This week you should analyze something Colin talks about from a systems perspective. How are some of the systems that Colin discusses interrelated? How do they compare to the systems you are studying in your J201 and ENVS201 classes?
The No Impact Experiment
"I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness." – Aldo Leopold
In the book, Colin dedicates an entire chapter to his struggle with making his interaction with the food system sustainable. The food system in our country is incredibly complex, and isn’t even contained within our country anymore. Colin particularly faces the fact that so much of our food comes from so far away. He makes an effort to only eat food within 100 miles as part of his No-Impact project. To do this, he finds a smaller system of organic and local farmers in contrast to the big system of industrialized food. This smaller food system he finds promotes personal connections and relationships, which are some of the things that make us happiest as humans. Despite his eventual success with his food efforts, he struggles to resist the temptation to consume things such as pizza and coffee. The entire system of consumerism is everywhere and is virtually impossible to ignore. It is promoted wherever we go through advertising and the media. I think Colin does an impressive job with his entire push to change the way he and his family eat.
That’s an interesting comparison of two seemingly opposing systems. Do you think the local food movement is self-contained? Do you think it could operate without other systems supporting it, or is our world too interconnected for that to happen anymore? Traditionally, humans lived more regionally, now globalization is dominant.
This captivating article delves into the challenges faced by the protagonist, Colin, in his quest for a sustainable food system. The author highlights the complexity of the modern food system, which extends beyond national borders, and emphasizes the importance of local and organic farming as an alternative to industrialized food.
The story’s focus on personal connections and relationships within the smaller food system resonates deeply, as it reflects our innate human desire for meaningful interactions. The article also touches upon the allure of consumerism and the constant temptation to indulge in less sustainable choices, such as pizza and coffee.
The author commends Colin’s efforts to change his family’s eating habits, acknowledging the impressive determination required to navigate the pervasive influence of advertising and media promoting unsustainable consumption. This article serves as an inspiring reminder of the power of individual choices in shaping a more sustainable and connected food system.khalidelarbi———-business for sale
Collin talks about his annual family vacations for the holidays.We read about how he struggles to keep up with his project, but always ends up making his family members upset no matter what he does. He mentions that to get to this vacation places he must go through many transportation systems. All around the world everyone is using road, flight, rails, or over seas to transport to different places. I feel like our society is glad to have these easy systems, but we forget how much carbon dioxide gas is released. Collin’s solution was to cancel half of his trips and also fixing up his old bike to get around the city. Another system that relates to the transportation system is the food system. Where does some of our food come from? From other countries. How does it get to us? By transportation. There is a limit of food that can be grown locally, therefore we rely on other countries to sell and transport their goods to us. In our ENVS201 class we have already mentioned about food and transportation from other countries and also mentioned where carbon dioxide comes from. Also professor Martin had said that hybrid cars do help by not producing this gas, but the process of the making and materials being used does.
That last point is a good one. It’s not just the CO2 that is produced by transportation that is a negative impact, there is also the entire process of designing, researching and producing vehicles.
A lot of our impacts are hidden away, even those who seek them out have trouble realizing the entire system
Colin’s no impact experiment involves quite a few systems. One in particular that I could relate to is the reusable (cloth) diapers. The cloth diapers being made, being transported to the house, being used, being transported back to the company to be washed, then the cycle starts over again. When I was babysitting this summer I took care of a baby whose parents were eco-friendly and used cloth diapers instead of the throw away ones. Some of the systems Colin talks about all are interrelated, because they are all a process that is constantly being repeated and have a cycle that does impact the environment. The cloth diaper cycle can relate to the food system in our country and how foods from all over America are being transported from place to place by car and have a constant repeating cycle. These compare to some of the discussions talked about in class such as the production of parts in companies such as Sony where they have warehouses all over the world where certain parts are being made and are then transported somewhere else to be put together then transported again to homes. A major factor of these systems is transportation and I think it is great how he elaborates on how much of an impact traveling and transportation is and how it effects our planet.
In chapter 4 of the book, author Colin Beavan describes his struggles with many different systems found in today’s society such as waste-management and packaging systems. The two are actually connected to each other in the way that the packaging and transportation of goods ends up as waste. Colin begins the chapter with the explanation of French markets and how little packaging they use. These markets don’t even contain bags for people to put goods in. The inhabitants of the area have all different kinds of things they use to hold and transport goods. For example, he describes a lady who used the end of her dress to hold her vegetables as she walked home. That society strictly contrasts with the American life where everything is individually wrapped and packaged in large bags with tissue paper on top. Colin claims that the struggle to find foods not packaged and to find replacements for these packages is rather hard. The consumerist world we live in does not allow room for nature, natural, or simple. Our lives are intertwined with boxes, bags, and plastics, which end up in landfills or oceans. Not even our waste disposal systems can handle the large quantities of “stuff” that we as American consumers have after purchasing items from a store. In conclusion, Colin brings the ideas of American consumerism to the table and reinforces the fact that as a society, we have too much and don’t even realize it.
In chapter six, I found that the two main systems Colin explores are the transportation system and the food system. In this chapter, he and his family take a trip to his mother’s house for Christmas, and engage in some of their first transportation that is not self-propelled since the start of the project. Michelle also gives in to riding bikes in the city after it becomes clear to her that both she and Isabella actually find it quite enjoyable. The transportation system in general, whether it be transportation by bike, car, train or any other means becomes very important to Colin once he limits himself so strictly, and all of a sudden simple things like visiting his family on the holidays become more of a challenge than he initially thought possible.
Once home again, the “Sustainable Food” portion of the project begins. After much thought on transportation and the concept of food miles, which we have also discussed in our ENVS lectures, Colin decides that consuming only local and seasonal food is the only way to go in order to remain true to his project. While this proves to be difficult, he and his family enjoy the challenge and the new lifestyle it facilitates. By spending more time cooking and less time ordering takeout, their time together becomes more enjoyable and meaningful.
I find that the transportation and food systems are quite interrelated. As we have learned in class, a huge chunk of our carbon footprint comes from the transportation of food over thousands of miles, just so that off season fruits and vegetables can be enjoyed on the other side of the country. While I like choices and variety just as much as the next person, it can be difficult to justify the negative impact these systems have on our environment. While it would be difficult to be as dedicated as Colin, I think even little changes would be beneficial. For example, buying only local produce, or riding your bike on quick errands rather than getting in the car. To me, even small alterations to these systems would make a difference if enough people participated.
One of the systems Colin struggles with is in chapter 5, when he is describing the transportation system. Colin and his family are traveling during the holidays and are having problems deciding what type of transportation would have the least impact. In the end, Colin and Michelle decided that they are going to cancel 2 of the 4 trips they had planned for the holidays. In ENVS 201, we talked about transportation. Professor Martin gave an example where transporting an apple from Seattle to Eugene may create more energy than shipping it from across the globe. It depends on the materials to ship the apple and also how it is being transported. I think Americans are underestimating the amount of carbon dioxide going into the air to satisfy our own needs. Planes, cars, and trains have become second nature to us and seem like the norm to use them on a daily basis. Colin said “A single long-haul trip billows three tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as much as an entire average year of driving.” When I read that I was beyond surprised. I think as a society we are not quite grasping the amount of emissions we are putting in the air.
In chapter 5 Collin talks about how he is reducing his carbon footprint by not using the transportation system like the subway, trains, planes and cars. We see that this is a big struggle for Collin because when it starts to get cold in New York he has to walk or bike everywhere. Everywhere, people use transportation systems to get around their cities and and even to get around to other places like in airplanes or trains and it is a huge part of our carbon dioxide release. Yes it is great to have these systems in the world but because they are so easy to access I don’t think that people really think about what they are doing to the environment when they take a plane or a train for a simple vacation. Collin’s idea to ride his bike around the city is a great idea because doing this he will have literally no carbon emissions on the environment. As for his wife, Michelle she planned to walk to work everyday which also would have no carbon emissions. Collin claims that we should worry more about our family footprint than our carbon footprint. If we do this we can greatly reduce our impact on the environment because we are thinking about what we personally can do to help. The way we get our food is related to this process because lots of food comes from over seas and that makes a huge carbon impact when it is flown over the the U.S. or even if it is just flown in from a different state. Although I like a variety in food just as much as the next person it is hard to justify giving off that much carbon dioxide just for some food. I think that even small adjustments to our lives like eating only local food or riding your bike instead of driving a car can have a huge impact on our environment. In our Environmental Studies class we already talked about the transportation system and how much CO2 emissions are caused by it. Professor Martin talked about the food transportation system and how much energy it takes to transport our food from where is it coming from.
In this book, Colin mentions a variety of systems: the free market system, baby-poop-containment system, sustainable food system, and transportation system. All these systems are interrelated in an even bigger system. Distribution relies on transportation. A baby’s poop is the result of eating the food that was distributed. If we started eating sustainable food, we wouldn’t have to deal with food distribution which would cut down on transportation. Systems seem to be all inter-twined with one another and if one part fails, so do the others.
The aspect of how a system stops working as efficiently if one part fails, reminds me of the positive feedback cycle we talked about in ENV201. The positive feedback cycle isn’t exactly “positive” meaning good, but describes how some things have a domino effect and can amplify the situation. If a part of a system fails, the other component could fail also or work less effectively, creating a domino effect throughout the whole system. Once the impact goes all way around, it went through a cycle which can be related to the positive feedback cycle. In J201 we have also studied the importance of systems and how crucial every aspect is. For example the process it takes for a media to go from plain media to a mass media.
This book is full of system. From the food system to the transportation system they are everywhere. Colin has many different issues that he struggles with while trying to conduct his No Impact Experiment. He has trouble finding an alternative source of transportation for his wife. He fixes up his old bike. There are a lot of factors that play into the systems that Colin faces. The food issue is another system that Colin has to overcome. He wanted to eat all locally grown food. This mean finding farms in New York City and finding grocers that supplied local food. The systems that Colin faces are similar to the ones that we are studying in class. There are even some of the same ones such as the food system and the transportation system. There are even some other systems such as the garbage system and the pollution system. Colin had many issues that he had to figure out while doing his experiment.
colin uses many systems to be able to make his family zero waste. His latest system involves how he get his food and from where. Colin realizes that most food in the US goes through so much processing and comes from so many different places that it is almost impossible to keep track of what goes into your food and where its from and how it was made. Colin’s solution to this problem is simple. He is only going to buy food locally and organically grown within 100 miles of where he lives. Another one of his systems is with diapers for his child. He has 2 diapers that are always cycling between his child and the washer. Overall colin has many systems and all of them are very creative and intelligent. Without these systems it would be nearly impossible for Colin to succeed.
In the book, Colin struggles with the many systems put in place in today’s society. One in particular was the transportation system. To avoid carbon emissions he decides to fix up his old bike and use that to get around the city rather than using a car or public transportation. However, the transportation system cannot completely be avoided unless he eats locally grown food. Today, most of the food we eat is transported hundreds or thousands of miles to reach our plates, leaving a vast carbon footprint in its wake. These systems being so intertwined makes Colin’s, or anyone’s, task of being more environmentally responsible much more difficult. The other systems that intertwined are the packaging and waste disposal systems. Without the packaging system in place there would significantly less garbage for the waste disposal system to take care of. Colin alone takes on these systems as a whole and runs into lots of trouble when trying to avoid all. This shows that the entire system is at fault and we need radical overhaul of the current way if we are to more toward
One system Colin discusses is the food-packaging system. He explains his struggles to find ways to carry his bulk food and the challenges he overcame. It was interesting to think about how everything you buy today is individually wrapped. One specific example that Colin gave was the fast-food system. You are given a paper placemat, your fries come in a cardboard container, burgers are served in a styrofoam box, ketchup comes in a little plastic container, etc. This relates to consumerism and the system of capitalism, which is something we have learned in ENVS 201.
Systems run our Earth, from man-made machine systems, to natural ecosystems. They are all around us, connecting and working together for a shared goal. Colin goes quite in depth about many systems, including the global food system, and transportation systems. He shows how much of our pollution and impact, comes from transportation, whether is transporting people or goods. He decides to only eat food that is local, and finds the difficulty in doing so, since our food system so heavily revolves around trading across countries for out of season foods, and mass production of foods only in certain areas. Despite the challenges, Colin finds the local food system to be much better in many ways. You get to know where your food is coming from, and how it is being grown. Instead of your produce being grown who knows where, with numerous chemicals, at subsidized farms.
In environmental studies, we have recently talked about how Brazil has found a very efficient transportation system, one that the Eugene EMX bus has been modeled after. They have a bus system that is 500 times cheaper than a subway, and it transports about 4000 people a day. The buses have their own lanes and prepaid fare to keep things moving smoothly. The urban city has been praised for having less car emissions than other cities. In Journalism we have also talked about many media systems, and how they are falling into the hands of just a few giant corporations, such as what is happening in the global food system. As small farmers are being put out of business because they just cannot compete with mega subsidized farms. The same thing is happening with radio, magazines, newspapers, etc, they all our now owned by a couple company’s, increasing our concern as this results in only a few people having the ability to control what we eat, and what information we receive.
In the book, Colin Beavan talks about many of the different systems that our society and world is built upon. In comparison to the different societies that we talked about last week, another system would be the packaging system. Everything we buy (basically) is packaged one way or another. The amount of energy put in to simply just make an Styrofoam container, or a plastic bag, or a cardboard box travels so much farther because of then how it is used, how it is consumed, how it is distributed, how it is recycled and then how it is disposed of. The packaging system has more turned into a way of advertising for different products, and itself has turned into more of a product. This relates to the amount of consumerism our world has been putting up with now a day, and shows awareness for a change to become more eco-friendly.
Road trips—like the author was speaking of—are like systems. Like the cardiovascular system, the different roads are the veins and the cars are the different blood cells. Each car is trying to get to one destination on a freeway as well as side roads. If traffic gets congested, there are sometimes bypasses that can allow cars to surpass whatever accident or traffic jam there is on the road—like bypass surgeries. A system is a set of connected parts forming a bigger whole. Roads are connected to allow cars and people to travel to a different destination forming a bigger whole. As Collin describes road trips, he is also describing a type of system that occurs around us everyday.
In Chapter 4, colin talks about the food packaging and waste systems. Colin introduces to topic by explaining how the French are efficient with the ways they transport their food around and who they don’t waste while doing this. He states that they seem to use everything they can while not using any plastic bags and such, as they utilize their shirts and their bicycle baskets. Americans are constantly using paper and plastic bags all through the day whilst many countries are looking for alternative ways such as reusing cloth bags, and at least making customers pay for bags if they really want them. It is very difficult to get rid of all these bags, papers, boxes and more because it is so inconvenient. It’s hard to get around a big city like New York without things to carry foods in. The problem is with the consumers. We need to find alternative ways of transporting our foods. The packaging and the transportation are related as a lot of the packaging is useful for the buyer to transport the foods. For example, something basic is that plastic bags greatly help the buyers to move the foods to their homes. This problem is large because people are not willing to give up their usual ways and do not want to find alternatives.
Colin is dedicated to helping to develop a more sustainable food system, by eating only locally grown food he is helping make a difference, even if it is just a small one. To develop a more sustainable food system there would have to be healthier food at lower prices than they are now. To go along with this, people would need good public transportation to get to places such as the grocery store. While this may seem obvious, it would also be important to minimize food production and food transportation. Doing this would cut back emissions, and not only help create a sustainable food system but also help out the environment. However, creating a completely sustainable society is extremely difficult. Taking little steps to get there is the only way that our society can become at least a little bit more sustainable. By reducing our consumption, buying from local farmers, and using less fossil fuels we can become more sustainable. Colin came across a lot of adversity while doing his experiment, and we can really learn from what he found while doing it.
Colin talks about the local food system in this chapter. His mentors encouraged his local eating and offered their expert advice. They informed him that local foods must not only be produced locally, but all the ingredients must be grown locally as well. They also discussed distance in terms of how distance might differ for individuals depending on their location. This comes together as the following system: 1. Food is grown in a region, 2. That food stays in the region for production, 3. Food is produced and transported no longer than a specific distance. Some inclusions in local food ingredients might be difficult or impossible to grow in a region, so if eating locally, you may find yourself with an ever-changing diet that shifts with the seasons.
Another food system I’ve learned about was discussed in our environmental studies class. The higher demand in meat is leading to environmental degradation. China has increased their meat consumption by 1/3, leading to more cows being raised as food. Cows produce large amounts of methane, which is a negative effect on the government because it is a greenhouse gas. Following the slaughtering of these animals, their meat is transported to various locations, thus producing more transportation pollution.
From a completely different perspective, some systems are in place to act as protection for companies or people. As discussed in Media & Society, any publication has to go through a process before release to the public. For example, a newspaper article must stem from an event of some sort. Then, the event will become a story, and will be passed along to the editor for copy and content-editing. The process nears an end when gatekeepers review the article for content, ensuring that no information will be offensive to the wrong people.
It seems as though some systems can be highly beneficial to the environment if executed properly, while some can cause ample harm. There are systems that are functioning but not always convenient.
Although these systems have been brought up by my fellow students several times already, the recycling system, food system, and the transportation system are two things that have been popping up in my head for the past week throughout my daily life.
As for the transportation system, it is very easy/common to be all talk and no action. By this I mean that it’s easier to pledge to drive less and walk or bike more than it is to actually commit to these actions. So the question is, how do we form a solution instead of continually arguing about it? In ENVS today we discussed the bus system in Curitiba, Brazil. It is organized in such an efficient way, that a single bus can carry up to 4,000 passengers per day, compared to the average 500 on a regular bus system. This was very exciting news for me because recently I’ve been trying to think of ways to make public transportation a more reasonable alternative to owning and operating more than two cars per family. Bingo! Not only is the bus system in Brazil relatively easy to use, it is connected to other sustainable activities practiced within the city, including the recycling system. In a video we watched, one man gives his old fridge to the recycling crew as they go on the rounds, and in return, he receives a larger bunch of bananas and other assorted foods that are given to the local families from the surplus food supply. This is just so amazing to me! In some cases, the recyclers get bus tickets in exchange for their recyclables as well. This interconnectedness encourages the inhabitants of the city to recycle, use the efficient bus system, AND reduce food waste. It gives me hope that someone was able to come up with a reasonable solution to the transportation problem that although doesn’t solve the issue of vehicle emissions completely, it does significantly decrease the emissions, and is an inspirationally large step in the right direction.
In Chapter 6, Colin starts off the chapter by discussing his new diaper system or as he likes to call it, the new, “baby-poop-containment system”. The system is simple. He will use six diapers a day and after four days he will wash all of the diapers since he only has 24 diapers total. In a way, this system relates to, what I’ll call, the, “people buying fresh produce system”. When going out to the market to buy produce you often times find yourself buying enough that’ll last you 3-7 days because that’s all the time you have until the produce goes bad. Just like buying the right amount of diapers before having to wash them all, you have to buy the right amount of food before having to throw it all away. Now connecting it to the media, often times I have found that media can recycle and just reword certain stories for a short amount of time before having to “throw away” those stories and replace them with newer, fresher ones.
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