Connexions Resource Centre
Focus on Food
Recent & Selected Articles
This is a small sampling of articles related to education and children in the Connexions Online Library. For more articles, books, films, and other resources, check the Connexions Library Subject Index, especially under topics such as
agriculture,
agriculture/ecology,
farming/farm economy,
and food.
- Connexions Archive seeks a new home (November 18, 2009)
The Connexions Archive, a Toronto-based library dedicated to preserving the history of grassroots movements for social change, needs a new home.
- Argentina: Disappearing Farmers, Disappearing Food (October 29, 2009)
Food sovereignty as defined by Via Campesina is the peoples’ right to define their agricultural and food policy, and the right of farmers and peasants to produce food. Worldwide communities are seeking an alternative to a model controlled by Cargill, Monsanto, General Foods, Nestle and Kraft foods. Starved by industrialization and concentration, citizens are now hungry for traditional production methods and diversity in the food system.
- The Humble Tuna (October 19, 2009)
The humble tuna, "the chicken of the sea", is an unfortunate metaphor for all that is dysfunctional about our contemporary, western, capitalist world. The story of the Tuna is the story of our triumphant world, and provides a unified theory of its runaway excess
- Dwindling Fish Catch Could Leave a Billion Hungry (October 9, 2009)
Fish catches are expected to decline dramatically in the world's tropical regions because of climate change, but may increase in the north, said a new study published Thursday. This mega-shift in ocean productivity from south to north over the next three to four decades will leave those most reliant on fish for both food and income high and dry.
- Feedlots and E. Coli (October 9, 2009)
Improving processing plant inspections is a good idea, but it is only part of the solution. The real solution is minimizing the potential contaminant. Secondly, slow down the processing line so the workers can do their jobs. CDC tells people to wash their hands, their cutting boards and to cook meat thoroughly. Good sound suggestions, but why is the burden of safety inordinately placed on the consumer? Why are the processors allowed to hide behind the “safe handling instructions” and maximize their profits with impunity?
- Food Among the Ruins (August 1, 2009)
Detroit, the country’s most depressed metropolis, has zero produce-carrying grocery chains. It also has open land, fertile soil, ample water, and the ingredients to reinvent itself from Motor City to urban farm.
- Urban Honey (2009)
In the winter of 2003, three Chicago beekeepers joined forces to create a bee farm on the former Sears-Roebuck property right in the heart of our city. We abut an old railroad embankment wall with both prairie remnant and concrete in equal amounts.
Selected Websites and Organizations
This is a small sampling of organizations and websites concerned with education and children in the Connexions Directory. For more organizations and websites, check the Connexions Directory Subject Index, especially under topics such as
agriculture,
agriculture/ecology,
farming/farm economy,
and food.
Other Links & Resources
Books, Films and Periodicals
This is a small sampling of books related to education and children in the
Connexions Online Library. For more books and other resources, check the Connexions Library
agriculture,
agriculture/ecology,
farming/farm economy,
and food.
- The End of Food
How the Food Industry is Destroying Our Food And - What You Can Do About It
Author: Pawlick, Thomas
- Farmageddon
Food and the Culture of Biotechnolgy
Author: Kneen, Brewster
- The Food Wars
Author: Bello,Walden
Walden Bello presents an analysis of the various causes of hikes in global food prices and their effects on poverty in the countries of the global South.
- Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives
Author: Steel, Carolyn
Hungry City details the transformation of the food industry and it's not so benevolent impact on humanity. Obesity, diabetes and heart disease are the by-products of a system that is characterized by over consumption in one part of the world and starvation in others. Output and the complex international infrastructure that supports are controlled by profit. Steel also documents how production of food is controlled by fewer companies accountable to no one but themselves. Her examples include the following: 90% of milk in the United States comes from one breed of cow; the same proportion of commercial eggs from a single breed of hen; British supermarkets have reduced the 2000 varieties of apples down to two. The food chain becomes vulnerable to disease, contamination or terrorism. As well as a guide to the the history of the food chain from farm to plate to landfill it is also a warning on the waste and destruction of our current food systems.
- The Illustrated Book of Food Plants
A guide to the fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices of the world
Author: Masefield, G.B., Wallis, M., Harrison, S.G., Nicholson, B.E.
- Real Food For A Change
Bringing Nature, Joy and Justice to the Table
Author: Roberts, Wayne; McRae, Rod; and Stahlbrand, Lori
The three authors of this book argue that people need to avoid Industrial food-making. Instead, people in Canada must turn to organic farming to produce their own food. It is good for economy and good for one's health.
- So Shall We Reap
Author: Tudge, Colin
An expose on the fallout of the present drive for maximum food production at rock-bottom cost, as health scares spiral, rural workers are driven off the land, and poor nations are forced to export their goods in an unsympathetic marketplace.
- Stolen Harvest
The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply
Author: Shiva, Vandana
The author, an eco-feminist and environmentalist, documents the effects of Globalization and Manufactured Foods on small farmers, the environment, and the food we eat.
- Sugar The sugar trap
New Internationalist December 2003
A look into sugar as a consumer product and its corporate globalization. Discusses trade and business of sugar, its history with slavery as well as its effects on the body.
Learning from our History
Coming soon
Resources for Activists
The Connexions Calendar - An event calendar for activists.
Media Names & Numbers - A comprehensive directory of Canada's print and broadcast media. (CX5857).
Sources - A directory that enables journalists to find spokespersons of organizations. Organizations that list themselves in Sources signficantly increase their odds of getting called by reporters when they are doing a story of their issues..
