A Panel of Experts

This is another interview with a member of CUESA.

Julie Cummins, Director of Education
Julie has more than ten years of experience coordinating and leading education programs in the fields of ecology, open space and agricultural preservation, wise urban planning, recycling and resource conservation, sustainable living, and garden education. She has worked for a number of Bay Area nonprofit organizations, most recently Greenbelt Alliance. Julie earned a BS in Conservation and Resource Studies from UC Berkeley and is certified in permaculture design and as a Master Composter.

1. As a director of education, what are your greatest concerns when you stress the importance of locally grown food?

-The increasing globalization of our food system means food is more and more processed and is coming from farther and farther away.
-Peak oil: supplies of petroleum are dwindling and will become scarce in my lifetime, but technologies are not switching to alternative fuels at a rapid enough pace.
-Global climate change: fossil fuel-based transportation and production are contributing to climate instability.
-Transparency: local food from the farmers market, CSA or farm stand is easily traced to its source to find out how it was produced. Massive food safety recalls wouldn't happen if we were all relying on this kind of food.

2. Which educational programs in the current service of CUESA would you consider are attracting most attention?

Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

Seasonal cooking demonstrations

Farm tours

Kitchen skills classes (like canning, sausage making, etc.)


3. How would you improve the current system to raise awareness of carbon footprint among those who are not concerned with it?

I like the idea of a carbon tax that would incentivize manufacturers to keep carbon footprint low.
I also like the idea of labeling products with their carbon footprint, but those are complex because they require an entire life cycle analysis that could yield varying results depending on the assumptions used.


4. Could I ask a brief description of your course of a day especially when you have the merket or events?

I spend most of my time on the computer and phone, planning events, coordinating with people, editing, writing, etc. On the day of events I am taking care of all the little details and making sure everyone is having a smooth and positive experience.

Midterm Slides

Local Plate

I have found an interesting design work on the website, DesignBoom.

original article

green life

---
name of design : Local Plate
design by : david veldkamp from usa

33% Local Food
---
designer's own words:
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Department, food production accounts for over 18% of green house gas emissions in the world. It is second only to electricity production (20%) and is more than transportation (17%).

There have been many efforts dedicated to reducing electricity production’s impact (clean electricity, more efficient devices, usage reduction programs, etc.) and transportation’s impact (hybrid and electric cars, bio-fuels, etc.) on the environment.

But what is being done to reduce food production’s environmental impact?

Studies led by Rich Pirog at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University have shown that meals prepared with food from local sources produce 4 to 10 times less greenhouse gases than meals prepared from the average supermarket (less processing, packaging, shipping, etc.). That means eating locally can drastically reduce ones carbon footprint.

The LOCALPLATE is a reminder that simply eating local food, even if it is only a fraction of the meal can have great impact on the environment.

If 1/3 of the meal is from local sources that meals carbon footprint is cut by 25%. If 2/3 is from local sources the percentage jumps to 50%. If all of the meal is from local sources the carbon footprint is reduced by 75%! These are big numbers.

Let’s put them into perspective. If 1/3 of the world ate local food 1/3 of the time over 120 million tons of greenhouse gases would be eliminated. Changing 1/3 of every meal to local food has the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions reduction as switching to a hybrid car! Imagine the impact of eating 2/3 or all local food. You could have 2 to 3 times the impact of a hybrid car from eating the food on your LOCALPLATE!

What other simple act or device can have such a powerful impact?

In addition, LOCALPLATE adds to the dining experience. Foods come in an array of fun colors. Your dinnerware should be fun too! LOCALPLATE offers a variety of colors to fit your tastes A logical line extension would be a biodegradable LOCALPLATE. Eat local food on the go! It’s perfect for any meal away from home.

More Numbers: 1/3 local food at every meal 360 million tons 2/3 local food at every meal 720 million tons The entire meal is local food at every meal 1080 million tons

Hellman's-It's Time for Real

Hellmann’s - It’s Time for Real from CRUSH on Vimeo.

The video of EatRealEatLocal.ca effectively stress the issue of food mile in terms of statement and visual communiocation. Even though you are not interested in this issue, I strongly recommend you to watch it since the quality of graphics and presentation is outstanding.

Eat Low Carbon Diet Calculator

I found an interesting site which can educate people about how the amount of carbon emissions alters by our food choice.

Eat Low Carbon Diet Calculator http://www.eatlowcarbon.org/
created by Bon Appétit, utilizes a food carbon count point system. This innovative, intuitive online tool helps consumers learn how to choose foods with lower carbon emissions. Each point on the Low Carbon Diet calculator represents .035 ounces of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of greenhouse gases. Based on peer-reviewed science, Bon Appétit calculates that a ‘high carbon’ diet equals 4,500 points, according to extensive research on how food is grown, processed, transported, prepared and packaged.

Dine On Campus

San Francisco State University offers dining facilities, organized by Chatwells, for those students who live on campus.

"Chartwells is a diverse family of food and nutrition specialists dedicated to providing the academic community with innovative, healthy dining options.

From kindergarten to college, the foods we serve helps fuel the ideas and dreams of future generations. But we do more than feed hungry students. We practice a single-minded commitment to building strong bodies, sharp minds, and establishing the foundation for a long, healthier life. We call this Eat. Learn. Live." - http://www.eatlearnlive.com/Our_Story.cfm

Their parent company Compass Group has corporate commitments to sustainability as Copass Group 360° http://www.cgnad.com/default.asp?action=article&ID=247

Compass Group’s 360° platform is built upon four tenets:

1. Nutrition and Wellness- Promoting a healthy lifestyle for our guests and associates by focusing on nutrition and wellness
2. Sustainability- Encouraging responsible and sustainable practices in our supply chain
3. Compass in the Community- Increasing associate participation in communities through our global “Compass in the Community” program
4. Corporate Governance and Ethics- Conducting ourselves and our business in an ethical and fair manner

This image was on SFSU Dine on Campus website; however, I have never saw this on campus. Does it really work for informing students of footprint?

Store Map

While researching existing designs of different issues, I figured out designing a map is a very effective and efficient method in order to solve the problem. For example...



This example is the most straightforward. It is really obvious where students can smoke at SFSU campus. As well as stating what the issue is, it provides students another option by easy-to-follow map. In addition, the upper left icon represents what this board is mainly talking about. So, I feel its overall design is visually successful.

Anyways, a store map, showing where students are able to purchase local foods near campus can be one of the possible solution.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the way, I have visited SFSU Farmer's Market today and bought a "baklava," which is a Greek pie filled with nuts. I had never tried before. Maybe I will have never tasted it if one of the vendors did not recommend and encourage me to try it. To be able to experience traditional foods of different countries is also one of the most meaningful thing at the market.

Research of Existing Designs

It is very important for me to research how the other issues are solving by designs (not exactly solved, but the designs have striking effect.) I found the website which introduces effective artworks related to Global Warming. Some pieces are very scaring the audience so that it can eventually influence them.

Here is the original article. The following pictures are some of examples on the website.


Collection of Global Warming Art for the Green at Heart
By Prakash Ghodke Published September 15th, 2010 in Inspiration
http://designm.ag/inspiration/collection-of-global-warming-art-for-the-green-at-heart/

by Ferdi Rizkiyanto

by Karlis Dovnorovics

Advertising Agency: Cayenne Italy
Creative Directors: Giandomenico Puglisi, Stefano Tumiatti
Art Director: Livio Gerosa
Copywriter: Caterina Calabrò
Photographer: Daniele Poli
Published: September 2007

Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market

Last Saturday, I have visited the farmer's market at Ferry building as a part of field observation.
CUESA, the canter for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, is holding this market, and it is the one which succeeds in promoting a sustainable food system through the farmer's market and its educational programs.

Here is the information center with tons of brochures depicting the reason why we should choose locally grown foods. One of these was very worth reading, so I put the content at the end of this post.

As Twilight Greenaway said, one of my panel of experts, a farm map that shows market customers where the farms in the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market are located helps concerned eaters look up the farms they buy food from. There is Google Map version on their website.

Also, just next to the vender's stands, there are the same maps which indicates this farms are located.

Compared with SFSU farmer's marker and UCSF farmer's market, the one at Ferry building is well communicating with their customers in terms of visual and educational approaches.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Food and Climate Change: A look at the connections

The industrial food system is said to account for around one third of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, your food hoices can have a real. lasting impact. Today is International Day of Climate Action. 350 is the number scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide - measured in "parts per million" - in our atmosphere. Although we've already exceeded 350pm, it is said to be "the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change."

1) Choose organic and sustainably raised food

If everyone converted 10% of their diet to organic, we could capture an addition 6.5 billion pounds of carbon in the soil - the equivalent of talking two million cars off the road each year. Organic farming builds organic matter in the soil, sequestering excess carbon that would otherwise add to climate change. Organic food is also grown without synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, meaning less potential nitrous oxide (another greenhouse gas) in the air.

2) Eat less meat and dairy, especially if it's industrially raised

Livestock production causes more emissions than the entire transportation sector. Animals produces methane, which has over 20 times the global warming effect of carbon dioxide. Industrial scale storage of animal waste is also a huge factor; when it's stored in waste lagoons the product is even more methane. A lot of energy and resources go into raising crops for animal feed; it is much more efficient when plant crops go directly to feed people. To make matter worse, millions of acres of (carbon absorbing) forest have been destroyed in the name of meal production.

3) Hone your locavore skills

Our food travels an average of 1,500 to 2,500 miles to get to us; that's 25 percent farther than it did two decades ago. Not all food transport can be eliminated, but shortening the chain (a great deal of our food travels to multiple countries to be processed) could make a palpable differences. For many of us, it is also one of the easier changes to make.

4) Befriend your compost bin

4% of global greenhouse gas emissions comes from waste, including food waste; a full 27% of the food available for consumption gets wasted. Food that ends up in landfills emits methane. When it gets properly composted, on the otter hand, it can return to the soil and help boost its power to retain carbon.

(written by CUESA)

Farmer's Market on SFSU

On Sep. 30th, I have visited SFSU Farmer's Market as a part of field observation.

Finally, I have found the sign of the market! This is located near the Health Care Center. To me, this image seems to present ASI's aim for planting the idea which SFSU and students can be healthy by living Green. So, this is a nicely presented logo for the farmer's market.

The reason I came here for the day was to observe the current ASI's action for the local food movement, students' behavior, and the way of communicating in the farmer's market, so that I can figure out valuable elements for further research and development.

Here, there is an information center where the the director and a few members of ASI are sitting and open to answer any questions. Aslo on the table, there are tip sheets for eating right and recipes using local foods, provided by Students Dietetic Association, SFSU Nutrition Clinic, and American Dietetic Association. This is a suitable place to educate students about values of consuming local foods. However, the place is not leaping out that much.

And another thing, I have never found information of participating farmers, the products lined up, and how the consumption of local foods effects our environment.

On the day, I have met Horace Montgomery, a director of ASI Farmer's Market, as one of my panel of experts. Thanks to his answering my questions, my directions are getting clear. I will post his opinions and suggestions later on this blog.

In addition, I was able to interview one of participatinf farmers, and we were able to discuss the benefit of local foods. I will post our discussion later on this blog, also. I am planing to visit them and discuss the present state of carbon footprint next week.


They are so sweet and gave a lot of fresh fruits to me at the end of our conversation! This is also the value of buying foods from local farmers, building a friendly relationship between consumers and producers.

UCSF Mission Bay campus

This is something that should happen in SFSU campus.

It can be an icon of University students.

UCSF Mission Bay Campus

On Wednesday, Sep. 29th, I have visited the Farmer's Market on UCSF Mission Bay campus in order to compare with the one on SFSU campus.

My mission was to investigate how the other Universities or communities act to provide educational information about local foods and its value for our environment.

My findings on the market of UCSF

1. The location

The market takes place just in front of the building of Mission Bay campus housing. So, I saw a lot of people purchase fresh vegetables and fruits and enter the building with large bags of food. Also, they have enough space to use .

2. Information Center

There are nice and easy-to-find information center, which has a lot of handouts. They are about the market and its organization, nutrition information, recipes, and a lot of kinds of educational information. This is a good place to let people learn about the value of local foods.

3. SNS

They have Facebook account to attract people's attention. Also, it creates easy-to-access information.

4. Frequent Shopper PUNCH CARD

It gets students keep coming the markers, be a consistent buyer.

5. Cooking Demonstration

It is a good method for educating people the value of local foods. And actually, it is teaching how to live with Farmers Market. The chef buy almost all ingredients on the market just right before his demonstration and show easy cooking in short time. So after the demonstaration, we can try right away becasue there are what to need to buy on the market and we know how to cook with what you got.

6. A great variety of food

The fact we can buy a great variety of local food on the same market leads less carbon footprint because we have to drive to get a different market.

After observing both markets in SFSU and UCSF, the biggest difference was the students' behaviors on the market. While SFSU students seem to buy the items on the market as their snacks, UCSF students seem to buy the items as necessities. Buying local farmer's product is a part of life for those students who live on Mission Bay campus.