LIC501 Fall 2014

As commercial photographer Gabriele Galimberti was preparing to leave for a trip around the world, his grandmother prepared for him his favorite ravioli, expressing concern about how well he would be fed on his global jaunt. "My grandmother was mostly worried about the food that I was going to eat," remembered Galimberti.

The United States doesn't have the highest obesity rate in the Americas (that dubious honor goes to Mexico), but over one-third of US adults are currently obese, and that number isn't dropping. It's a pretty eye-opening statistic, especially when compared with data from countries like Japan and India, where obesity rates fall below five percent.

Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio traveled the world documenting that most basic of human behaviors - what we eat. Their project, "Hungry Planet," depicts everything that an average family consumes in a given week-and what it costs - laid out in thought-provoking detail.

Alison Teal walking through "Trash Island," a giant landfill in the Maldives that gets up to 400 tons of trash per day. (All photos: Sarah Lee) Filmmaker Alison Teal was in the process of literally exposing herself to a national TV audience when she found new inspiration: exposing the serious and complex trash-pollution issues affecting the Maldives, and turning plastic garbage into something useful.

Through a contract from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Pacific Southwest Office (EPA), Kier Associates (Kier) quantified the amount that 90 cities in California, Oregon, and Washington watersheds are spending to clean up litter and prevent trash from entering our oceans.

Marine debris is any man-made, solid material that enters waterways directly through littering or indirectly via rivers, streams and storm drains. Marine debris can be simple items such as a discarded soda can, cigarette butt, or plastic bag that ends up in the ocean potentially harming marine life.

rubber band trap video

Marine Debris - US Military dumping in ocean

lesson plan examples on food, culture, and society

EPA is working to reduce the amount of trash and litter that enters streams and rivers, lakes and bays, beaches and coastlines, and ultimately the world's oceans. This Agency work includes outreach and education, research, and new program partnerships.

How many calories do you consume in a day? Is it more or less than the recommended 2,000? How does it compare to the butter-rich 4,900 of a Tibetan monk - or the scant 800 of a Maasai herder in Kenya?

Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio set out to explore just how diverse the eating habits around the globe are, and published a photo album with their discoveries, called the Hungry Planet. The authors visited 30 families in 24 countries, each time photographing them at home, shopping at the market and surrounded by their weekly food purchases.

How School children Eat Around the World is a nonfiction book aimed at kids aged 9-12 published by Red Deer Press.

Put the five signs, each with a continent's name written on it, around the room (Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and North America). Tell young people to think about which of the five continents they believe has the healthiest food choices and the healthiest eating habits and to stand by that continent's sign.

Snapshots of families' weekly shop from countries around the world shows the food gulf between nations By Daily Mail Reporter A study of what 30 families living around the world eat in one week shows the huge gulf between the diets of different nations.

Rather long but might be useful in shorter version.

It seems that in our busy life of fast food and convenience, many people have become so disconnected from their food, they don't know where their food actually comes from (or what it is made of!). This is the first article in a series to help kids understand more about our food system.