Project localize by sarah freckles

YOUR TOWN, U.S.A.

CURRICULUM GUIDE

THIS GUIDE CONTAINS RESOURCES BEYOND THE PRINTED PAGE Throughout this book are special icons you can use to accelerate the program with re-printable activity sheets and a USB contains films and additional learning materials.

How Does It Work? 1. When you see this icon

on pages throughout the book, refer to the USB drive at the back of this book.

2. When you see this icon on pages throughout the book, refer to the USB drive at the back of this book.

research + localize + create + share

INTRODUCTION X

HOW TO USE PROJECT LOCALIZE X

PART I RESEARCH: EXPLORE THE TERMS X FOOD SYSTEM THEMES X ACTIVITY: LEARN THE TERMS X ACTIVITY: WHERE IN THE WORLD? X ACTIVITY: LOCAL X ACTIVITY: EATING IN SEASON X ACTIVITY: LIVESTOCK X ACTIVITY: SEEDS X ACTIVITY: FOOD WASTE X

PART II LOCALIZE: KEY PLAYERS IN YOUR FOOD SYSTEM X HOW TO RESEARCH YOUR LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM X STUDENT WORKSHEET: KEY STAKEHOLDERS RESEARCH X

PART III CREATE: INFORMATION ARTWORK X THE TEACHER’S ROLE XX STUDENT PRODUCTION KIT XX SAMPLE ARTWORK XX

CONTENTS

PART IV SHARE: CIVICS & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT XX SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL XX POP UP ART SHOWS XX CIVICS XX PROGRAM EVALUATION XX

RESOURCES X DISCUSION GUIDES: KNOW YOUR FOOD FILM SERIES XX STORY BANK: SELECTED THOUGHT LEADER INTERVIEWS XX FAQ: TEACHER’S FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS XX COMMUNICATIONS & BRANDING XX

INTRODUCTION

he Lexicon of Sustainability partners with schools to help teachers and

students learn how to identify and promote sustainable economic, cultural and social progress in their communities.

The spine of PROJECT LOCALIZE is always the same, research + localize + create + share.

This program is designed to assist teachers in leading a cross-discipline teaching method through a series of: discussions, field trips, interviews, art & digital technology, social science, communications forums, and community building implementations.

POP QUIZ

WHY DO WE NEED PROJECT LOCALIZE?

HE LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITY aims to empower youth by exploring sustainability in their community through PROJECT LOCALIZE. There is a real need to develop a common language in the race toward a sustainable future. Without some awareness and consensus around the terms that define sustainability, it will be difficult to create the positive change we seek in the world. GOALS OF PROJECT LOCALIZE 1. Create a contextual understanding of sustainability and interconnectedness. 2. Empower action through service learning in the form of community engagement and services. 3. Promote a thriving local food web that protects and strengthens local economies, reduces food miles, job creation, preservation of the farmland and culture, and improved access to fresh, healthy and affordable food. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES 1. Engage students in community-based research through a collaborative project that can be shared and continually developed. 2. Integrate systems-based analysis with community assessment and planning 3. Advance interdisciplinary thinking and research skills through the lense of sustainability. 4. Link community-based PROJECT LOCALIZE projects from around the US in order to further student understanding of the interplay between geography, ecology, socioeconomic conditions, and cultural/ historical heritage. 5. Develop multimedia and digital skills. 6. Introduce students to civic learning and participatory democracy.

HOW TO USE PRJECT LOCALIZE

roject Localize is straightforward and easy to implement:

1. Research and learn the terms that define the food system. 2. Identify local producers. 3. Create images that explain their sustainable practices. 4. Share the art in public shows so communities learn with the students.

PROJECT LOCALIZE can be used as a stand-alone program or as additional mate-

rial to an existing curriculum. The core of the program is broken down into four sessions.

USING THIS PROGRAM LEXICON: LEARN THE TERMS Research, explore and discover the LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITY’s 47 themes in the food system. Learn about the interdependent relationships in ecosystems and the effect food choices have on a local environment. LOCALIZE: IDENTIFY THE KEY PLAYERS Identify the solutions practiced in the area by farmers and food producers that are focused on developing, managing, and utilizing natural resources in a sustainable way. Decipher the innovative food producers who are successful at reducing the impact their businesses have on the local environment and biodiversity. CREATE: INFORMATION ARTWORKS Create information artwork, which uses photography and multi-media to document sustainable solutions in the local food system. SHARE: CIVICS & COMMUNITY Engage in service learning and community outreach by presenting science knowledge through information artwork. The curriculum for PROJECT LOCALIZE includes several resources created by the Lexicon of Sustainability to enhance the visual learning experience in the classroom.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES This program consists of 7 lesson plans supporting eco-literacy to inspire action towards a more sustainable food system. We have complied VISUAL TOOLS to assist you in the classroom and help engage the students. With over 100 INFORMATION ARTWORKS and our KNOW YOUR FOOD, PBS short film series you and your students will have engaging media to form and shape disscussions surrounding the interdependent relationships in agricultural ecosystems. All media is available on our website (lexiconofsustainability.com) and is also available on the DVD provided with this guide.

“This program allowed my visual communications students to work in a design team format, with them taking the art direction lead. It also provided a medium for collaboration between two school populations, allowing students to practice inclusive

behaviors and foster new friendships from outside of their immediate community, which has been a very useful and lovely thing to see.” —Teacher, Project Localize

“As important an environmental SUSTAINABILITY is, I think that social SUSTAINABILITY is just as important. This project got students out of the classroom and into the fields and streets and stores to meet and interact with their community. ” —Teacher, Project Localize

RESEARCH: EXPLORE THE TERMS

PART I

n this section students will be introduced to important terms that are

crucial to a sustainable food system. Through class activities and short films, students will build cognitive thinking around these themes. The following seven activities are jumping off points for educators to support their students’ eco-literacy and inspire them towards action in supporting a more sustainable, regenerative and just world. Though these lessons are linked to discipline specific standards, they are interdisciplinary and lend themselves to adaptation across multiple courses. Feel free to adapt lessons to your subject matter, focusing on the content and skills most relevant to your class.

FOOD SYSTEM THEMES COVERED IN THIS CURRICULUM ANTIBIOTIC FREE BIODIVERSITY VS. MONOCULTURE EATING IN SEASON FOOD SECURITY FOOD WASTE GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS

LOCAL ORGANIC PASTURE MANAGEMENT SEEDS SUSTAINABILITY UNCONVENTIONAL AGRICULTURE

Utilize the seven activities provided on the following pages to dive deeper into the themes listed above. For more themes, term definitions, web resources, videos, and more information on each theme listed above check out both the RESOURCES section of this guide and online in the LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITY’s Food List at: lexiconofsustainability.com/the-food-list.

ACTIVITY: WHERE IN THE WORLD? EXPLORING OUR RELATIONSHIP TO PLACE No matter which lesson you use in the LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITY, begins the unit with this activity. This experience invites students to co-create knowledge together regarding their relationship to place. Through an interactive process, students learn not only about local and global geography, but also about each other – their similarities and differences – as well as their relationships to their food, clothes and resources. It serves as an excellent community building experience that increases trust amongst students as well as reveals to the facilitator and the participants how aware – or unaware – people are of the interdependent and globalized world in which we live. This activity will bridge the potential gap between students’ lived experiences and their understanding of the food system that can appear very removed from many people’s lives. OPENING Ask your class to stand in a circle (the prompt, “toe to toe” helps establish a circle which is neither too tight nor too loose). This excercide helps students establish cardinal directions (North, South, East, West) by asking them to do the following: 1. Point (demonstrate with your arm what a full, committed point looks like), 2. Without talking, 3. On the count of three, 4. To where the sun rose this morning. You will likely observe lots of different directions, hear lots of commentary, and see many adjustments to where people are pointing based on their observation of other peers. Call on 2-3 students with different directions to explain to the class their reasoning behind these directions. Ask for evidence and repeat what they have said which often include responses such as: a gut feeling, shadows, prior observation and relationships to prominent landmarks. Use this collective information to co-establish the cardinal directions (North, South, East, West), asking the class to turn and face them as each one is decided upon. This will help them remember in their bodies which direction is which. Ask students whether or not they think that it is important to know where the sun rises and sets each day and why. Hold onto their responses for the debrief at the end of the activity.

SUBJECT: Navigation SKILLS: Sense of Direction / Understanding of Sunrise and Sunset in Relation to Place

PROJECT: CREATE AN IMAGINARY MAP ON THE GROUND Once group has established N-S-E-W, ask the class to imagine a flat, oriented world map on the ground with clear boundaries. You will need to establish the location of the equator and the poles as well as the latitude & longitude of your current location to give students a point of reference. You may choose to establish your location’s longitudinal coordinate to fall at the longitudinal center of this flat world map. Students in the US are most likely familiar with maps that place the US in the “center.” You may chose to confirm or change this orientation. STUDENTS LOCATE THEMSELVES ON THE MAP IN RESPONSE TO PROMPTS Once students can visualize the map (you may want to check for understanding by calling out a few well-known places), the facilitator will read a series of prompts to the class. Participants will place themselves on the map according to their personal responses to the facilitator’s prompts. Acknowledge that scale will vary depending on the question (some questions will be very locally oriented while others will need access to the entire world). After each prompt is silently responded to, ask 3-5 participants to tell the group where they are standing and why. After the 1st round, ask students to choose people in the class to speak who have not yet shared by using their names. If students do not know someone’s name, they may ask. This activity is as much about the process as it is about the answers. Below are some questions you may wish to use, though buy-in will increase when the prompts are audiencespecific: relevant. You may choose to use only the food-related prompts. PROMPTS: PLACE YOURSELF ON THE MAP • Where you call “home”? • Where (some of) your mother’s ancestors are from? • Where (some of) your father’s ancestors are from? • Where you like to travel? • Where you would like to go to college? • Where people speak the language that you speak with your family? • Where people speak the language that you would like to learn? • Where your favorite food is from? • Where gasoline comes from? • Where you would like to raise your children? • Where your garbage goes? • Where you were when you first felt a connection to nature? • Ask a partner to help you with this: check the tag of your shirt – where was it made? • Where your tap water comes from? • Where _________ (pineapples, coconuts, etc.) grow? • Think of the last time you ate _______ (an apple, eggs, milk, etc.). Where did it grow/was it raised?

DEBRIEF Ask the class to return to their opening circle shape in silence. Here are some questions to facilitate the discussion. RAISE YOUR HAND IF: • You liked that exercise. • You were confused at any point during the exercise. • You spoke when we were supposed to be silent. • You shared aloud where you had chosen to stand with the entire class. • You felt heard during the exercise. • You had to travel during the exercise. • You weren’t sure of your responses to some of the prompts. • You learned something new about your classmates. • You were surprised by some of your classmates’ responses. CONSIDER SOME OF THE FOLLOWING DISCUSSION/ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS. • Why did we do that activity? • Why did we do this activity outside? • How did your understanding of the cardinal directions help during this exercise? • What did you learn about yourself through this exercise? • What did you learn about your community? Surprises? Similarities? Differences? • How are we all connected? To each other? To land? To food? To water? • What networks did you observe? What systems connect us? CONCLUSION The facilitator may use the following ideas to guide the conclusion of this activity. We are global citizens. This activity is about building community amongst participants by physically revealing the often unexpected similarities & differences. Part of the reason to participate in this activity was to support the class community to become stronger and more resilient as we celebrate our relationships. The diversity expressed amongst the members of the class alone does not make for a resilient community. Rather, the quality of the relationships that connect the quantity of diverse elements is what creates the strong web of relationships, emulating natural patterns. We are also engaged in this inquiry to collectively root our personal experiences in deeper relationship with PLACE. We are remembering ECOLOGICAL LITERACY. We are collectively examining our relationships with place, people, all living beings and the “things” with which we interact each day. We are exploring these relationships together. Remember that eco comes from the Greek word oikos, which means “household” or “home.” Ecological literacy is about being able to read and make meaning of our home, whether that’s where we sleep, our school, our community, our country or residence or our country of origin. Together we must co-create a better understanding of our relationships between the people around us and those far away, as well as with all of the resources that we depend upon.

ACTIVITY: LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITY Words are the building blocks of new ideas. They have the power to activate, change and transform societies. Your words can change the world. The title of this project might include new and unfamiliar terms for students. In order to support them to understand the process of building a Lexicon of Sustainability, we must define those terms and allow students to explore their use of them. WARM UP Write “Lexicon of Sustainability” on the board with instructions: “Using your prior knowledge, write your best guess to define this phrase. When you are satisfied with your definition, turn to a partner and read your definitions aloud to one another. Combine the strongest elements of your definitions into one definition.” After pairs have completed their combined definitions, ask for volunteers to share. After hearing several examples, spend a few minutes discussing the definitions. Be sure to include the essential elements of the definitions below. Do not write all of the details down for students to copy but rather verbally share the ideas. You may chose to write the distilled definitions (just the first sentence) after students have some familiarity with the ideas. LEXICON The vocabulary of a particular language, concept, subject or discipline. Each language has a lexicon and a grammar. The lexicon is comprised of the language’s words while the grammar is the system to put them together in an order that communicates meaning. If important pieces of the lexicon are missing, the grammar system does not have all of the necessary elements to create meaning. The lexicon is crucial to the language. It is the same for expansive concepts. In order to fully understand the importance of a particular concept, people must have a complex lexicon that can adequately describe the nuances of this concept. SUSTAINABILITY The capacity for a system to continue to function over time without compromising the wellbeing of future generations. In order to strive towards sustainability, people must have a rich and plentiful lexicon that continues to expand and grow. And this is a co-creative process! Though the LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITY has many terms and many definitions, the lexicon will never be complete. Thank you for dedicating time and energy to the collaborative effort that will lead us towards a more sustainable world.

SUBJECT: Terminology SKILLS: Collaboration / Understanding Meaning

ACTIVITY: LOCAL As your students come to class with a wide variety of life experience, it is likely that many of them have some familiarity with some of this lesson’s terms. A KWL Chart (Know, Want to Know & Learned) is a method that allows students to engage prior knowledge before you provide direct instruction. A KWL Chart invites curiosity and critical thinking. It is also useful for students and the instructor to track how much has been learned in the course of the lessons. In order for students to authentically document what they know WITHOUT researching the Lexicon of Sustainability’s website, this activity must be completed in class without the assistance of internet access. WARM UP Ask students to draw the KWL Chart in their own handwriting in their notebooks. Allow for space to take extensive notes as students track what they are learning. You may also structure a co-creative approach where students use Post-its to answer “Know” and “Want to Know” on their own and then place them on butcher paper posted throughout the classroom in a gallery walk style so that they can track what their peers know and want to know. This is more interactive and requires more movement in the room. Chose the method best for your context to develop your classroom’s lexicon! FILM ANALYSIS: LOCAL Write the questions below on the board instructing your students to write them with space in their notebooks below their KWL charts. Show the film Local asking your students to consider these questions while they watch: • • • • • • •

What is a locavore? Are you a locavore? Why or why not? Is it easy to be a locavore where you live? Why or why not? Were your grandparents or great grandparents locavores? Why or why not? What conditions are necessary for a community to all be locavores? What is Climate Change? What is the connection between Climate Change and where your food comes from?

Using the questions as a guide, facilitate a discussion about the film. What questions do the students need &/or want answered? Encourage them to document these questions in their notes.

SUBJECTS: Language Arts / English / 11th grade American Literature SKILLS: Brainstorming / Collaboration Film: Local Images: Farm to Table / Food Miles / Urban Farmer

IMAGE ANALYSIS: FARM TO TABLE + FOOD MILES Project each of these images onto a large screen in your classroom so that everyone may clearly see them (and other related images from the gallery, as they become available). PROMPTS In pairs, ask students to discuss the following prompts: • What do you see? • Take turns reading the text to one another. • Record the definitions for any of the Lexicon of Sustainability that you learn. • What is confusing about the images? About the terms? • Is there anything that you disagree with? Why? • Guess what the average Food Miles Calculation is for a meal in the US. • Have you ever eaten a meal that traveled directly from the local farm to your table? If so, where? How would you describe it? If not, why not? • What is the message of each image? • What is the tone of each image? • How does the photographer communicate these messages and tones? • What is unusual about these images? How was this accomplished? Debrief answers as a class, and show the film again. Allow for pairs to add further information to their responses based on a second viewing of the film. HOMEWORK: FOOD LITERACY Ask students to go to the place where their families regularly get groceries: a corner store, a grocery store, a cooperative, a famers market, a food bank, a local farm stand, an urban farm, a community garden, a personal garden, etc. Ask them to record their observations based on the following prompts. The facilitator will specify in what form these observations should be collected and presented: notes, paragraphs, sketches, collage, blog with photos and text, etc. • What is the atmosphere like? • How do people get to this place? • How far do you live from this place? Is it conveniently located? • How far do you think most people who shop there live from that location? • Do shoppers know the people who are providing their food by name? • Do shoppers know one another? How much socializing is occurring? • Media literacy: What sort of media accompanies the food experience? What are they communicating? What audience are they targeting and why? Do you think what you or your family purchases is influenced by all of this communication? • Photography: posters, billboards • Screens: video, TV, commercials, online advertisements • Print: coupons, marketing, recipes, invitations, community organizing • Audio: advertising on the loudspeakers • Social media: invitations to follow products or businesses on Facebook, Twitter and other social media • Is there clear information for each product about how far it traveled from farm to point of purchase? Why or 24

why not? • What is the percentage of products available that is fresh vs packaged? • What is the percentage of products available that are certified organic vs conventional? • Do you and your family consider this establishment affordable? Expensive? Cheap? • Choose your favorite food to buy. Guess how far it/its ingredients had to travel to get to you. Guess how many people were involved in getting it to you. • Can you apply any of the words you learned in this section of the Lexicon of Sustainability to your family’s food procurement experience? Why or why not? Consider what would you change about your family’s food procurement experience. What would be the ideal food experience where you live? Pretend that you are trying to convince your city council to guarantee that ALL residents have access to what you consider ideal food options. Write a persuasive essay OR prepare a persuasive speech that will persuade even the person who is most vehemently opposed to change. Consider the power of your WORDS. Remember, your words can change the world. PROJECT: FOOD MILES MAP In order for students to appreciate the true cost of food by exploring the externalized costs in food production, students will create 2 maps that visually represent how far their food traveled from seed to plate. They will choose their favorite meal and map 2 versions of this meal: the grocery store or restaurant version of this meal and a local version of this meal. 1. Chose your favorite meal. What is it? Where do you eat it? Who prepares it for you? How much does it cost? If it’s from a restaurant, this will be easy to determine. If it is prepared at home, ask the person in your family who does the grocery shopping what they think the ingredients for your meal would cost. 2. List all of the ingredients in this meal. If some of the ingredients are pre-prepared, list those products’ ingredients. You must list EVERYTHING in the meal. 3. For each ingredient, research where that ingredient came from. If it is a whole food, find where it was grown and the transportation chain it traveled to get to you. Consider each stop along the way: seed planted in a nursery; plant planted in the ground; fruit/vegetable harvested; product trucked to a wholesale distribution center; product trucked/trained/shipped to a store; product purchased by someone in your family or the restaurant where you eat this food, etc. There may be another layer of processing and packaging and distribution in this travel chain. If this food is an animal product, there may be more layers of travel from birth through growth, finishing lots, slaughterhouses, butchering locations, etc. 4. Once you have collected all of this data, draw a map that shows the routes and miles traveled for each ingredient to get from seed to your plate. 5. Include a clear legend at the bottom that explains which foods are represented by which colors/lines/etc. 6. Include a total miles traveled calculation. Based on the types of transportation used and their fuel efficiencies (how many miles per gallon of fuel does a refrigerated delivery truck use? A tanker? A train?), calculate the quantity (in gallons) and cost (in dollars) of the fuel to get your meal to you. Did you pay that much for your meal? Why not? Who paid for all of that fuel? 7. What other costs have we not accounted for? What inputs were necessary to get you your meal? Make a list of everything that was necessary to make your meal. Don’t skip a single step! 8. Which people were involved to get you your meal? How much are they paid to do their jobs? Calculate how many people, their wages and how many hours of people’s labor were involved in getting your meal. Did you pay for that? 25

9. Add up all of these expenses (food, fuel, labor, other necessary elements). Is this what you estimated was the value of your meal? Why not? What are externalized costs? Who do you think pays for these externalized costs? How does this work? Is that fair? 10. Now imagine that this meal had been prepared from exclusively local ingredients. Create the same map and the same series of calculations for this locally produced meal. Would you be able to find all of these ingredients locally to where you live? At this time of year? 11. What is the difference in total miles traveled and externalized costs between the two versions of the same meal? Why? 12. What are other differences between the two versions of these meals? Consider how nutritional values of food diminish after being harvested. Research the differences. Is it easy to find reliable data about the difference? Create a gallery walk for the students so that they can explore each other’s findings. Ask your students to track trends in the maps. What types of meals are traveling from far away? Ask students to chose which meal in the entire class they would feel best about eating and why. What sort of moral discussions come up? Consider issues of food access, food deserts, labor rights, immigration patterns, organic certification, food subsidies and commodity crops. After your classroom gallery walk, invite other teachers and administration to attend a lunchtime gallery walk. Consider encouraging a local food potluck during the community gathering. SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS + FILMS If you would like to continue to weave in Food Literacy to your classes, here are several suggestions of poetry, essays, fiction, non-fiction, animations & documentaries that will inspire your students to take action in improving their food system so that all people have access to affordable, healthy, local food. POETRY & ESSAYS By Wendell Berry FICTION A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki NONFICTION Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food by Wendell Berry Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan What the World Eats by Peter Menzel & Faith D’Aluisio

ANIMATION The True Cost of Food: http://www.sierraclub.org/truecostoffood/ The Meatrix: http://www.themeatrix.com FILM Fast Food Nation Food, Inc. Fresh This Organic Life