Going back to schools that teach

Today is back to school day in our house, and among all the normal activities...finishing summer reading, making sure uniforms fit, figuring out which lunch table to sit at...it's a good time to consider the importance of school buildings to our community, and ways that we can make them even more important.

In many communities, schools already hum from early in the morning until late in the evening. Students go to class, of course, but community groups use facilities for meetings, local youth groups maximize the use of athletic and fine arts facilities when the school does not need them, and in extreme circumstances, schools provide shelter to those displaced from their homes. Schools provide an excellent foundation for sustainable communities, and we have many ways to make them even more so.

• Preserve schools located in community centers. For the past couple of decades, many communities have pushed their schools to the edge of their community because of a combination of the low cost for the land and the larger footprint that modern schools take up. This removes the ability for students to walk or bike to school, as well as losing the embodied energy of the existing school buildings.
• Use the buying power of the school to encourage the purchasing of local, healthy food options. This supports local food systems that provide community resilience, and directly benefits the health and learning opportunities of the students.
• Leverage the long-term position of the school to enter into long-term agreements for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Utility-scale renewable energy provides environmental benefits, but local, community-based systems provide the added benefit of a self-sufficiency that helps in emergency situations. As an added benefit, schools tend to be out of session during the times of highest system performance, meaning that they can export the additional energy to local homes.
• Manage materials in such a way as to minimize how much we dispose of in landfill. Schools use many consumable materials, and have a large, often passionate workforce to help collect and manage materials.
• Create a generation of sustainability natives. Just as children born over the last 20 years are digital natives that have never known a world without computers, students today will never live in a world without the impacts of climate change. These students can then bring what they learn into the community to make life better for all.

One in five people spend some part of their day in a school. The lessons we learn there permeate to all aspects of our life. In order to make these school buildings as useful to our communities as possible, we all need to advocate and support efforts to reduce or eliminate their negative impact on the environment and make them even more self-sufficient.

A practical case for reconsidering GMO based on taste

Let me be the first to call myself out: I am not a food science expert.  I am a mechanical engineer with a good background in energy systems, construction, and building design.  I have a fairly decent knowledge of communications systems, economics, and quantum physics.  I am above average in my knowledge of theater, 80s pop/rock, and almost every competitive sporting activity.  But I am not a food science expert, so take the rest of this post with the proverbial grain of salt…

The food in England and France tastes better than the food in the US.

This is not an American self-loathing thing…I really love our country.  Despite several flaws, it's a great place to live, and we have an unwavering hope that things will get even better.  This is not saying that food in America is awful, just that the food in England and France tastes better.

Last month, my wife, my oldest child, and I spent some time in Paris and London.  We are not entirely normal tourists, as we like to trek off the beaten path and get into the neighborhoods of cities we visit.  Our meals do not consist of hitting the most highly rated restaurants in major cities, so my taste comparisons cover the standard fare.  We bought groceries at a standard corner store in London for our breakfasts and snacks, grabbed meals at neighborhood pubs and restaurants for most of our meals, and even sampled a cart vendor or two along the way.  At each turn, even in the highly Americanized sports pub, the food had a richer quality of taste to it.  I am not making claims that it was better for us, just that on the quality of taste, there was a noticeable difference compared with American food.

This is where my observation turns to supposition.  In talking with people over there, and having read about food systems in the UK and mainland Europe, there are two striking differences.  First, much of the food systems are inherently local.  There are certainly South American bananas, but most of the staple crops come from farms within the country…which comparatively would mean within the geographic area of our states.  This short farm-to-table timeframe could easily account for much of the heightened flavor in the food.  Second, European countries practice the precautionary principle.  That means that anything consumed by people must be proven safe prior to consumption.  They have heavy restrictions on food additives, GMO, and processing.  There is still much debate about the safety of food additives, and especially GMO, but little of that discussion has included quality.  A completely unscientific analysis suggests to me that it would help to include it in the discussion.  Lastly, the portion sizes are drastically different.  In the states, we are fine with average tasting food if the portion gives us the quality to match our payment.  Perhaps in Europe, the smaller portion size forces vendors to ensure that the quality of the food matches the customers expectations of value.

Sometimes, our debates in this country become more about the debating than the topic.  We have talked for the better part of the last decade about the food industry from the point of view of safety, energy intensity, and environmental damage.  This brief sampling suggests to me that we should provide equal footing to the quality of the food, and not just look at food as a business, but something that sustains life in myriad ways.

Friday Five: May 23, 2014

We not only have to worry about declining yields on some crops in a changing climate, but now we must consider the possibility that food will have lower nutritional value.
Climate change producing less nutritious food, report says
"Climate change initially will produce both winners and losers when it comes to food production, the report said, but research has indicated that growing regions everywhere will eventually suffer from global warming. The report calls on the U.S. government to integrate climate change adaptation into its global food security strategy."

This creates even greater pressures on local quality of life in areas that experience the combined impacts of drought and increased water use due to fracking.
California's thirst shapes debate over fracking
"The drought, combined with a recent set of powerful earthquakes, has provided the momentum for about a dozen local governments across California, the third-largest oil producing state, to vote to restrict or prohibit fracking in their jurisdictions, as concerns over environmental effects and water usage have grown."

Meanwhile, as we continue to debate the "ifs" of climate change impacts instead of moving onto the more important debate about what to do and where, those paying attention see the significant challenge to our food system and overall quality of life posed by the impact increased carbon in the atmosphere has on our oceans.
Oyster farmers and ocean acidification
"This 'ocean acidification' is one planetary response to humans’ burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the oceans. According to the National Climate Assessment, oceans currently absorb about a quarter of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, leading to ocean acidification that will alter marine ecosystems in dramatic yet uncertain ways."

Even ideas such as "local food" have their pitfalls as they sometimes lead to inefficient practices or the promotion of resource intensive crops.
'Third Plate' reimagines farm-to-table eating to nourish the land
"In his new book, The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food, Barber proposes rotating the most desirable and valuable foods, like tomatoes, with more humble offerings like buckwheat or barley or mustard greens — which are often overlooked when it comes to dining. Farm-to-table should include different foods and different portions that support the land, Barber says."

If we can make local food reflect all human health benefits, then the question remains as to how to build a system to feed billions of people in this way.
14 pointers toward a better food system: Connecting the (local, sustainable) dots
"My purpose here has not been to make an argument about the value of local food. (That’s been done.) Instead, I started with the assumption that fostering regional food systems was worthwhile, and tried to take the next step by asking, how do we scale this up?"

Happy Friday!