Institutional Analysis: Corporatization of Food Systems (Globalism) Impact on Developmental Education at Adams State University, and What I plan to do about It

Transnational Corporatization of Food Systems

leads to

Cheap Sickening Food

Meanwhile

Food Deserts

lead to

32.3% of San Luis Valley Colorado residents experiencing Food Insecurity/Nutrition Deficiencies (Citation 1)

which leads to

Hungry children who cannot concentrate, whose cognitive abilities limit reading, writing and math success.

and

of 2011 Alamosa, CO, high school seniors who attended higher education in Colorado. (Citation 2)

and

Minimum wages jobs which cost communities about $6000 in tax payer subsidies per employee. (Citation 3)

FOUR MAJOR IMPACTS: Nutrition, Cognition, Need for Remediation (Developmental Education), and Limited Post-Secondary Opportunities/Economic Participation in the Community.

THE PLAN: Develop a program called "Empowering People Through Food" which engages students in readings/discussions of food policy and nutrition while sharing a weekly Wednesday evening meal and cooking lesson.  Students then serve with community agencies to teach cooking, nutrition and gardening classes.  Students who choose to enroll in the AmeriCorps Education Award program receive an $1100 scholarship after 300 hours of service.  There are ten students who plan to enroll Fall 2013.

This plan addresses the first two impacts of nutrition and cognition by outreaching to communities pre-emptively, thereby lessening the third and fourth impacts of remediation and limited economic opportunities.

Citations:

1) Food Bank Network of the San Luis Valley (2013). http://www.lapuente.net/foodbank.php

2) Colorado Department of Higher Education (2013). 2012 Legislative Report on Remedial Education. (page 30)  http://www.cde.state.co.us/Communications/download/PDF/2012_Remedial.pdf

3) Unger, R. (2013). California To Wal-Mart: Enough! No More Taxpayer Subsidized Profits For You. http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/06/03/california-to-wal-mart-enough-no-more-taxpayer-subsidized-profits-for-you/

References:

Bowers, C. (2005). Educating for a Sustainable Future: Mediating Between the Commons and Economic Globalization. Accessible at http://www.cabowers.net/pdf/Educatingforasustainablefuture.pdf

Steger, M.B. (2009).  Globalization: A Very Short Introduction. 2^nd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Reaction vs Reflection

"Why the hell are you doing that?"

When a friend asks this, I have at least two potential responses:

1) Yeah, you're right, nevermind.  I'll stop.

or

2) Hmm.  Good question.

We tend to reflect on our decisions only when prompted; much of the time we use automatic stimulus/response to the world. If there is any perceived hostility in the prompt (why are you doing that? vs why the heck are you doing that?!), we may be more likely to respond by stopping the behavior/choice/direction we're moving, the same way we respond to "watch out!"

However, sometimes we surround ourselves with really good friends who support us in a less judgy way as we navigate through the world, authentically following our inner voices, working through the details of our lives.  These friends prompt us in a way that doesn't provoke the first response/avoidance--that honors our decisions while nudging us to be able to explain our reasons, to create the narrative of our life in a way that makes sense, has coherence.