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Can
Our Planet Feed Us All?
Activity
#1
Program
Area
This activity
can be used in the Grade 9 Self and Society program and in the
Grade 9 Mathematics, Science and Technology program as part of
a Food and Energy unit or a Numerical Methods unit. It can also
be used in a Population Ecology unit of a Grade 10 environmental
science course. It is best used after an introduction to world
food distribution and production.
Learning
Outcomes
Teaching,
learning and evaluation will focus on the student's ability to:
- Collate
the information given to determine how food is distributed throughout
the world;
- Identify
the distribution of the food throughout the world;
- Appreciate
the wealth of food available to more developed nations.
Materials
- Teacher-Overhead
projector, overhead transparencies based on the masters included
with this activity, food cutouts on the "Global Larder" sheet,
two colours of chalk.
- Groups
- a calculator; one 11"x17" sheet of paper with a region of
the world, such as Western Europe or Central America, indicated
on the top.
- Individuals
-the Can Our Planet Feed Us All? map of the world.
Classroom
Development
- Divide
the class into seven groups, telling each group which area of
the world it will represent. If time permits divide the class
into heterogeneous groups (no friends, vary ability and skill
level of the members of the group).
- Explain
the concept of the "Global Larder. The overhead gives the average
annual production of food throughout the world in the 1980s.
- Explain
each of the food categories. "Pulses" are beans, peas and lentils,
an important protein source for much of the world.
- Explain
the symbols which represent the amount of food produced. One
large fish represents 10 million tonnes of fish produced that
year; one small fish represents 1 million tonnes of fish. Give
the students an example by placing a certain number of fish
on the projector, and have the students determine what number
is being represented.
- Explain
to students that each region will be receiving a large sheet
of paper which will indicate the amount of food that region
produces. They are to determine how many "big foods" and "little
foods" they will need. The group members also decide who will
pick up which foods from the "larder" so that there is no overlap.
The "larder" can be run in at least two ways:
a) All of the "foods" can be placed in a central location. This
risks the possibility of hoarding and food loss, which in itself
nicely demonstrates unequal food distribution throughout the
world.
b) Have designated "Larder treasurers," who dole out predetermined
amounts of each "food."
- Have
the groups glue or tape their foods to their sheets of paper
in the appropriate categories. Each group then tapes the sheets
in a row on the blackboard or a wall of the room (Using the
chalkboard enables you to write comments around the papers as
you go.).
Follow-up
Activity
- Hand
out copies of the map titled Can Our Planet Feed Us?
- With
groups still sitting together, but the class together as one,
the overhead projector displaying the map, and the "larders"
in view, the teacher asks, "Which region produces the most
_______?" and circles the appropriate part of the region's
larder with coloured chalk
Answers:
Vegetables and melons: Asia
Fish: Asia Pulses: Asia
Meat: Eastern Europe and the CIS
Cereals: North America, Japan and Oceania
Root crops: China
Students then quickly sketch the symbol for the food category,
together with a + symbol, on each of these regions (The teacher
also does this on the overhead transparency.).
- The teacher
next asks, "Which region produces the least ______________?"
and circles the appropriate spot with another colour of chalk.
Answers:
Vegetables and melons: Latin America
Fish: Africa Pulses: N. America, Japan, Oceania and Western
Europe
Meat: Africa
Cereals: Africa
Root crops: N. America, Japan and Oceania
The same process of recording the information on the individual
maps is repeated, this time using a - symbol.
- The
teacher next asks each region to report on whether its population
has sufficient food to feed its population, and records the
findings on the overhead with a fat person or a thin person.
Timing
Allow at
least 2 periods (70 min per period) for the completion of this
activity.
Activity
#2
Program
Area : SeeActivity #1
Materials
- Teacher-The
three overhead transparencies of maps
- Groups
need copies of What Can We Do?
Classroom
Development
- The class
has identified that Africa and Asia most need food for their
people. The role of each region is to now identify what they
can do to help, in the case of more developed nations; and how
they want to be helped, in the case of the less developed. First,
the teacher must inform the class of the global production picture
using the transparencies provided. Use the information from
the three maps "Literacy," "The Poorest Countries by G.N.P.,"
and "Access to Safe Water" to suppliment your own data.
- Give
each region a copy of its worksheet titled, "What Can We
Do?" Most of the information necessary for the completion
of this activity will come from these sheets. The students are
required to come up with a plan for dealing with world hunger.
Upon the completion of this exercise the group's spokesperson
will report its decisions to the rest of the class. The targeted
group will respond. For example, when a more developed region
proposes a plan for a less developed region, the latter is called
upon to respond.
Background
Information
GAIA: An
Atlas of Planet Management, is a valuable resource to use as a
starting and extending material. It is filled with information
about global issues.
Resources
This activity
was derived from information provided in:
Lean, Geoffrey
and Don Hinrichsen, and Adam Markham. Atlas of the Environment.
Santa Barbara, Calf.: ABC-CLIO, 1994.
Myers, Norm.
GAIA: An Atlas of Planet Management. New York: Anchor Books,
1993.
Cross-disciplinary
Links
This activity
puts the students in control of the world's food supply. They
initially identify its distribution throughout the world and then
decide what changes will be made at a global level. By having
the groups identified as regions of the world, the students are
given a greater understanding of the politics involved with food
production and distribution. In addition, this activity, which
links mathematics, social studies, and science, is well suited
for a class of mixed ability.
Note: Techers will
need to access the Adobe Acrobat files on the OSEE site for the
maps and overheads referred to in this lesson
Student
Activities
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Activity
#2
North
America, Japan and Oceania
We are the
"have nations." We have plenty of money, education,
safe food and water. We also have too much pollution. We would
like to help "our friends" in the poorer countries,
but we do not want to suffer too much ourselves. We know that
we can't expect to pay farmers nothing give our food away. If
we do this, our farmers will soon go out of business leaving us
without food for ourselves. We, in Canada alone, spend $12 000
000 000 per year on the military. Perhaps we could rechannel some
of these funds. It would be ideal if we could come up with a scheme
which helps others and manages to reduce our pollution.
Ideas
to start with
- Retrieve
money from pollution?
- Pay our
farmers well so that they produce more food and are able to
implement environmentally friendly practices on their farms.
- Help
the "have not" countries produce their own food, by
providing them with technology and education.
- What
we will do is ...
- We will
do it is by ...
- We will
do it this way because ...
Western
Europe
We are the
"have nations." We have plenty of money, education,
safe food and water. We also have too much pollution. We would
like to help "our friends" in the poorer countries,
but we don't want to suffer too much ourselves. We know that we
can't expect to pay farmers nothing give our food away. If we
do this our farmers will soon go out of business leaving us without
food for ourselves. We have lived through World War I and II,
when those of us living in the Netherlands were forced to eat
tulip bulbs to stay alive. It would be ideal if we could come
up with a scheme which helps others and manages to reduce our
pollution, but maintains our own production.
Ideas to start with
- Retrieve
money from pollution?
- Pay
our farmers well so that they produce more food and are able
to implement environmentally-friendly practices on their farms.
- Help
"have not" countries produce their own food by providing
them with appropreate technology and education.
- What
are your ideas? They're usually the best!
- What
we will do is ...
- How we
will do it is by ...
- We will
do it this way because ...
Eastern
Europe and the Confederation of Independent States
We have
had to rely on quite sizeable shipments of grain ourselves lately.
Since the downfall of communism we have had to restructure our
farms which had become very unproductive, and our distribution
system is now a mess. Our food has often been in short supply
and is very expensive. Many people are out of jobs. We would like
to help the countries who are suffering more than we are, but
we seem to have limited resources. Maybe the best thing we can
do is get our own house in order.
Ideas
to start with
- Try to
change our food production and distribution system but what
will we do with all of these collective farms?
- Convince
our people to eat less meat.
- Your
own ideas are the best!
- What
we will do is ...
- We will
do it is by ...
- We will
do it this way because ...
China
We are
in a unique position of having almost 1/5th of the world's population,
yet we manage to feed everyone. We were not always in this fortunate
position. In fact, in the late 1970s our agricultural system was
in trouble because of decades worth of poor policies. We decided
that we had to allow farmers to produce what they were best at
producing. This meant giving up a lot of government control. We
also found that we needed to pay the farmers well and provide
them with financial bonuses to grow more food. What we have managed
to do should be an example to all of the other regions of the
world.
Ideas
to start with
- Set
up an international school which brings people from around the
world to study the changes we have made.
- Form
an organization which takes educational programmes to the rest
of the world.
- Your
own ideas are the best.
- What
we will do is ...
- We will
do it is by ...
- We will
do it this way because ...
Latin
America
Our countries
have huge gaps between the rich and the poor. In fact while we
have some people near starvation, some of our countries actually
export foods (You see it doesn't pay to sell grain to people who
have no money, but it does pay to sell it to rich foreign buyers.).
Our biggest problem is that our climate is suitable for growing
cannabis and supplying the world with drugs. There is a lot of
money to be made in producing drugs and little in producing food.
We have a terrible crime rate as a result of this.
Ideas
to start with
- Somehow
devalue drugs and increase the value of food, so that farmers
want to produce food.
- Learn
how to better utilize the land that we do have.
- Your
own ideas are the best!
- What
we will do is ...
- We will
do it is by ...
- We will
do it this way because ...
Africa
We are
embarrassed to have to take handouts from the rest of the world
and would like to be able to produce our own food. If other countries
are going to help us we want them to keep the following in mind:
- We require
food and water aid in the short term.
- We require
that foreigners assist us with our own projects and initatives,
not impose them on us. For example, we would prefer to be paid
with food to plant trees which will prevent our soil from blowing
away.
- Any
educational programs the world provides for us with must be
for women (Men do not tend the crops, cook the meals, and control
the family's nutrition.).
Ideas
to start with
- Organize
yourselves so that the rich countries do not walk all over you.
Correct them if they try to make you do something you know is
not good for the country in the long run.
- Your
own ideas are the best!
- What
we will do is ...
- We will
do it is by ...
- We will
do it this way because ...
Asia
Our biggest
problem in this region is that we have too many people feed. We
are embarrassed to have to take handouts from the rest of the
world and would like to be able to produce our own food. If other
countries are going to help us we want them to keep the following
in mind:
- We require
food and water aid in the short term.
- We would
prefer to work with foreigners on projects. For example, we
would prefer to be paid with food to plant trees which will
prevent our soil from blowing away.
- Any
educational programs the world provides for us must be for women
(The men do not tend the crops, cook the meals, and control
the family's nutrition.).
Ideas
to start with
- Organize
yourselves so that the rich countries do not walk all over you.
Correct them if they try to make you do something you know is
not good for the country in the long run.
- Your
own ideas are the best!
- What
we will do is ...
- We will
do it is by ...
- We will
do it this way because ...
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