Innovation in Action

Food, Sustainability, and Society

Innovation in Action

1. Plan and host a local foods expo.

2. Create a guide to help people in purchasing locally grown food. Assist your local government agency with promotional materials and public relations efforts, such as their website or newsletter.

3. Research one of your local school’s lunch program and/or a community hospital‘s food service. Write a proposal to potentially increase the purchase of more local foods. What are the challenges from both the supply and demand side? Read here about current efforts in California to bring local farmer‘s and school together: http://www.caff.org/policy/farm_to_school.shtml

4. Visit a local farm and photograph farmers. Showcase the photos in a community event to bring attention to local foods, and/or deliver the photos to farmer’s for

promotional use.

5. Research the effects of globalization on agriculture. Some ideas include: interviewing farmers on topics such as: free trade, immigrant workers, and environmental regulations. Blog your findings in a public forum or write an editorial for your local paper.

6. Plan a forum at your school or organization and invite local farmers to discuss issues such as globalization, quantity vs. quality as it relates to their farm’s production, and why it can be important to the community to purchase and eat locally.

7. Consider beginning a farmer’s market in your community if one does not currently exist, or bringing one to your/a school or another community center on a regular basis. What resources and skills would it take to sustain? Read here about how to begin: http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/farmmrkt.html#organ

8. Create a map of all the available food sources in our own neighborhood. Target and mark/designate grocers, convenience stores that also sell food, farmer’s markets within a given radius, etc. How accessible is healthy food/are healthy food choices in your area?

9. With a small group or on your own, research, plan, and design a farm that raises chickens, pigs, cows, or seafood in a sustainable, humane way. What are the costs involved? Create a business plan for your farm that proposes a different system and present your plan to the group/class.

10. Develop a “how to handle meat and seafood” guide for consumers. Consider making it available to grocers, farmer’s markets, and non -profit organizations interested in the safe handling of food and the health of consumers.

11. Writing letters to an editor can be a powerful way to initiate action. Choose an issue/topic that has been explored in Food, Sustainability, and Society and write a call to action letter to your local paper, urging the community to become involved in a specific way. For instance, you might suggest a community garden or a community/local meal.

12. Consider how to link area schools with community gardens/creating a community garden. Perhaps local school children’s snacks could be grown from a garden on school property and tended by the school community. Brainstorm ways to make this happen in your area.

13. Develop a fundraiser with proceeds going toward non profit organizations dedicated to animal rights/humane treatment, organic and/or sustainable farming, or one of the other issues explored in this unit. For example, you might create animal portraits in an art class and sell them.

14. Write a poem or short story that expresses the need for action in one area we’ve explored. Share your piece in a public forum.

15. Organize a presentation/workshop for younger children in your area schools discussing/illustrating the importance of eating locally and sustainable farming/food choices.