REVEALING THE TRUE COST OF FOOD
“Food makes philosophers of us all. Death does the same, but most of us try to avoid thinking about death. Of course death only comes once, so we can postpone thinking about it, but choices about food come many times a day, every day.” — Gregory E. Pence, The Ethics of Food
CONTENTS 2
INTRODUCTION
3
AUDIENCE
4
PRECEDENTS
5
BOOKS AND DOCUMENTARIES
6
TERMINOLOGY
7
MAIN FOCUSES
8,9 10
MINDMAPPING AND SKETCHES INFORMATION HEIRARCHY
11
FINAL DESIGN CHOICES
12
WIREFRAME
13
INFORMATION CATEGORIES
14
WIREFRAME DETAIL
15
BACK-END DETAIL
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ICONOGRAPHY/ COLOR THEORY
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EXHIBITION DESIGN
INTRODUCTION An efficient transition to a sustainable food system requires a level
Unfortunately, these conditions conspire to undermine successful
playing field. Currently, industrial agriculture benefits from a variety of
establishment of sustainable agriculture by making industrial foods
policies that encourage destructive industrial practices and make
seem comparatively inexpensive, and therefore more attractive to
industrial foods seem less expensive than they really are. For instance,
many consumers. This situation must be remedied; policies should be
despite the many well-documented problems it causes, industrial
created to support and reward responsible agricultural practices, and
agriculture is aggressively promoted by the US government through
regulations must be strengthened in order to prevent industrial
the subsidization of industrial crop production, extensive research
agricultural interests from imposing costs of irresponsible production
support from land grant universities, and institutional procurement of
on the rest of society. Ultimately, justification for this policy shift will
industrial foods. Furthermore, as a result of insufficient regulation and
involve adoption of a form of accounting that measures progress and
inadequate enforcement, industrial agriculture generates substantial
prosperity by assessing overall social wellbeing rather than simply
negative externalities (i.e., hidden costs of production) such as
tallying the profits earned by a select few. Such an analysis will enable
environmental destruction, damage to human health, socioeconomic
the true cost of food to be accurately presented, providing the
degradation, and reduction of animal welfare. The cost of these
impetus for an effective transition to a sustainable food system future.
damages isn’t included in the sticker prices of industrial foods at the grocery store, but instead is borne by society as a whole.
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AUDIENCE FEAR & TRUST IN THE FOOD SYSTEM The audience will begin to realize that they trust the system and that gives them reason to fear the system. Few global corporations control the world’s food production, seed distribution, and this gives those corporations a power over the food market that is unprecedented.
REALITY VS THE IDEAL Westernized populations are often mislead to think that their food is grown, produced, and packaged in perfect balance with nature. Many people believe in this ideal because of false representations as well as false news. The audience that views Farm to Table will have a better understanding of what is awful in reality, and what reality should be.
THE WHEEL OF LIFE My audience should walk away with is the fact that we are all part of a living system- we are not above it- or below it and we must work with it. There is an ecology in life that must carefully be tended to. A farmer can never do just one thing, and neither can the consumer - every move counts towards something bigger.
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PRECEDENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
BIOMIMETIC BUTTERFLIES
CHICKENOSAURUS
DANGERS OF FRACKING
INVENTIONS & MACHINES
Victor Kroen creates beautiful illustrations
The
these
“What we’re trying to do is take our
Linda
Rube
using a human or another natural form as
beautiful lifelike butterflies using simple
chicken, modify it, and make a chicken-
website, dangersoffracking.com, worked
inventor famously known for his Rube
his base and adding an invisible interface
programming tools and laser cut butterfly
osaurus.” - Jack Horner. Horner is a reverse
with the makers of Gasland the movie to
goldberg Machine. This machine was
to the body. The illustrations are a
patterns. The series is a beautiful example
evolver of chickens and a dinosaur-maker.
visually illustrate the dangers of fracking.
more- or less a toy that represented an
response to technology and it’s impact on
of
working
This project appeals to me because not
The
informative,
endless stream of motion. When one
the natural world. This apple could be a
together in a way that is graceful and
only is it a hilarious concept, but also plays
accessible and aesthetically pleasing. It
component was activated, it would trigger
metaphor for the bioengineered world of
intelligent. I feel that this is applicable to
with the idea of taking technology too far.
serves as a precident because of it’s
another activation and so on and so on.
agriculture.
my topic because I also want to comment
scrolling nature.
This Machine is an metaphor for the
VICTOR KROEN
THE BARBARIAN GROUP Barbarian
technology
Group
and
created
nature
JACK HORNER
LINDA DONG & GASLAND Dong,
website
designer
is
of
tangible,
successful
RUBE GOLDBERG Goldberg
was
cartoonist
and
on tech- nology’s influence in the natural
endless cycle of life and technology that
world as well as the power of technology.
has influenced it.
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BOOKS
DOCUMENTARIES
5
CATEGORIES, TERMINOLOGY, TOPICS TECHNOLOGY
POLICY
Biotechnology
Corporation/ Agribusiness
Monoculture and GMOs
Labeling (specifically GMO’s)
Polyculture
Freedom of Information Act
Ecology
Farm Bill
Chemical Fertilizers, Natural Fertilizer
Subsidies for Oil and Monoculture
Pesticide/ Herbicide Development (Bt)
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
Livestock/ Crop Machinery
Risk Assessment
Soil Erosion / Germination
FDA (Food and Drug Administration)
Irrigation Systems
WHO (World Health Org)
Ethanol and By-product
WTO (World Trade Org)
Fuel, Biomass, Methane Capture, CO2 emissions
EWG (Environmental Working Group)
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MAIN FOCUS/EMPHASIS ON MONOCULTURE AND MASS PRODUCTION CORN AND MEAT PRODUCTION Grown and produced in ways that are disrupting natural ecology of the American Food System, monoculture and mass production are a threat to food security in the United States. Human, animal and the environment's health are at risk because of these man-made processes. They are the source of many problems in the US including toxic by-products and a national nutrient-depleted population.
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MINDMAPPING AND SKETCHES (SPRING 2012)
8
MINDMAPPING AND SKETCHES (SPRING 2012)
9
INFORMATION HIERARCHY
10
FINAL DESIGN CHOICES I will be illustrating and coding my final design: a website with multiple features. The website will feature a Horizontal Layout, creative use of z-space, and Parallax Scrolling, along with hover areas and clickable targets to create a false reality. Mini- infosystems will cleverly be hidden within the broader narrative.
HORIZONTAL LAYOUT Horizontal layout with endless scrolling allows the user to effortlessly understand that the narrative is told over a period of time. A Horizontal layout also allows for a vast landscape, much like reality.
Z-SPACE The narrative will be told in both time and space. Z-space allows the plane to have depth. Through careful planning and aesthetic choices (shadows and highlights) a 3-dimentional space will be created.
PARALLAX SCROLLING Parallax scrolling practice of the arrangement of images that creates the illusion of a three dimensional space. Working along side Z-Space, Parallaxing will complete the picture by allowing staggered movements. An example of parallaxing can be seen at http://dangersoffracking.com/.
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WIREFRAME
FIG 1. WIREFRAME WITH TARGET PLACEMENT.
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INFORMATION CATEGORIES NUTRITIONAL VALUE (value of a calorie)
AIR (Emissions at each stage)
CORN PROCESS
MEAT PROCESS PRODUCT
FARM
PRODUCT
EARTH (Soil Erosion/ Soil integrity (NPK levels) )
WATER (Toxicity, Runoff, de-/Salinization)
13
DETAIL OF FIG 1. (DEPICTING FIRST 2/3RD)
MINI INFO-SYSTEMS (EXAMPLE)
14
BACK-END DETAIL HOVER, TARGET & NAVIGATION DETAIL
PARALLAX DETAIL
15
ICONOGRAPHY AND COLOR THEORY
16
EXHIBITION DESIGN
TRACKPAD TAKE-AWAY
BUSINESS CARDS
17
http://edibleethics.tumblr.com/
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