Reading Assignment

Reading Assignment

Farmer in Chief

Follow this link to a very interesting article by Michael Pollan (author of the "Omnivores Dilemma"). He is the Knight Professor of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author, most recently, of “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.”).

This article is an open letter to President Obama and highlights many of the major topics surrounding food, our health and the health of the environment. The beginning talks about some of the problems we are facing (of course) and how we got here (very interesting if not a bit scary) but then goes into thoughts on how we can affect change.

Your assignment is to read and annotate the article in preparation for Socratic Seminar on Thursday. If you choose to read it online, I will be looking to see the notes you have taken in your journal; if you print it out I will be looking to see that you have good notations and highlighting.

In both cases, I really need to see you have taken the time to interact with the text and have not only highlighted interesting thoughts and facts but have also asked questions. You are also responsible for writing three discussion questions that could be used to start the socratic seminar.

Stop Motion Plant Information

For each of your plants explain the information that makes it interesting

Origin: Where does your plant originate...does it have an interesting history of how it became domesticated?

Nutrition: What are the nutritional values for your plant? Are there interesting chemicals in your plant (medicinal qualities, antioxidants etc.)

Interesting Facts: Anything that has not yet been mentioned.

Also include a color picture of your plant.

Artist Statements

What I am most amazed by is how well our students openly discuss each others work. It is hard to critique something that so many have worked so hard on.

With the change in art direction for display on exhibition, I expect you all are a bit confused about what to write and for those of you who read this here are some thoughts.

For the rough draft of your science component I would like you to create an artist statement about the science in your project...Why did you chose the topic you did? Why is it important? Is there a call to action you would like to leave with your audience? What have you found out that you are most amazed by? What most needs to be changed by the human species?

Include your bibliography...and look at your sources! Are they credible? Do they strengthen your thesis?

Senior Project

You all have your senior projects lining up in Margaret's class, now you need to batten down what your research in environmental science will "look" like. You have topics that are being approved and your creative brainstorming is well on its way...now what research do you need to conduct to give you the background knowledge to give your creativity depth?

What will your environmental science research entail (require)?

Answer: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How...for the environmental research you will conduct.

You can really answer these however you interpret them (I want you to think through each of them and decide whether or not they apply to your research). Here are just some thoughts.

Why is your project worth doing? Who cares?

Who in the area might be able to help you…who could you interview etc.

What questions do you need to answer to get the background necessary to know what you are talking about?(required)

What form will you use to display your research?...Will it be displayed in your Media piece, or will you use something to show your research in order to maintain your creative integrity?(required)

When will you get your footage?...do you need some background knowledge before head out?

Where do you need to go to get footage, sounds, research?

How will you track the research that you are conducting...tied to what form will your research take...but might be different.

What do you need from me?

What are your next steps?(required)

What will you research first?

What do you need to get/do?

Reading Assignment

Farmer in Chief

Follow this link to a very interesting article by Michael Pollan (author of the "Omnivores Dilemma"). He is the Knight Professor of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author, most recently, of “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.”).

This article is an open letter to President Obama and highlights many of the major topics surrounding food, our health and the health of the environment. The beginning talks about some of the problems we are facing (of course) and how we got here (very interesting if not a bit scary) but then goes into thoughts on how we can affect change.

Your assignment is to read and annotate the article in preparation for Socratic Seminar on Wednesday. If you choose to read it online, I will be looking to see the notes you have taken in your journal; if you print it out I will be looking to see that you have good notations and highlighting.

In both cases, I really need to see you have taken the time to interact with the text and have not only highlighted interesting thoughts and facts but have also asked questions. You are also responsible for writing three discussion questions that could be used to start the socratic seminar.

Reading Assignment

Follow the link below and read the article and of course look at the pictures. Write your response on your blog with the picture you found most thought provoking.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/06/cheap-food/bourne-text

Senior Project Entry

For those of you who might still be wondering what it is I am looking for in your blog entries, this is for you!

There are almost endless themes in Environmental Science; only for the sake of narrowing this down, I named seven. I want you to choose one (or more) that seems the most important (or most interesting) to you and incorporate this/these themes into the research in my class that will inspire what you create in Margaret's class. For your blog entry I would like you to ponder some of what you have heard and throw some ideas out that you think might work for senior project...and then next week you will have the benefit of getting feed back from your peers and myself in the form of comments to these entries. Here are the seven themes and some ramblings about what you might want to focus on. Good luck!

1)Population: growing numbers seems to mean growing stress on the environment. There is of course room for argument, perhaps if we all lived a more sustainable lifestyle the earth could support these higher numbers

2) Energy: There is no argument over the fact that we will run out of fossil fuels, the questions that remain are, when? and is our fossil fuel addiction creating climate change on a global scale (3,000 of the worlds top scientists say that this is no longer a debate, but we will leave the argument open)? It goes far beyond this though...it seems everything we do, use, buy and throw away has energy inherent in it, how can we make our systems more efficient?

3) Water: Only 1% of the world's water is fresh and available to the land dwelling animals (us included). Are we squandering a limited resource? This is the water we use to drink, grow our crops, maintain our green yards and flush down the toilet etc...Are we mindful of the effects we have everyday on the quality of water?

4) Food: Something that unites us all. Our food systems are there to feed the world...Is industrial agriculture a necessary means to this end, or is there a way that is more balanced to help maintain the earth's natural systems? Is organic enough to be sustainable? What is necessary to ensure benefits to the environment, the world's economy and equity among our communities?

5) Waste: So many subtopics within this! We humans waste so many things...water, energy, food, materials. So much of our lives ends up in a landfill somewhere where it is no longer good for anything. How can we change our lifestyles to be more sustainable?

6) Land and Development: Again it comes back to our population and it's perceived needs. We need to feed ourselves, but does this need to be at the expense of the world's biodiversity? Many of our current agricultural practices poison living things, expose us to toxins, contaminate the water, and promote soil loss and erosion. We need resources to better society...does this mean we need to strip the world bare to do it?

7) Climate and Atmosphere: Literally the air we breath! And some members of our society may be more at risk to breathing polluted air than others. Asthma corridors seem to situated in poorer neighborhoods. How can we minimize our contributions to climate change? The hole in the ozone layer proved not only can the things we do affect the atmosphere as a whole, but that when we put our minds (and laws) to it, we CAN positively affect change. The Montreal Protocol has helped to reverse the ozone problem.

So there you have it...some food for thought! My hope is that through your research and through others' presentations you will find something that inspire you to delve deeper. Why do some of these things that appear to be problems continue to exist? More importantly, what can WE do to make the world a better place for all living things?