Regenerating Sustanability Week 9

ADRIAN

CHU

SIN

CHUNG

332874

Physical Engagement - Ceres Activity

The purpose of this week’s ac vity was to try to actually personally engage with the theory that we have been learning over the past 9 weeks. To me, it was a sort of a springborad for the Vic Market projects that is upcoming - not so prac cal, yet hands on enough to get our mind star ng to work about the real life applica ons/ implica ons.

Our approach was to use the idea of organic fruits to trigger a thinking process that would have small implica ons, then become bigger and touch bigger issues.

Let me explain: • We purchased 2 sets of fruits, organic and non organic.

• A er giving the other teams some facts and benefits of organic over non organic, we gave them samples of fruits to taste, without saying which ones were organic, and which were not.

• We asked them to fill a ques onnaire about taste, quality, freshness, and if they would be willing to pay the extra dollar for the be er version.

Where is this progression from small to big? By ge ng the other group to start thinking about fruits, we managed to get them personally involved in the process.

Once this was done, I personally felt that they felt more engaged, with them comparing the ac vity with previous organic fruits they have tasted before.

Once this was achieved, we started reflec ng on where the fruits come from, the energy required for transporta on, the fer lisers used and the associated health risks. Although this sounds more a health issue than an environmental sustainability one, we gradually moved our way up, managing to link organic/ non-organic fruits to broader ideas of sustainability including the theories of the past weeks.

This link has become more apparent not when we were discussing how nonorganic were not sustainable, but when we realised the huge benefits (not only health) of organic.

A

B A: Drawbacks of non-organic B: Accepted standard C: Benefits of organic

C

The chart above only shows my percep on of the situa on. Maybe I am biased because the ac vity that I designed was specifically to show the benefits of organic foods in terms of sustainability, but I s ll strongly believe that organic foods, coupled with other prac ces have a huge poten al.

So what were we expec ng from that morning? To begin NOT such a crappy weather (although the rain on the fruits did make them appear fresher). But seriously, we had quite a fixed idea of what responses would have been when we designed the ques onnaire. However, we had quite a slap when we received the other group’s feedback. Some of their comments were: •

•

• •

They did not all agree on the answers (some found more difference in the quality of organic/non-organic apples, others found the difference in the grapes more significant.)

Although there was a general agreement that the organic tasted be er, some commented that some organic fruits they had tasted in the past tasted a lot be er.

They would not be willing to pay twice the amount of money (which we paid for the organic fruits) for those organic fruits in par cular.

With regards to non-health benefits, we had an interes ng observa on about how increasing world popula ons required more food supply, and intensively farmed crops might be the only feasible solu on so far.

This is what I meant when I said earlier how small issues gradually led to bigger ones. We started by discussing about personal things such as preferences regarding taste, and the discussion gradually jumped scale and we ended up talking about bigger issues such as world popula on and food supply.

Has it been a successful ac vity? I personally believe so. Why? Because we managed to demonstrate that in a very short period of me, that small, seemingly insignificant issues can actually hide keys to resolving larger stakes.

Some mes, small ini al ideas weigh more in the balance than the bigger end game.

By star ng with organic fruits, we have been able to devise several possible strategies, which we might not have obtained if we had not started small.

What does it mean ‘if we had not started small’? Let’s see what genius ideas we came up with first (very closely related to the Vic Market): • • • •

Use natural fer lisers instead of petrochemical NPKs to reduce the amounts of nocive chemicals (remember the worm poo from my last card?)

Create community gardens (or Vic Market gardens) to reduce the distance the food needs to travel, thus reducing the embedded energy.

Use unused urban areas (parks, backyards) to address the higher stress over agricultural lands caused by increasing food demands.

Involve the community so that the cost of producing organic food drops.

Some of these ideas might not have been so apparent if we had not started by ea ng fruits. Ok that is probably is an overstatement, but if organic fruits did not have environmental benefits in the first place, the need for community or backyard gardens would have been obsolete.

What have we learned from this ac vity? Although if at the start we all start with the same set of theories, we all approached this ac vity differently, some mes even having conflic ng views on certain aspects. And we also realised that it is a lot harder to apply the theory to a real life situa on, so simple one as to balance the quality, price and environmental benefits of organic fruits.

Vic Market? Well fruits are such an important component at the heart of Vic Market that is has not been too difficult to apply what we have learned. Similarly to what I said in my last reflec on card, community gardens are a great way to go. They have the immense poten al to incorporate several simple strategies that can make the ins tu on more sustainable on several different levels - economic, social, environmental.

“It’s the liƩle details that are vital. LiƩle things make big things happen”

Robert Duvall

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Lyle, John T., ‘ Sustainability in the Neotechnical Era’, RegeneraƟve Design for Sustainable Development. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Organic Foods Online. Health Benefits of EaƟng a Balanced Diet of Organic Fruits and Vegetables. [Online] Available: h p://www.organicfood.com.au/content_common/pg-health-benefits-mix-fruit-veg.seo Accessed: 4th May 2012.