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Food
and 8000 Years of Civilization
Subject Area
This activity
has been developed for the Grade 12 Environmental Science curriculum
as a conclusion to the Soils: An Essential Resource unit. Other
applications for this activity are outlined in the Cross-disciplinary
Links section below.
Learning
Outcomes
Teaching,
learning and evaluation will focus on the student's ability to:
- Identify
and describe the relationship between population growth and
food production in three different societies;
- Compare
and contrast the environmental degradation of the three cultures
by completing two worksheets;
- Apply
the knowledge gained from this exercise to the current situation
of Canadian food production;
- Discuss
the findings and opinions of class members in an open, yet controlled,
format.
Classroom
Development
There are
three parts to this exercise:
- The history
of the Sumerians, Mayans and Iroquois (including the worksheets:
"Eight Thousand Years of Recent History" and "Three
Former Food Producing Cultures.")
- A mini-lecture
on the "Ten Points About Canada's Food Supply."
- A wrap-up
in the form of a controlled classroom discussion as outlined
in "Four Societies And Their Food."
Materials
Masters
of the following materials have been provided (in order):
- "The
Selfish Gene" (one page; one copy per group);
- "Three
Former Food Producing Cultures" (two pages; one copy per
student);
- "Early/Late
Farming in Mesopotamia," "Farming in Mayan Culture,"
and Pre and Early Iroquois Farming" (four pages; one copy
is required per group);
- "Ten
Points About Canada's Food Supply" (one copy per student);
- "Four
Societies and Their Food" (one copy per student).
Teaching
Strategy
The History
of...
- Introduce
the notion of the "Selfish Gene" and discuss with
the class the needs of an organism, if its genetic material
is to survive for more than a hundred years. Also introduce
the exploration of complex societies by asking the class how
many of them know when the next solar eclipse will be visible
from Canada. It is likely that no one will know, yet the Mayans
of the centuries before Christ could predict the movements of
the heavens hundreds of years into the future. Have the class
speculate on these two pieces of data.
- Divide
the class into groups of 3 students. Notify the class that each
member is expected to become an expert on the particular society
assigned to him/her, and will be responsible for the instruction
of the others.
Mini-lecture...
- Instruct
the class on the present situation in Canadian agriculture as
detailed in "Ten Points about Canada's Food Supply."
Four Societies
and their Food...
It is important
that this activity be completed in one uninterrupted session of
at least 40 min.
- The students
will independently work through the handout, stating whether
they think the statement is true or false, and, most important,
think of supporting arguments.
- Once
everyone has independently completed the guide, have the groups
reconvene so that they may develop a group statement reached
by consensus.
- Circulate
around the room, listening to the discussion, but not interfering.
- Once
all groups have completed this exercise, display an overhead
projection of the handout on the screen and summarize the decisions
of the class, (ie 2 F, 3 T) discussing the reasons for each
statement. Class discussion is likely to flourish.
Timing
Allow at
least 3 hours of in-class time (plus homework) for this activity.
The most important segment is the 40 min of uninterrupted time
for the three level guide.
Resources
- Ponting, Clive.
A Green History of The World. St. Martin's Press, 1991.
The Sumerians and Mayans societies are well covered in this
book.
- Axtell,
James. After Columbus - Essays in the Ethnohistory of Colonial
North America. N.Y.: O.U.P., 1989. The demise of the native
culture after the encroachment of Europeans is well covered
in this book.
- Dawkins,
Richard. The Selfish Gene. Toronto: Oxford, 1989. This
is one of the most entertaining and interesting book ever written
for those who understand science and those who don't.
- Heidenreich
, Conrad. Huronia - A history and Geography of the Huron
Indians 1600-1650. Toronto: M & S, 1971.
- Wright,
Ronald. Stolen Continents: The "New World" Through
Indian Eyes. Boston: Viking Press, 1992.
- Herscovici,
Alan. Food For Thought, Facts about Food and Farming in Canada.
Ontario Farm Animal Council, page 148.
- Lickens,
Henry. "Akwasasne-Challenges of the St. Lawrence."
Mohawk Council of Akwasasne, Environmental Division, 1990. This
article is available from the Akwasasne Band Council Office,
Cornwall, Ontario. (613)575-2377/575-2250.
- Death
on the St. Lawrence. BBC Video, "Nature" series.
Cross-disciplinary
Links
Biology
- This activity could also be used after the studies of Genetics
and Populations in the Biology curriculum.
History
- It could also be used as part of the History of Society (Grade
11 History) or Civilizations (Grade 12 History) curriculums.
Physical
Geography - (Grade 11) and Urban Studies (Grade 12 Geography)
could also make use of this activity, as well as Science in Society.
Science
in Society- If extended, this unit could also be used in OAC Science
in Society, in either the Humans in the Environment or Current
Issues in Science.
Answers
for Student Activity Sheet:
Former
Food Producing Cultures
| Culture |
Degree of Environmental
Impact |
Food Supply |
/Populations |
Reason for Progress or Regress |
Selfishness a factor? |
| Sumerian 3500-2300BC |
(-) |
(+) |
(+) |
irrigation |
|
| Sumerian 2300-2000BC |
(--) |
(++ then -) |
(++) |
salinization |
|
| Sumerian after
2000BC |
(--) |
(--) |
(--) |
Overcome by Babylonians |
YES |
| Mayan 2500-450BC |
(-) |
(+) |
(+) |
Organized Food Production |
|
| Mayan 450BC-600AD |
(--) |
(++ then -) |
(++) |
Well organized Society |
|
| Mayan 600-800AD |
(--) |
(--) |
(--) |
Soil degradation, malnutrition, social breakdown |
YES |
| Hunter Gatherer in Ontario
5000-1000BC |
(0) |
(0) |
(0) |
Followed food-small population |
|
| Iroquois 1000BC-1500AD |
(-) |
(++) |
(++) |
Well organized, Matriarchical Culture |
|
| Iroquois 1535AD+ |
(0) |
(--) |
(--) |
Imposed European Values |
YES?NO? |
Key: +=positive
change -=negative change 0=little change ++=dramatic positive
change --=dramatic negative change
Student
Worksheets
Food
and 8000 Years of Civilization
The Selfish
Gene
In his witty,
readable and popular book, The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins alleges
that there is no such thing as altruism, that we are all selfish.
He attributes this to the nature of our genes-the material which
makes each of us who we are and who we will be. "We animals
exist only for the [genes] preservation and are nothing more than
their throwaway survival machines. The world of the selfish gene
is one of savage competition, ruthless exploitation and deceit."
But "our species-alone on earth-has the power to rebel against
the designs of the selfish gene" claims the jacket cover
of the book.
It is much
harder to look in the mirror for signs of selfishness in Homo
Sapiens, than it is to look through history. But to do this, we
will first need to establish what it is to survive from one generation
to the next. We will then evaluate how three different societies
in the last 8000 years might have allowed selfishness to interfere
with their genetic survival, and use that as a measurement of
our progress through time.
What does
the living organism need to do in order to ensure that its genes
survive from one generation to the next? It needs to: breathe,
eat, reproduce.
Breathing
is an involuntary act that receives little mention in the history
books, so eating and reproducing are the two processes worth investigating
through the history of our species. Let's take a look at three
different societies-Sumerian, Mayan and Iroquoian-and their approach
towards food and reproduction...
Early Farming
In Mesopotamia
It is no
longer possible to find the name of the city of Sumer on a map,
but by 3000 BC its inhabitants made up the first society in the
world to be considered literate.
To find
where this ancient society once lived you will need to look to
a map of the Middle East and locate Iraq; the largest country
that the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow through. What you already
know about the geography of Iraq would not have led you to think
that this was once a region highly productive in food.
The Sumerian
region of Mesopotamia was highly productive in wheat and barley
for over 600 years because of the system of storing water from
the spring run-off in the north and irrigating when the crops
were first planted in late summer.
The productivity
of irrigated crop production encouraged the growth of this society
of highly developed states run by bureaucracies and defended by
armies (At its peak the city of Sumer had a population of at least
30 000.).
Late Farming
In Mesopotamia
Irrigation
of land raises the level of the water table in the soil. This
then gives a shallower depth of soil for the water to filter through.
Salts, which would normally be dispersed throughout the soil then
become concentrated. Combined with the fact that the very hot
summers of this region cause a rapid evaporation of water, a serious
build-up of salt occurred rapidly in the soils of Sumeria.
Under conditions
where the land could be left to rest (a process called "fallowing")
crop production could have been maintained, but the ever rising
population of consumers dictated that food production must continue
to increase.
At first
this society was able to cope by growing barley which is less
salt-sensitive than the traditional crop of wheat. Between 2400
and 2100 BC crop yields in this region fell by 42%. By 1700 BC
production had fallen by 65%, with reports that "the earth
(had) turned white" (with salt). Without food to feed the
population including the armies, the region was conquered by the
Babylonians, who moved the centre of their empire to more productive
soils further north.
Little had
been learned by the mistakes made by the Sumerians for the Babylonians
were to repeat the same mistakes with irrigation, and their society
also collapsed.
Early Farming
In The Mayan Culture
The Mayans
were a highly developed society residing in parts of Mexico, Guatemala,
Belize and Honduras from about 2500 BC to 800 AD.
This culture
is considered one of the most intellectual of all time. Their
study of astronomy included calculating with great accuracy the
phases and positions of the sun, moon and planets like Venus.
They did this long before Roger Bacon nervously postulated that
the earth was round and was not the centre of the universe in
13th century England.
The Mayans
also developed an extremely accurate calendar in this period,
a notable achievement when one considers that the English only
adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752.
A slow and
steady growth in size of population took place among the Mayans
in the period from 2500 until about 450 BC. However, the next
1150 years were much less stable when the total population of
this region rose dramatically until it reached nearly 5 million,
with some cities being comparable to the Mesopotamian cities of
at least 30 000 people.
These cities
were centred around the magnificent temples and palaces of the
religious and secular elite of the time. The labour force lived
outside these complexes in thatched huts formed around courtyards.
The large population that was required to supply the cities with
food lived in the surrounding jungles, growing beans, squash,
avocadoes, chili peppers, melons, papayas and cacao. Growing crops
on newly cleared land produced tremendous yields.
As with
the Sumerians, the population of consumers increased as the food
supply increased. Unfortunately, the Mayan consumers, equally
out of touch with those who were producing their food, continued
to demand more of their farmers and the soil. The jungle which
had protected the fragile tropical soil was cleared for more food
production (as well as timber and lime production).
Severe erosion
and loss of soil fertility placed greater demands on those producing
the food, until falling nutrition levels in the general population
began to show up in the later part of the 8th century. Unable
to provide the levels of food the rulers dictated the peasant
cultivators provide, the peasants revolted and the system began
to collapse. Conflict between the cities over the remaining food
supplies led to the final disintegration of the entire society.
It took
only 20 years, for a society which had been in existence for 3300
years, and had reached such intellectual heights, to collapse-simply
because its population growth hadn't been checked and it hadn't
placed importance on the food it consumed, the land from which
it came, and the farmers who produced it.
Pre-farming and the Iroquois
One doesn't
have to look as far as the Middle East and Central America to
find examples in history of societies and food systems which crumbled
as a result of a lack of understanding of the mechanisms controlling
food production. In a different fashion, the early Iroquoian society
of southern Ontario and Quebéc, and northern New York collapsed
alongside their food systems.
Hunters
And Gatherers
The landscape
of Ontario hasn't always been as it appears to us now. Prior to
8500 BC (about the time of Moses) Ontario was covered by a glacial
sheet and the lakes formed from its melt-water. As the glacier
retreated, the first people to set foot upon the tundra of these
latitudes were those in pursuit of the mastadons, caribou and
other animals we think of as "northern species." Archeological
records of these first people are very scarce. This is because
there were very few people in the entire province, their livelihood
kept them constantly on the move, and the acid soils of the tundra
has caused the rapid disintegration of any of their remains.
As the climate
warmed (5000 BC-1000 BC) to produce an Ontario we would recognize
today, plants we would also be familiar with provided feed for
the species of animals which now inhabit the province. The population,
in turn, expanded as the men hunted and trapped these animals,
and the women fished and gathered wild berries and nuts. This
livelihood still meant that these people found their food sources
on seasonal rounds, but it was less of a nomadic life than that
experienced by their predecessors.
Early Farming
and the Iroquois
Between
1000 BC and the beginning of the "Historic Period" (1535
AD when Jacques Cartier set foot at the present-day Montreal)
the natives of southern Ontario had slowly changed from being
a society of hunters and gatherers, to one of farmers. This change
first came about when individual bands and families started growing
a few crops to see them through the difficult month of March when
their winter stocks were depleted and snow and ice prevented them
from hunting as needed. About 500 AD corn was introduced to the
Windsor and Niagara regions and spread throughout the province
as it was traded and cultivated in each climatic zone. This crop
first provided a supplement to the diet of meat and fish, but
gradually hunting and fishing became a way of supplementing a
diet based on corn.
Meat from
wildlife is not readily obtainable when land is cleared for agricultural
production, so by 1400 the chief source of protein among the Iroquois
was beans.
These changes
in food sources created a gradual change in the native social
structure, as the importance of being a hunter (the men's role)
gave way to the importance of growing crops (the women's role).
With these changes, the matriarchial society one associates with
the Iroquois of today developed. Women were responsible for the
planting, tending and harvesting of all the crops. Because of
this, they were the ones to decide when the villages, by these
times palisaded compounds of hundreds of people, were to move
to new locations. It is known that at this time in history, 12
years was the maximum lifespan of any single village. This was
determined by the availability of firewood within a close distance
of the village, and the fertility of the soil. It is known that
the practice of burning the brushwood, weeds and previous crop's
stalks increased the availability of soil nutrients in the short
term, but led to long term soil degradation through the loss of
organic matter. So, despite the fact that some of the farming
practices such as growing beans (nitrogen fixing plants), and
cultivating to minimize erosion, the soil depleted to a point
where the fields were abandoned to regenerate for a period of
30 years.
Given the
availability of land to the Iroquois at this time, this system
of moving on a regular basis worked well. It was a subsistence
lifestyle where enough food was grown to have a small reserve
for poor seasons, and where the role of men and women, and humans
and the spirits were clearly defined.
Into this balanced state came the Europeans, with a different
value system. Many aspects of the Iroquoian culture, including
the production of their food crumbled because of the invasion.
The Europeans
wanted furs. The Iroquois who had only hunted and trapped to meet
their need for warmth now exchanged furs for foreign objects like
guns. A people unfamiliar with the concept of ownership now had
to fight with their neighbours to maintain control over land rich
with fur-bearing animals. A society so focused on obtaining furs
had little time to spend growing surplus crops, so that there
was little reserve when the leaner years came.
The Europeans
also wanted converts to Christianity. The adoption of this foreign
religion completely altered the social order of the Iroquois with
the lack of value it placed on women, the spirits of the natural
world and the shamans who interpreted the spirit messages for
the people. With a society fractured it is difficult to carry
out the day-to-day duties required to produce food for one's people.
The Europeans
carried diseases to which the Iroquois had no resistance. Thousands
died from exposure to smallpox, measles and influenza. Not only
did these epidemics undermine the influence of the shamans who
could not heal such diseases, but they also diverted energy away
from food production. Many communities survived epidemics with
only half of their original population. The loss of children meant
the loss of the next generation for many villages. The loss of
the elderly meant the loss of valuable information, including
that surrounding the practice of growing food.
The Europeans
also introduced alcohol to the Iroquois, and it is believed that
a society which gained a great deal of direction from the visions
of their superiors, quickly bought into the "short cut to
the spirits" that alcohol provided. Alcoholism is another
factor which unbalanced the order of the pre-historic Iroquois.
And so,
a society which had at one time been focused on the production
of food, collapsed. The problem of environmental destruction of
food production caused by population pressures, was replaced by
the external pressures of disease, alcoholism and changing values.
It would appear that a society which doesn't place the utmost
of importance on food production is doomed to fail.
Are we prepared
to have people of the future include our society among those which
did not learn this important lesson from history?
Take time
to fill in the following chart
Former
Food Producing Cultures
| Culture |
Degree of Environmental
Impact |
Food Supply |
/Populations |
Reason for Progress or Regress |
Selfishness a factor? |
| Sumerian 3500-2300BC |
|
|
|
|
|
| Sumerian 2300-2000BC |
|
|
|
|
|
| Sumerian after
2000BC |
|
|
|
|
|
| Mayan 2500-450BC |
|
|
|
|
|
| Mayan 450BC-600AD |
|
|
|
|
|
| Mayan 600-800AD |
|
|
|
|
|
| Hunter Gatherer in Ontario
5000-1000BC |
|
|
|
|
|
| Iroquois 1000BC-1500AD |
|
|
|
|
|
| Iroquois 1535AD+ |
|
|
|
|
|
Key: +=positive
change -=negative change 0=little change ++=dramatic positive
change --=dramatic negative change
Ten
Points About Canada's Food Supply
- Canadians
have the second lowest per capita food costs in the entire world.
We spend 12% of our disposable income on food, while many others
spend as much as 80%. It is no secret that we Canadians have
demanded cheap food.
- In the
last 30 years, Canadian farmers have increased output per farm
worker by a factor of four while the rest of the Canadian commercial
enterprise has only doubled.
- Only
about 3% of the Canadian population farms. This means that potentially
97% of consumers and voters make decisions based on little or
no knowledge of how their food is produced.
- The average
Canadian family income between 1980 and 1989 increased 82% from
$22 572 to $41 083.
- During
the same time the people producing our food and paying for their
farm mortgages and equipment replacement costs experienced an
increase of 48% from $11 584 to $17 219.
- Canada
has one of the strictest regulatory controls of food in the
world. This, combined with the fact that we live in a northern
climate with fewer pests, means that our foods are safer than
those produced in much of the world.
- Over
one-third of Canada's most productive land can be seen from
the top of Toronto's CN Tower. Much of this land is under concrete
now. With average field crop sales returning an average of $622.00
per hectare (2 football fields) in 1989, one can understand
why farmers are tempted to sell their land to developers who
may pay over $250 000 for the same space.
- Although
there is an unofficial "cheap food policy" in Canada,
there is no official food policy guaranteeing the future of
Canadian food production. Without an adequate income Canadian
farmers are unable to implement environmentally sustainable
farming practices (a problem seen in a few other cultures!).
- It is
predicted that 20 "mega-companies" will control the
entire food processing system by the end of the 90s.
- The average
Canadian has three days worth of food supplies in his/her home.
There is another three days worth in the supermarkets and another
week to 10 days worth in the distribution system of the cities.
The summary of this is that our cities are within 2 weeks of
being without food.
Four Societies
And Their Food
Part One
Place the
letter "T" or "F" on the line before the statement
if it is True or False. Base you answers on the information you
have learned. When you have made your decisions, discuss your
choices and your reasons with your group.
__ (a) Irrigation
destroyed the Mayans.
__ (b) The
population of the Sumerian and Mayan cultures rose as food production
rose.
__ (c) The
intelligence of the Mayans was superior to that of many of our
various ancestors living at the same time.
__ (d) Canadian
food is expensive.
__ (e) Canadian
cities are within four weeks of being without food.
__ (f) Canadian
farmers are efficient.
__ (g) Canada
has an excess of productive land.
__ (h) The
Iroquois have always been farmers.
__ (i) The
self-sufficient Iroquois survived longer than the other cultures.
__ (j) Food
production only decreases when the land cannot support continued
production (i.e. the land is not given a rest).
Part Two
Place the
letter "T" or "F" on the line before the statement
if it is True or False Discuss your choices with your group, and
be prepared to justify them.
__ (a) Birth
control would have ensured the survival of the Sumerian and Mayan
cultures.
__ (b) The
more intellectually advanced the society, the longer it survives.
__ (c) Over
90% of Canadians know nothing about how their food is produced.
__ (d) Fewer
pesticides are needed to grow crops in Canada than in many other
countries.
__ (e) Food
processing mega-companies keep the price of food down.
__ (f) Well
paid farmers will farm in a more environmentally friendly manner.
__ (g) Self-sufficiency
in food usually ensures the survival of a culture.
Part Three
Place the
letter "T" or "F" on the line before the statement
if it is True or False Be ready to give your reasons when you
discuss your choices.
__ (a) If
I want my genetic material to survive, I should have more children
and eat more food.
__ (b) If
I want my genetic material to survive, I should buy Canadian food.
__ (c) Canadians
value the food we produce and consume.
__ (d) At
the end of the 20th century a country does not need to depend
solely on its own food production.
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