strategy Toolkit that is able to be customized by the specific chapters. Through our project, we have been able to apply the theory to practice, and empower people through tangible acts of advocacy.

 

The front page of the 12 page document my group created for SlowFood Washington

This course has truly exemplified how important systemic thinking is, and is something that I will seek to bring into other subject areas. In the very beginning of the course, we discussed the pitfalls of Michael Pollen’s argument made from a privileged perspective, and the dangers of reductionism. To consider an issue by breaking it down and focusing on individual aspects is incredibly limiting. To fully digest connections and reveal the deeper “why” and historical context, it is critical to use systemic thinking. This time in history has been an unveiling to the injustices of our systems. For example, undocumented farm workers that are deemed essential are forgotten, as seen in the So Close to America documentary. The workers are the backbone of our food system yet are not given the protections needed.  In addition, this is a time of great unrest and pain and is an opportunity for significant systemic change, which can bring forward sustainable change that will benefit disenfranchised groups.

Collective Action and Change: A Reflection

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2020 has been exhausting. Between murder hornets, escalating tensions among adversarial countries, a global pandemic, and racism, it’s getting harder and harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel – and the year isn’t even half over yet.

As tempestuous as the world seems right now though, I’ve gained levity in working with my Citizens’ Climate Lobby action group, to lobby for the passage of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. I’ve built on my collaborative work skills and gleamed valuable insight into the process of collective action and deliberation, and had the chance to work with a diverse coalition of people from across the country and the globe to relate the knowledge we gained in the course to the real world. This work has given me hope that systematic change is possible through collective action.

Citizens' Climate Lobby - take action on climate change solutions

Citizens’ Climate Lobby, via https://citizensclimatelobby.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/CCL-Logo.gif

Group work has, no doubt, been complicated by the fact that we’re living through a global pandemic. However, my group mates and I made the best of a difficult situation and flexibly scheduled our weekly Zoom and Whatsapp meetings. Arranging a time for a videoconference that worked for people in Washington State, Ohio, and France was not easy, but we made do. To ensure equal distribution of work, we collectively decided to finish one training per person, per week, and then summarize that training for the rest of the group.

Our work for CCL builds upon Michael Maniates policy prescription in “Individualization”. Rather than plant trees or ride our bikes to work, we will be lobbying for systemic change in policy. Our work will necessarily invoke systems thinking in this way. By considering the inputs and outputs of the act, as well as its potential downstream effects (both economic and environmental), we’ve taken a holistic approach to the understanding the act, systems thinking in essence.

Citizens' Climate Lobby | Our preferred climate change legislation

via https://citizensclimatelobby.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/eicda-2019-benefits.png

Ultimately, I’ve walked away from this experience with a feeling that I can make a material difference in the world. Although my lobby session isn’t until June 17th, I am confident in my abilities to persuade my member of Congress, and look forward to being a force for real good in the world – something that I could not have accomplished without the hard work of my group mates, and the volunteers at CCL.

Rain, Thibault, Rachel, Alan, and Jess: thanks for a great quarter.

– Dakota

Salish Center and the Importance of Food Sourcing Education

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My work with the Salish Center was focused on establishing a PDO (protected designation of origin) for all seafood harvested in the Salish Sea. In effect, this would ensure that all seafood derived from the Salish Sea would be labelled as such, and that no non-Salish Sea seafood could be labelled as a product of the Salish Sea. The concepts that we focused on reminded me of Wendell Berry’s work on The Pleasures of Eating and Karen Litfin’s work on Localism. In this way, my work with the Salish Center highlighted the intersection between the legal classification of food and how this fosters community development and pride in local food production.

Salish Sea Certified designation

Sample medallion for Salish Sea Certified PDO. Image courtesy of: https://salishcenter.org/#mission

As our program director told us, one of the primary goals of establishing a PDO for Salish seafood was to foster community pride in what he considers to be a superior food product relative to other seafood. By identifying a superior product as Salish Sea derived, the Salish Center hoped that local populations would be driven to protect the sanctity of the product’s origin. This is reminiscent of Berry’s quote that “eaters… must understand that eating takes place inescapably in the world” in order to contextualize their place in a larger food system. By stressing the importance of the health of the Salish Sea in bringing about its superior seafood, the Salish Center was essentially working to help consumers remember that their seafood and the quality thereof was contingent on a tangible, mutable part of the world.

See the source image

The Salish Center’s work helped remind consumers of the tangible source of their product’s origin. Image courtesy of Puget Sound Action Team.

Further, by identifying superior Salish seafood as a local product, the Salish Center  worked to incentivize consumers to reduce their “food miles” by buying local. The rationale behind this is that consumers would recognize and respond to the superiority of the Salish Sea’s products with increased consumption thereof, thus simultaneously supporting their own appetite and local food economies. As Litfin points out in “Localism”, “a local economy will have lower energy requirements and therefore be ecologically friendlier”. In this way, the Salish Center’s work contributed to environmental conservation.

My takeaway from this project is the power that something so simple as food labelling has in forming and protecting a community. Prior to working with the Salish Center, I could only imagine the corporate incentives behind labelling food as “organic” or “Walla-Walla sourced”, for example, but now I understand the importance that such labels have to protecting the source of the product and reinforcing pride in local food economies.