Book by tara popovic

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ara Popovic´ is a 17-year-old junior at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. She loves to spend time reading, traveling the world, petting her cat, waltzing through nature, getting great deals on sweaters at thrift stores, and spending time with good people. In her free time, you can find her doing all these things. Contrary to the logical nature of her computer science parents, she is a deep-thinking creative spirit who enjoys studying the humanities. Though nothing is certain, she would like to study English, political science, and design.

Food for Thought Tara Popovic

Food for Thought 1

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or my mother who has made me the person I am today. For my father who strives for me to be the person I could be tomorrow.

To the world that I live in and love so much, despite all its flaws.

To all the great people out there who eat food.

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would like to acknowledge Freestyle Academy of Communication Arts and Technology, which gave me the opportunity to write and design this book – a long time coming brainchild of mine. I would like to thank Mr. Greco for encouraging me to pursue such a complex topic and for spending so much of his time giving me moral support and writing advice.

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Table of Contents 9 11 13-15 17-23 25-27 29

Preface Introduction Chapter 1: Why Produce?

Chapter 2: Society's Food Burden Chapter 3: A Bay area Solution Conclusion

Preface L

ooking back on the more than 24 outside-of-school hours of writing and design work, I realize how much of a struggle this documentary project has been. Looking at the mostly-product now, I realize how much of a joy it has been to bring this brainchild to life.

I chose the specific topic of food and food justice because I truly believe that it has a great impact on our society and our planet, and that we need to try to protect our health and the environment. I chose a topic of such breadth and depth was because it was that exact complexity that intrigued me.

On this note, it is important for me to say that I have not come even close to giving this subject the full justice it deserves and shining a light on all its dark corners. There are so many intricacies of this subject that I simply could not address within a semester’s worth of time, where if I were to truly write a full book about politics of food it would take many years and be many pages longer. And this was what challenged me the most: figuring out how to cover the most important subjects within this topic sufficiently without drowning my book in the complexity. All I wanted was more time to complete this work, yet – like most things in life – there was limited time.

For Bay Area peninsula residents, this book will serve as a much needed introduction to the great business that is Foothill Produce. However, my larger hope is that my book will give any reader a taste of the American Food Problem – but hopefully a good enough taste that they will take an interest in going out and investigating it more by themselves and starting to make change in their lives. It all starts with each of us, so I started in my life own with this book.

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Introduction A

s you walk down the sterile aisles of your “local” Whole Foods on your most recent spurt of healthy lifestyle inspiration, you look at the $5.49 corn cobs, the $8.00 papaya, the $14.00 shiitake mushrooms, you realize you don’t have enough money in your wallet for a meal, then stop and almost wonder out loud: How is this sustainable? What you didn’t know is that the question you just asked yourself applies not only to the store-to-consumer end of the agriculture chain, but also the grower-to-store end of the food chain. One has to think not only about what is on the food shelves, but also how it got there. While not thought about in such a way by most people, the consumption of food is indeed a political act.

Due to the integral nature of agriculture in human history, its role and governing rules have evolved (and some would say eroded) steadily over time. Today in the U.S. the percentage of the population that works in agriculture is much smaller than, say, in 1918, yet the people who are working in agriculture today are working under harsher conditions. And, typically, they are working for large agricultural conglomerates that blur the lines between ethical, sustainable farming and severely damaging practices (such as unfair labor agreements with workers, unsustainable cultivation of crops and livestock, and excessive use of chemicals on farm produce).

Previous Page: one end of the vegetable section in Foothill Produce

Foothill Produce in Los Altos, CA is an ideal example of a small, family-owned, locally and sustainably-sourced produce store that has tried to remedy these concerns while providing consumers with great service. The store’s products - both produce and otherwise - are sustainably acquired, of a high quality, and guarantee a happy and ethically-conscious journey from farm to table.

So why should we care about how our food gets to our table?

As Anna Lappé, an avid and lifelong food activist and educator, puts it best in her book Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen, “Eating is the most essential act of every living creature. And in virtually every human culture, growing, eating, and sharing food has a spiritual dimension too. Today, eating is also unquestionably a political act. Our food choices, conscious or not, shape our world.”

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Chapter 1: Why Produce?

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t is a widely known and accepted fact that produce - fruits and vegetables - is one of the most important elements of a person’s diet. A Kansas State University study by business graduate student Lisa Linck on healthy diet states specifically that “A diet in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of cancers and other chronic diseases.” Most of us know that the benefits to one’s health from fresh, organic, and local produce present outweigh the financial costs. Yet, the same study cites that “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: only about 21 percent of adults consume the recommended amounts of fruits a day.” In fact, only about “one-third of adults consume the recommended amounts of vegetables a day.” Why are these statistics so poor when practically every paper about food starts with ‘..we all know fruits and veggies are an essential part of our diet?’ Why are people continuing to buy sub-par non-organic fruits and veggies?

overall diet” (pg. 96). As Lappé implies, getting the right nutrients as one would from a diet with the proper amount of produce - would mean you would be getting enough of everything and not need to eat so much food, and thus your overall spendings on food would decrease. Additionally, when you eat the right amount of produce and become healthier overall, you will have less of a need to pay for doctor’s visits, medical bills, prescriptions, and other elements of the life of a person with an unbalanced diet. In a word, produce is both the question and answer. The elements of a healthy diet are both widely known and yet widely unpracticed. To remedy this, we need to raise understanding in addition to just awareness. Grown is Good. Produce is Paramount.

Now the next step: Organics. We’ve established that eating healthy is the key to staying alive - something we all want for ourselves - and that the key to this, is produce. What we really need to discuss is the

The simple answer is money. The complicated answer is disputed value of organic awareness. produce. Many argue that organic produce is

While it is true that the immediate cost of produce is just an overpriced much greater than processed meals, the overall cost on your life is vegan-scheme of actually reduced because of the protein, antioxidant, and vitamin- a fad that holds no rich nature of produce diet. Anna Lappé summarizes this in her water.

However, book Grub: Ideas for an Urban Kitchen, saying that “while you may this is completely sometimes spend more on an individual item - an organic grapefruit false. “Many of our costs more than a chemically grown one - you’ll spend less on your healthiest foods-Previous Page : a customer shops for vegetables at Foothill Produce while an employee sorts vegetables

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fruits and vegetables--contain herbicide and pesticide residues that accumulate in our bodies. Levels are rising, according to a study at the University of California, San Diego. Such toxins disrupt hormones and damage health” (Tweed). There is a lot of harmful material in non-organic food that we are unaware of. These toxins are applied to the plants during the growing process and remain on our food when we consume it, even after a good wash.

With environmental degradation and the onset of global warming, now is the time for us to watch what we put in our bodies, no matter how insignificant we might believe it to be.

At this point you might be thinking, “yeah sure, but how do we know that organic is much better?” Since it is true that organic food is often significantly more expensive than non-organic food, it is very understandable that people would be skeptical before cashing in. I am here to tell you all - skeptics alike - that the organic food movement is not based on a fad. Organic is a real and tangible concept with substantial benefits. Organic foods - the status of which is tightly regulated by the government - are any foods that meet the United States Department of Agriculture’s standard of containing at least 95% of ingredients that are organic. This means they are “grown and processed according to federal guidelines addressing, among many factors, soil quality, animal raising practices, pest and weed control, and use of additives. Organic producers rely on natural substances and physical, mechanical, or biologically based farming methods to the fullest extent possible,” says the official USDA government website.

There is certainly a benefit to organic produce over nonorganic. As I said earlier, however; it is important not only for people to be aware of this but to also understand what this means and the weight that it carries. To make organic food the norm, we bring in the political aspect of consumption. We as individuals, to motivate Previous Page: Organic fruits at Foothill

the society’s collective progress, need to vote with our wallets for the overwhelmingly better option by shopping organic. In summary, step number one in our imperative journey towards better food is as follows: purchase and consume fruits and vegetables for better health and buy organic food for better quality and greater health benefits.

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Chapter 2: Society's Food Burden

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uch like the benefits of organic food, many elements of the eating cycle and food industry, such as workers’ treatment, ecological effects of agricultural practices, and economic implications of food monopolies, are unbeknownst to the common consumer. These seemingly irrelevant elements of the “farm to table” process impact not only our own diets and those of people around us, but the way we think about our food and our health and the earth itself underneath us.

Worker treatment

While there is a growing awareness of the concept of farmers being treated unfairly in today’s food industry, the treatment of agricultural laborers is a subject much more untouched and misunderstood by the consumers than it should be.

There’s nothing complicated about it. That basket of strawberries you just bought at Safeway was painstakingly, back-breakingly harvested by a middle-aged immigrant trying to support his or her family - all of whom work in those very fields as well - with little pay and a lot of struggle from heatstroke, pesticide poisoning, and malnutrition among a string of challenges.

Because such a large market is controlled by so few, the companies don’t have to worry about competition and then end up being allowed to treat their workers inhumanely by paying them little - so they can focus on minimizing their costs to maximize profits - and no one to keep them in check but the occasional food activist citizen. “Unionized workers are paid a fair wage, receive benefits (including family health insurance), and even collect pensions. As a member of a union, workers are also protected from arbitrary discipline and harassment.”

This seems like pretty basic stuff, right? It should be.

Yet, it’s the exception - not the rule - for the more than 2 million farmworkers in the United States.

Making an average of $30,000 a year (Occupational…), farmworkers toil under some of the most dangerous conditions. “Farmworkers consistently rank in the top three most dangerous work categories” (Lappé). $30,000 a year is certainly not enough to cover basic expenses and the extra expense of danger from the job, and is even toeing the U.S. national poverty line of $29, 420 annual income for a family of 5 (immigrant laborer families often consist of medium to large families because of cultural values) (Poverty Guidelines).

To make things worse, “The vast majority of workers–78%, according to the most recent National

This is a dramatic portrayal, you say? Well, desperate Agricultural Workers Survey– is foreign-born and crossed a situations call for dramatic retellings. border to get here” and “at least 6 out of 10 of our country’s Wage is one of these challenges that harasses the laborer. farm workers are undocumented” (“Farm Workers...”).

Next Page : Mr. Felipe Diaz – owner or Foothill Produce – and an employee organize and restock the tomaotes.

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What this means is that the agricultural workers in America are second-class citizens with little to no rights due to lack of citizenship and documentation. With the threat of deportation and separation from their family - not to mention poverty looming over their shoulders - immigrant workers are forced to accept any and all abusive conditions provided by companies.

While the only true solution to the problem is widespread reform for regulations to control these evil megamonopolies, one thing we can do is whip out our power of “voting with our wallet” as consumers.

This is where collective action can really make a difference and really get political.

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Companies can only do what they do - in this case unfair payment of workers - if they have money to sustain their company. The biggest way companies get this revenue is from people shopping at their stores and buying their products. We need to support the right stores and products when we shop so that these inhumane companies don’t have a financial foundation to stand their crooked principles upon.

Avoiding unethical monopoly chain stores can be done by shopping at local stores such as Foothill Produce that pay their workers sustainable wages.

Avoiding unethically sourced products can also be done by shopping for fair trade products - products for which fair prices are paid to the producers, especially when from third world countries. “... fair trade is more than just the

money. Fair-trade farmers I’ve met from around the world have constantly underscored the difference it makes in their lives.

Without fair trade, their livelihood is at the mercy of those unpredictable world market prices and the middlemen they must sell to. They are kept in the dark about prices and how much traders are making off their products. With fair trade, farmers have full disclosure; they operate as partners, not just input providers. They gain power. One fair-trade farmer from Nicaragua summed up the difference it has made to her and her community: ‘Fair trade,’ she said, ‘gives us back our dignity.’”

(Lappé). Fair trade has proven to greatly benefit producers and laborers all over the globe and people are starting to call for such products in local stores and businesses such as Starbucks, which is supposedly 8.5% fair trade at the moment. If we are aware of the swathes of agricultural laborers producing our foods and how they work endlessly for little pay, then we can keep an eye out for fair trade certification labels on packages in stores when we shop, buy these products and support companies with ethical practices, and thusly propagate a healthier working environment for workers.

Healthy food correlates with healthy working conditions. If people buy food that was produced in such a way that workers are exposed to harmful chemicals in the process, the consumers are actively - albeit indirectly - hurting all these workers buy buying this food. Pesticides have been around almost since the dawn of man, in all kinds of simple forms.

Today’s pesticides and herbicides consist, however,

of toxic compounds that impact plant and animal health with high doses of poison too dangerous even for humans, while being sprayed across fields with little regard for containment.

“Farmworkers on industrial farms often come into close contact with toxic agricultural chemicals. Because farmworkers frequently bring their children into the fields, either to work, or because y don’t have adequate childcare, farmworker children are also exposed to harmful pesticides. ‘Among just the illnesses reported, we’ve seen high levels of cancer, neurological damage, long-term memory loss, birth defects, and new data on potential learning disabilities among farmworker children,’ says Selly Davis of the Farmworkers Justice Fund” (Lappé).

"We need to support the right stores and products when we shop."

This “chemicalization” clearly and unequivocally affects the health - both physical and mental - of the workers and their entire families and as discussed earlier, the workers don’t have a normal wage capable of even supporting their daily living comfortably - let alone such health issues.

Felipe Diaz, owner of local produce store Foothill Produce, describes seeing and experiencing this from his days of working in the fields of his homeland in Mexico and here in California before he took to running his own business. He says, “If you work in fumigation, chemicals and all that, you get cancer. My dad worked for thirty-one years and worked like that and ended up dying from cancer.” His experience with his own

A customer checking out his groceries at Foothill Produce

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family is a testament to the great problem that such excessive and indiscriminate chemical use presents. There is no way around the problem of chemicals, for workers. When they work in fields and factories with these chemicals, they are exposed to them immediately. When the workers then get sick, they become unable to provide for their family and fall even closer to the precipice of poverty - even if their spouse and children are working in their stead. This cycle of harm to the workers from chemical use is terrible and indiscriminate and can only be stopped by serious reform to control production decisions made by companies.

This chemical use isn’t only harmful to the workers themselves though. The environment is another important piece of the puzzle that is negatively impacted by the practices of big food companies.

From Kellogg’s to General Mills to Mondelez to PepsiCo to Néstle, the few commercial giants that control the food industry try to take as many shortcuts as possible in their practices - with no concern for ethics - to extricate maximum profit for themselves. This much more than often results in negligence towards the earth, which gives them the supplies to farm crops and feed livestock.

that industrial monocultures require the regular application of external sources of key nutrients, the biggest of which is synthetic nutrients” (Weis). The agricultural practices of the companies take a great toll on our planet.

This should concern everyone because - while it might not seem like it - we do not have unlimited resources to use and abuse. If we do not treat the earth right in harvest, the earth will start to “rebel” in protest to the abuse and we will see it in major ways. Lappé even mentions that “ organic farming creates plants that are more resilient to droughts and floods, attributes that will only become more valuable as global climate chaos worsens” (pg. 59).

If the threat of earthly chaos from unsustainable farming practices is not enough, maybe Lappé’s other statistic that “Four pounds of pesticides for every American man, woman, and child are used every year in the United States, more than one-fifth of the world total for all pesticides and one-quarter of the world’s herbicides” (pg. 4). Curiously enough, she adds that “crop loss to pests for some crops is double what it was before this chemical storm ” (pg. 4) will help people understand the seriousness of the situation. If this statistic about pesticides is the case, we have much, much, much more reason to abandon or at least substantially decrease - these detrimental practices.

There’s no fighting the evidence: modern day agricultural practices are hurting and wearing down our precious planet.

This is where the saying “From farm to table” is given a new meaning, because the farms in the 21st century have turned into fatal factories and pestilent processing plants.

As if the cost to workers and the planet weren’t enough, there’s also the cost to the consumer market and

“Industrial monocultures using heavy machinery common man that needs to be considered when discussing the effectively mine the soil, as bare ground between planted rows intricacies of the food industry. The economics of any industry and mechanized ploughing, planting and spraying increase are complicated and in the case of the food industry, the susceptibility to soil erosion and nutrient loss and create further complexity is certainly present. One can assume that the food problems with compaction. The loss of soil fertility means industry has a great impact on our society financially; however,

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it is entirely unknown to the average American just how much they are paying into corporate food schemes.

In fact, each of us are indirectly paying precious money to these big food monopolies through an economic concept called externalities. “‘Externalities’ is economic fancy-talk for the costs we as a society shoulder for individual and corporate actions… One estimate puts the total cost of externalities related to industrial farming in the United States in the ballpark of $6 billion to $17 billion a year” (Lappé). When you realize what this means, you will be astonished by how such a huge impact on our society is hidden. According to Lappé, we as a society are paying more than ten billion dollars so that companies can run amok.

The food industry - as we’ve already seen - is wrapped tight in an atmosphere of abuse that needs to be unraveled and exchanged for progressive policies that benefit the “little man” and which are sustainable enough for them to survive.

“Our food choices build a market for certain foods, and not others. Our choices protect diversity and the health of our environment, or they help to destroy it. Our choices support certain norms of justice, or they undermine them” (Lappé).

The choices we make regarding our food creates a certain climate of consumption that directly influences individual health, which makes up the health - both physical and mental of the community and society.

Given these points, step number two in our imperative journey towards better food is as follows: be aware of the food justice issues of wage, ecological impact, and monopoly power, and buy fair trade products at establishments with clear sustainable practices.

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Felipe Diaz, owner of Foothill Produce, a Los Altos produce and international foods store 24

Chapter 3: Foothill Produce

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or those of us who live in California’s shining Silicon Valley, there is an establishment that serves as an example of and suggestion for a solution to this problem of fighting against negative legislation and the machinations of the corporate economy as it relates to the food industry: Foothill Produce. As a fruit, vegetable, deli, and international food store in the city of Los Altos, Foothill Produce, along with its two other locations, provides the community with a way to buy produce that is organic, fresh, and sustainably sourced (the workers are paid fair wages and the earth is not harmed extensively in the process of cultivation). Most importantly, Foothill provides affordable produce, especially for those who cannot afford to shop at high-end markets like Sprouts and Whole Foods.

Foothill Produce has a wonderful atmosphere because Felipe, the owner, runs his store with hard work and passion. He works eighteen hours on weekdays and sixteen hours on weekends, and always has a smiling face and a helping hand to lend to all customers. About his position as owner, he even says, “There’s no other job like the worker. I like to do the same as everyone and I like to talk with them because that way I work out of pleasure and we all work hard together and we’re all a team… I have done this work for thirty-one years and I like to do it from the heart for all clients” (Diaz). This speaks a lot to his attitude, which is indeed all about everyone being equal and the comradery that supports the store.

Their workers are paid fair wages, and are in fact treated like a family, since most of the hires are literal family or friends.

Gabriel Lozoya, a general manager at Foothill Produce testifies to this: “my best friend, she is one of the owners, so I started working with her because she asked me to help her out, so that is how I got

involved with working with them.” Maja Popovic´, local shopper who has been coming for years says about the atmosphere that, “[the] “people that work here are really nice, they are very friendly and they are very helpful and so it is a joy to shop here.”

An immigrant from former Yugoslavia, Ms. Popovic´ is a prime example of the kind of customer that can be found at Foothill Produce - an essential part of the atmosphere. Many of the customers are people of foreign descent who come to Foothill Produce to meet their ethnic food needs. Ms. Popovic´ comes in to shop at Foothill or its associated locations two or three times a week to buy everything from French baguettes, to Israeli peanut snacks, to Croatian cookies. She is representative of one nationality among many that shop there. While they have plenty of native angloAmerican customers who are just as involved and in love with the store as foreign ones, Mr. Lozoya and Mr. Diaz both emphasize the racial diversity of the customers that parallels the diversity of products they offer in their store. The customers interact with each other and the workers through quick jokes, shared recipes, and general kindness. On a typical day, you will see Mr. Diaz interacting with many customers as he toils at work with his effervescent smile radiating upon all. The customers know they can expect this warmth and community, and it serves as a great motivating factor for them to return time and time again.

Another thing the customers know is that all the products in the store have been farmed under the best conditions. Felipe works directly with all his suppliers and evaluates their products with all five senses before putting it in his store for his customers to consume. Saira, his daughter and head manager, explained that she and her father go to food shows and markets where they inspect and purchase the produce directly from the growers rather than

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going through a distributor (Diaz). This eliminates any doubt about the quality of the produce and makes it possible for the Diazes to support ethical farming and small businesses like themselves while they give their customers the best available for health and wallet. Mr. Lozoya further emphasizes the local aspect, specifying that “During the season, we get a lot from California, Fresno, Watsonville, Salinas… We try to get a lot of local stuff, because that is what people are looking for: anything local.” And it is certainly effective, as the customers notice and appreciate how fresh and close to its roots the produce is. Ms. Popovic´ says she specifically appreciates that “their fruit is not packaged in plastic, which I like, so I like to pick fruits by hand and take home stuff that doesn’t generate extra garbage.”

When the Diazes are able to provide and customers able to experience this more intimate connection to the foods they are buying, everyone is happier. Everyone knows that what is there is good for them, that it was produced by people who care about them and not a mindless, profiteering monopoly. By making the circle from grower to company to producer is so small like this, the people, the earth, and the local economy are all happier. For those of us who live locally, there is nothing more enjoyable and mutually beneficial than this system that Foothill Produce represents.

Unfortunately, though inherently non-political Foothill Produce only concerns itself with providing a communal atmosphere and diverse products of high quality for its customers, it is greatly affected by the politics of big businesses and the decisions they make in. And they’re certainly not the only ones. The Institute for Local Self Reliance stated in an article on monopoly power and the decline of small business, that “Small, independent businesses have declined sharply in both numbers and market share across many sectors of the economy. Between 1997 and 2012, the number of small manufacturers fell by more 70,000.” This startling statistic shows just how much danger small businesses are in. And while Previous Page: the storefront of Foothill Produce

many people may feel that it is better to shop at larger stores for various personal preference reasons, it actually benefits all of us financially to shop at small local businesses because “An economy populated by many small, independent businesses produces a more equitable distribution of income and opportunity, creates more jobs, and supports an expansive middle class” (Mitchell). When we shop at small local businesses that function independently of large corporations, our money gets inverted within our local economy rather than being shipped out across the country and world to pay for a network of operations and expenses that big businesses have.

Small businesses are able to guarantee better quality because of their small size, not despite it. Additionally, small-scale business is more conducive of democracy - a value that America prides itself in - while the concentration of power of corporations threatens our liberty of choice and ability to self-govern, due to their gripping hold on the economy and consumer market.

By running their business in a simple and ethical way, the Diazes are able to stand up to the gripping hold of monopolies to some degree. Their customers and their entire local economy benefit from their existence. They serve as an example of a good business with ethical practices that provides its consumers with truly good products where people can go, but also serve as a suggestion for improvement for the future.

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Conclusion W

e have a Food Problem in our nation. We do not eat healthily enough, primarily because our access to affordable produce is controlled by the decisions made by monopolies in the food industry. If we model Foothill Produce and build more community-based stores that source their food from sustainable growers – rather than toxic industrial distributors – we will be able to more easily address our food problem and other problems not addressed in this book such as obesity, mental health, and many more problems that are all influenced by what kind of sustenance individuals are able to provide themselves.

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Works Cited Diaz, Felipe. Personal Interview. 19 March, 2018.

“Farm Workers & Immigration” National Farm Worker Ministry, National Farm Worker Ministry, nfwm.org/educationcenter/farm-worker-issues/farm-workers-immigration/.

Lappé, Anna, and Bryant Terry. Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2006.

Linck, Lisa. “Benefits and Statistics about Eating Healthfully Detailed.” Benefits and Statistics about Eating Healthfully Detailed, Kansas State University, 13 June 2013, www.kstate.edu/today/announcement.php?id=8989.

Lozoya, Gabriel. Personal Interview. 5 March, 2018.

Macmillan, Amanda. “These 10 Fruits and Veggies Are Linked to Better Mental Health-Especially If You Eat Them Raw.” Health.com, 11 Apr. 2018, www.health.com/depression/ raw-fruits-vegetables-mental-health.

McEvoy, Miles. “Organic 101: What the USDA Organic Label Means.” USDA, The United States Government, 22 Mar. 2012, www.usda.gov/media/blog/2012/03/22/organic-101-what-usda-organic-label-means.

Mitchell, Stacy. “Monopoly Power and the Decline of Small Business.” Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 18 Apr. 2018, ilsr.org/monopoly-powerand-the-decline-of-small-business/

“Occupational Employment Wages, May 2017.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Mar. 2018, www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes452099.htm.

Popovic´, Maja. Personal Interview. 14 March, 2018.

“Poverty Guidelines.” ASPE, U.S> Department of Health and Human Services, 12 Jan. 2018, aspe.hhs.gov/povertyguidelines.

Tweed, Vera. “Earth Day Toxin Savvy.” galegroup.com, Apr. 2018, http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T 003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsTyp e=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPos ition=1&docId=GALE%7CA534200167&docType=Art icle&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=GPS&c ontentSet=GALE%7CA534200167&searchId=R 2&use rGroupName=moun43602&inPS=true Weis, Tony. "The (not-so) sudden crisis of the global food economy." Canadian Dimension, July-Aug. 2008, p. 13+.

Global Issues In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/ apps/doc/A182001201/GPS?u=moun43602&sid=GPS &xid=5391dd06. Accessed 6 May 2018.

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T

ara Popovic´ is a 17-year-old junior at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. She loves to spend time reading, traveling the world, petting her cat, waltzing through nature, getting great deals on sweaters at thrift stores, and spending time with good people. In her free time, you can find her doing all these things. Contrary to the logical nature of her computer science parents, she is a deep-thinking creative spirit who enjoys studying the humanities. Though nothing is certain, she would like to study English, political science, and design.

Food for Thought Tara Popovic