What America can learn from one of the most sustainable food nations on Earth.
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Global news with a spatial perspective: Interesting, current supplemental materials for geography students and teachers. http://geographyeducation.org
Curated by
Seth Dixon
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Seth Dixon's insight:
Many feel that corporate expansion within the food industries is inevitable because that's what we are currently experiencing in highly globalized countries such as the United States. Bolivia proves an example of a country that that has rejected corporate hegemony in the marketplace because they support traditional food choices and local vendors. Keep in mind that we shouldn't overly romanticize Bolivia, but they are a compelling example showing that consumers can impact food options. Tags: food, globalization, South America, folk cultures, indigenous, culture, Bolivia. Delete the scoop?
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Seth Dixon's insight:
Previously I shared a gallery portraying 20 families from around world together with a full week of groceries (from the book Hungry Planet or in this abbreviated online version). Today it's the breakfast table which shows differences in agricultural, development and cultural patterns around the world. Tags: food, agriculture, worldwide, culture, development. 
AckerbauHalle's curator insight,
May 14, 10:57 AM
Nach den Wochespeiseplänen hier ein Vergleichn von Frühstücksvarianten im Ländervergleich - lecker, lecker Delete the scoop?
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Seth Dixon's insight:
How could this prompt (with accompanying activities and lesson plans) fit in with what you teach or study? Tags: consumption, food, development, resources, sustainability. 
Sally Egan's curator insight,
April 10, 6:34 PM
Useful for teh Fodd Security section which will be in the National Curriculum. The video provides an animated presentation of reasons for inequity in food availability over the globe. The activities on Oxfam site are useable resources. Delete the scoop?
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Want to know where the poor live? Look at where the light isn’t. "Satellite photos of Earth’s artificial lights at night form a luminescent landscape. But researcher Chris Elvidge of NOAA and colleagues from the University of Colorado and the University of Denver realized that they could also illuminate something much darker: the magnitude of human poverty. By comparing the amount of light in a particular area and its known population, they realized that they could infer the percentage of people who are able to afford electricity and the level of government spending on infrastructure development. This allowed them to extrapolate levels of human development—a measure of well-being that includes such factors as income, life expectancy and literacy." Delete the scoop?
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"77 Photos of the mass production of the Earth's natural resources. In the picture above, a Tibetan villager works in a salt field. Salt has been the most common food preservative, especially for meat, for thousands of years." Tags: consumption, agriculture, resources, labor, industry, economic, unit 6 industry.
Seth Dixon's insight:
Coal, steel, gold, iron, copper, aluminum and oil are all incredibly important commodities. Agricultural products such as rice, cotton, corn, wheat and coffee all travel far beyond their area of origin. Where do these resources come from? How are they produced? This gallery of 77 pictures is a fantastic tour of the resources that are key cogs in the global economy. Delete the scoop?
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View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/where-we-get-our-fresh-water-christiana-z-peppard Fresh water accounts for only 2.5% of Earth's...
Seth Dixon's insight:
How much of the Earth's water is fresh water? How much of that is used for industrial, agricultural or domestic uses? Why is groundwater becoming increasingly utilized? Enjoy this TED-ED video for the answers. Tags: water, environment, consumption, resources, environment depend. Delete the scoop?
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Bolivian and Peruvian farmers sell entire crop to meet rising western demand, sparking fears of malnutrition
Seth Dixon's insight:
Quinoa was once a traditional Andean grain that few outside of South America consumed, but it has quickly become a staple among the health-conscious in developed countries in recent years. Dieticians and nutritional experts give it their seal of approval because it is a low-fat starch that is high in protein and filled with amino acids. This rapid adoption of quinoa in high-priced whole food stores has changed the economics of quinoa dramatically. Peruvian and Bolivian farmers are selling at high prices with huge global demand. Local consumers who have traditionally relied on this crop however, now have to pay triple the price to eat quinoa, causing some to question the ethics of quinoa consumption. A simple change in cultural eating habits in one part of the world can have some major impacts on the economy and agriculture of another region. Tags: food, agriculture, South America, consumption, unit 5 agriculture. 
Jen-ai's curator insight,
January 24, 2:14 PM
Your love of this favorite gluten free grain might be jeapordizing the health of the Andina farmers who grow it. Delete the scoop?
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Jeffrey Gettleman, The Times’s Nairobi bureau chief, reports on how Kenya’s wildlife conservation corps is learning from a reformed poacher how to counter the growing threat to elephants.
Seth Dixon's insight:
In Somalia, former pirates are helping to patrol the coasts to prevent piracy. This idea of reforming and recruiting past criminals is also seen in Kenya as former poachers are trying to protect elephants that are essential to the local ecology as well as the tourism-driven economy. In addition to the attached video is this article which expands on these issues. Tags: biogeography, tourism, Africa, consumption, resources, ecology, Kenya. Delete the scoop?
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Nielsen Prizm is a tool used by companies to analyze their customers spending habits, lifestyle choices and spatial patterns. Using their Zip Code Look Up feature, you can search any zip code to g... This is an interesting glimpse into how market research analysts view neighborhoods, geography and spatial analysis. This economic and cultural data has a wide range of uses (albeit with some serious limitations). Tags: socioeconomic, neighborhood, place, economic, consumption, spatial, mapping. Delete the scoop?
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10 ways to go green this holiday season. Zero Waste holiday tips from Eco-Cycle. This infographic combined with these recommendations are some simple reminders that mass consumption and waste does not contribute to global joy or cheer. 
Mary Rack's comment,
November 25, 2012 8:10 PM
I shared this on Facebook and Google+. Hope for lots of readers and followers!
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This interactive map documents where 443 million people around the world get there water (although the United States data is by far the most extensive). Most people can't answer this question. A recent poll by The Nature Conservancy discoverd that 77% of Americans (not on private well water) don't know where their water comes from, they just drink it. This link has videos, infographics and suggestions to promote cleaner water. This is also a fabulous example of an embedded map using ArcGIS Online to share geospatial data with a wider audience.
Tags: GIS, water, fluvial, environment, ESRI, pollution, development, consumption, resources, mapping, environment depend, cartography, geospatial. 
Nic Hardisty's comment,
October 15, 2012 9:01 AM
I was definitely unaware of where my drinking water came from. This is nice, user-friendly map... Hopefully it gets updated regularly, as it will be interesting to see how these sources change over time.
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The green dots on this map representing Starbucks locations which are obviously clustered in major metropolitan centers. Cross-referencing this Starbucks address location with population data, Davenport explains his mapping technique: "By counting the number of people who live within a given distance to each Starbucks, we can measure how well centered Frappuccinos are to the US citizenry. In other words: draw a 1-mile circle around every store, then add up the % of the population living within the circles. Repeat for 2, 3, 4....100 miles." The result of this data is a fabulous logrithmic S-curve which explains much about the American population distribution. Tags: statistics, density, consumption, mapping, visualization, urban. Delete the scoop?
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NASA's Visible Earth catalog of NASA images and animations of our home planet... This classic image is full of classroom applications. The first impulse of most students is to note that this image will show us where people live, where the cities are or some other comment that speaks to the magnitude of the population in the white areas. Let them analyze this for more time, and they'll notice that population isn't the whole story of this image. A place like India shines, but less brightly than the eastern part of the United States. I like to point out that South Korea appears to be an island (because North Korea is literally blacked out). Politics, development, affluence and population information are all embedded in this image. As with all maps, the more information you have about the place in question (in this case, Earth), the more meaningful information you can extract out of the map. Tags: remote sensing, worldwide, consumption, poverty, population, spatial, political, regions. 
Matt Mallinson's comment,
September 18, 2012 12:35 PM
This image is pretty amazing to see. It shows what parts of the world are more modernized just by the lights seen from space. Looking at the U.S. and Europe, they are lit up very bright because they are richer parts of the world. As you look at places like Africa and some parts of South America, they are shown in darkness due to poorer areas in those regions.
Michelle Carvajal's comment,
September 18, 2012 6:07 PM
I was impressed with the explanation of this picture especially for the simple fact that I thought it was a picture that depicted the population of certain areas of each country. Places like Africa, Brazil, areas of Mexico, and Southern US are not lit because of the areas of forest, desert and less population. Very nice picture. -Michelle Carvajal-
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Portions of the High Plains Aquifer are rapidly being depleted by farmers who are pumping too much water to irrigate their crops, particularly in the southern half in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Levels have declined up to 242 feet in some areas, from predevelopment — before substantial groundwater irrigation began — to 2011.
Seth Dixon's insight:
The article connected to this map from the New York Times can be found here. "Two years of extreme drought, during which farmers relied almost completely on groundwater, have brought the seriousness of the problem home. In 2011 and 2012, the Kansas Geological Survey reports, the average water level in the state’s portion of the aquifer dropped 4.25 feet — nearly a third of the total decline since 1996." Tags: water, agriculture, environment, consumption, resources, environment depend. 
Michael Miller's curator insight,
May 20, 1:41 PM
The recent PBS special on the Dust Bowl also addressed this current problem and how some American farmers are not learning from past mistakes. Delete the scoop?
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Seth Dixon's insight:
I've posted on this previously, but this imgur gallery puts the images in a stunning new format for sharing. This gallery portrays 20 families from around world together with their weeks food. The differences in agricultural, development and cultural patterns are plainly manifest. For more context on this photographic project (as well as the details of the families and their food), it is chronicled in the book Hungry Planet or in this abbreviated online version. Tags: food, agriculture, worldwide, consumption, culture, development. 
Samuel Yeats's curator insight,
May 8, 12:40 AM
Q1) How does this slideshow depict the differing socioeconomic situations of countries around the world? (Use the example of at least 2 countries) Q2) Do you think that the image of an Australian weekly diet is accurate to your own family and why? Delete the scoop?
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An arid region grew even drier between 2003 and 2009 due to human consumption of water for drinking and agriculture.
Seth Dixon's insight:
As drought conditions have hit the Middle East, growing populations are using more water per capita then ever. See this on Google Earth with this KMZ file. Tags: water, environment, consumption, resources, environment depend, Middle East, Iraq. 
Adam Cooke's curator insight,
March 19, 4:34 PM
Great Google Earth resources looking at the shrinking of water storage in the Middle East. Critical reading for our water unit and a superb example of how powerful imaging like Google Earth can be. 
Mary Patrick Schoettinger's curator insight,
March 20, 9:56 AM
What we don't learn from the past is bound to repeat itself-over and over again. Delete the scoop?
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A new study using data from a pair of gravity-measuring NASA satellites finds that large parts of the arid Middle East region lost freshwater reserves rapidly during the past decade. "[This] data show an alarming rate of decrease in total water storage in the Tigris and Euphrates river basins, which currently have the second fastest rate of groundwater storage loss on Earth, after India," said Jay Famiglietti, principal investigator of the study and a hydrologist and professor at UC Irvine. "The rate was especially striking after the 2007 drought. Meanwhile, demand for freshwater continues to rise, and the region does not coordinate its water management because of different interpretations of international laws." Tags: water, environment, consumption, resources, environment depend, Middle East, Iraq.
Seth Dixon's insight:
This is a perfect example of geospatial technologies can lead to a better understanding of how the Earth's physical systems are changing because of human geography. Teaching geography is about showing how these systems are interconnected. Delete the scoop?
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When horse meat was discovered in beef hamburgers in Ireland last month, governments, corporations and regulators assured a panicked public that it was complete Tags: food, agriculture, consumption, unit 5 agriculture, globalization, agribusiness.
Seth Dixon's insight:
Just what is in our food anyway? This scandal reveals how removed comsumers are from the production of the foods that they purchase. As these commodity chains become longer and more complex, food safety appears to take a back seat to profit margins. 
benj's comment,
February 28, 6:37 PM
Some people choose to become vegetarian because they found out various disturbing details about the meats they ate. Some people may even shift toward being vegan because they figure that other animal derived foods such as eggs and dairy products share these nasty details.
chris tobin's comment,
February 28, 6:42 PM
I do know people who have become vegetarians because of these reasons you state. Cargill and Tyson are to blame too for taking advantage of the industry....people who work for them have to make a living and have little choices or they get fired....animals do not move around much and its like an assembly line....Recommend YOU TUBE video 'Food Incorporated' ....there are some others
Adrian Bahan (MNPS)'s curator insight,
March 7, 8:12 PM
What trends in agribusiness are conveyed in this map? Delete the scoop?
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What's on family dinner tables around the globe? Photographs by Peter Menzel from the book "Hungry Planet"
Seth Dixon's insight:
This gallery of 16 families from around world together with their week food is quite a treat that shows agricultural, development and cultural patterns. Pictured above is the Ayme family from Ecuador, just one of the many family's highlighted in the book Hungry Planet. The Ayme family that typically spends $31.55 on food and commonly eat potato soup with cabbage. Tags: food, agriculture, worldwide, consumption, unit 5 agriculture, book reviews, culture, development, unit 3 culture. 
John Peterson's comment,
April 30, 10:38 AM
This collection of slides does a very good job of showing their very different diets that are present in different areas of the world. While the price of food is obviously going to be different throughout the world, it is very interesting to see he very different types of food that are consumed by different groups of people. In different areas of the world, there is more emphasis on different types of food. In some places for example they may eat a lot of fruit while in others they may eat a lot of beans or bread. The different amounts that these foods are eaten are tied into both the economic and social aspects of these different cultures. This is because in each area, different things are going to be more affordable and available, as well as being more traditionally eaten. There can also be a difference in the percentage of homemade food in a weekly diet in different areas of the world. While some areas will not have any fast food places or restaurants readily available, others will and will often use these locations which will drastically change their diet habits.
Jess Pitrone's comment,
May 5, 5:47 PM
These photos are very interesting, in the way it’s interesting to explore someone else’s house the first time you visit. Looking to see the differences in what people around the world eat, but also how much people around the world eat is fascinating. The fact that the family in Chad eat about one quarter of what most families around the world eat is really telling. What a family eats in week reveals a lot about both their culture, their economy, and their geographic location. It’s no surprise that the people in Japan eat a lot of fish, because they’re an island country; and it wasn’t surprising to see so much bread on the table of the Italian family, because bread is such a large part of the Italian culture. What I did find absolutely fascinating is that most of the families had a bottle of Coca-Cola on their table, which just goes to show you how interconnected our global community is.
Jess Pitrone's comment,
May 5, 5:47 PM
These photos are very interesting, in the way it’s interesting to explore someone else’s house the first time you visit. Looking to see the differences in what people around the world eat, but also how much people around the world eat is fascinating. The fact that the family in Chad eat about one quarter of what most families around the world eat is really telling. What a family eats in week reveals a lot about both their culture, their economy, and their geographic location. It’s no surprise that the people in Japan eat a lot of fish, because they’re an island country; and it wasn’t surprising to see so much bread on the table of the Italian family, because bread is such a large part of the Italian culture. What I did find absolutely fascinating is that most of the families had a bottle of Coca-Cola on their table, which just goes to show you how interconnected our global community is.
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Britain's biggest supermarkets defend their practices after a report suggested that up to half of the world's food is thrown away.
Seth Dixon's insight:
The mechanization of the all stages of food production has lead to some strange practices. The geometry of a food matters for a mechanized processing and also for the aesthetics at the grocery store which leads to slightly misshaped vegetables and fruits are routinely discarded. There is waste throughout the system, from 'field to fork.'
Tags: food, agriculture, consumption, sustainability, unit 5 agriculture. Delete the scoop?
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Energy conservation starts at home.... This interesting National Geographic article emphasizes how consumption patterns in the home are connected to some of the serious global issues that we currently face. This article becomes an exploration into how to go about creating a more environmentally sustainable home. 
Teresa Gallego Navarro's curator insight,
December 18, 2012 9:50 PM
The best energy is the one we don´t consumpt!! Delete the scoop?
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Unicharm Corp.’s sales of adult diapers in Japan exceeded those for babies for the first time last year. At Daiei Inc. supermarkets, customers can feel Japan aging -- literally: It has made shopping carts lighter. Japan's demographic shifts are well-chronicled: the Japanese are having fewer children and the improvements in healthcare mean that the elderly are living longer than ever. Combined this means that Japan's population pyramid is getting "top heavy." This population change is having huge econmic impacts as the percentage of Japanese people is now over 23%. Retailers and industries are heavily targeting this expanding demographic with financial clout that outspends all other cohorts. Tags: Japan, declining population, economic, population, demographics, unit 2 population, East Asia, consumption. Delete the scoop?
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In an impoverished country, elephant poaching is a quick way to make big money. A pair of poachers explain how they track and kill elephants in one of Africa's top game reserves. The illegal sale of ivory in places such as Asia drive the elephant poachers to prey on Elephants in protected game reserves and national parks. The Selous Game Reserve is larger than Switzerland and yet they only have 10 rangers to protect and patrol the wildlife. Tags: biogeography, poverty, globalization, Africa, consumption, resources, ecology, podcast. Delete the scoop?
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TED Talks Western countries throw out nearly half of their food, not because it’s inedible -- but because it doesn’t look appealing. Tristram Stuart delves into the shocking data of wasted food, calling for a more responsible use of global resources. No one should be surprised that more developed societies are more wasteful societies. It is not just personal wasting of food at the house and restaurants that are the problem. Perfectly edible food is thrown out due to size (smaller than standards but perfectly normal), cosmetics (Bananas that are shaped 'funny') and costumer preference (discarded bread crust). This is an intriguing perpective on our consumptive culture, but it also is helpful in framing issues such as sustainability and human and environmental interactions in a technologically advanced societies that are often removed form the land where the food they eat originates. Tags: food, agriculture, consumption, sustainability, TED, video, unit 5 agriculture. Delete the scoop?
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Earlier I have posted the classic image of "Earth Lights at Night," and discussed the classroom uses of the image. This cartogram helps take that analysis one step further. This cartogram helps students to visualize the magnitude of population (with the cartogram adjusting area for population) and then to see the patterns of energy use, global consumption and urbanization with in a new light. Tags: remote sensing, worldwide, consumption, poverty, population, spatial, political, regions.
Matt Mallinson's comment,
October 1, 2012 11:29 AM
This map is obviously not the actual size of countries, but it is in a way. The populations of China and India are so great compared to the rest of the world and this map shows that.
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عمعم نمنم
More food related fodder for your fantastic friday.