This unit is designed to explore some of the many issues surrounding global food production and distribution. We as North Americans consume more food than any other region, and our industrial farming techniques require heavy chemical use to sustain. New developments in Genetic engineering pose many questions regarding ownership of food and food production. Related to food issues is the role the first world plays in third world development through instiutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as the countless Non-Governmental Organizations at work around the world. The 1985-85 famine in Ethiopia serves as a powerful case study in both the devastation of famine and the ability of the industrialized world to respond.
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Unit Assignments
Food, Starvation and Hunger questions
Read the text, pages 145-151, and answer the following questions:
- What is SNU? What average has been adopted in determining food consumption. Using Appendix 2, identify ten countries above the average and ten below. Where does each type tend to be located?
- What is starvation, and why is it such a serious condition?
- What is the main cause of starvation? What conditions usually exist which lead to this cause?
- How do the politics of land ownership contribute to conditions which lead to starvation?
- What is chronic hunger, and how is it distinct from starvation?
- What is malnutrition, and how is it distinct from hunger?
- Make a chart which demonstrates the five diseases - Kwashiorkor, beriberi, pellagra, scurvy, and rickets - which result from malnutrition described in the text. Include the condition, what causes it, and symptoms.
- Describe how the unequal distribution of soil, water, sunlight and heat complicate agricultural production.
- Examine the map on page 151, and draw 3 or 4 conclusions about the worldwide distribution of croplands and livestock.
"Food to Die For"
While watching the video, consider the following four propositions:
- North Americans are obsessed with food, and express this obsession in a love-hate relationship. On the one hand we gorge ourselves with high-calorie foods, yet struggle to lose weight.
- Food is a women's issue - from purchasing to preparing to worrying about weight, women are more preoccupied with food concerns than men.
- We no longer use food as simply fuel for the body.
- The diet industry is to blame for our confusion over what "healthy eating" means.
Techno-pox
Read the handout "A Techno-pox upon the land" and answer the questions which follow:
Foreign Aid
Read the handout "Forms of Foreign Aid" and answer the questions which follow:
Test Review
Text readings and articles
Food production
Videos:
Foreign Aid:
Test Structure: