Humanity in the Food Web-Course Introduction and Overview

TSM 311

Spring 2014

Human-Food Web Interactions- How do we get food, water, and energy from the world around us? Historical Issues (First half of the class)

Transition from hunting and gathering to farming Modification of naturally occurring plant

characteristics by human selection Ancient empires develop from agricultural societies Dust Bowl and Great Depression

Connect to current Issues and Controversies Genetically modified organisms Climate change and sustainability Bioenergy and Food vs. Fuel

What we hope you get from the class Understand the factors contributed to major

successes and failures of humanity’s historical interaction with the food web

Understand the effects of our food activities & systems on broader societal structure

Analyze current events and societal problems related to the way we generate and distribute food in the modern world

Become persuasive in advocating rational and effective policies that will advance individual welfare and human society

Orientation to the course topics and structure Introduction to the TSM 311 Compass 2g site Note the Reading Comprehension Quiz due

later today and before lecture next week Course provides information to help formulate

and informed opinion on food related issues Which topics are you most interested in? Try to become an expert on one or two topics…

What do you hope to get from the class?

Key Questions of Critical Analysis to Consider What?

What were the main points/concepts presented? What key evidence and facts was provided?

So What? Why is the topic or problem important to society? What are the implications of the key information

and how does this compare with previous efforts? Now What?

What should I do differently based on the authors evidence and analysis?

What societal policies could be impacted?

Humanity in the Food Web-Hunter-Gatherer Societies

TSM 311

Spring 2014

Watch Hunter-Gatherer Video Clips

See class web page on Compass 2g

Apply Key Questions of Critical Analysis to Readings and Videos What?

– What were the main points/concepts presented?– What key evidence and facts was provided?

So What?– Why is the topic or problem important to society?

– What are the implications of the key information and how does this compare with other previous efforts?

Now What?– What should I do differently based on the authors evidence and analysis?

– What societal policies could be impacted?

A B E @ I L L I N O I S

Hunter Gatherer ReadingsNinety-nine Percent of Human History

- 4 Traits affecting the spread of settlements- Interactions between H-G and the envirnoment

A B E @ I L L I N O I S

Evaluate Hunter Gatherer ReadingsNinety-nine Percent of Human History Does the author cite sources? Does the author generalize?

– “This was based on managing the herds with minimum disturbance. In eastern and central Europe it involved following the migrating herds from their winter ranges on the Hungarian plain and the edge of the Black Sea to their summer grazing areas in the Jura, southern German highlands and the Carpathians”

A B E @ I L L I N O I S

Hunter-Gatherer Cultures

Quick Write In “The Original Affluent Society” by Marshall

Sahlins, the author suggests that modern capitalist societies depend upon scarcity, and argues that primitive hunter societies are absolutely poor, yet in some ways affluent.

Describe his thesis briefly and 2-3 supporting facts or ideas that support his thesis.

A B E @ I L L I N O I S

Hunter Gatherer ReadingsThe Original Affluent Society What are the two suggested courses to affluence? Argues against conventional idea that hunter-gatherers

were “poor”– Why do Food and Water receive special consideration?– How are Food and Energy related?

Claims the “market-industrial system institutes scarcity” Other claims:

– Varied Diets– Material Plenty – lack of Material Needs– Others?

What was good/bad about the writing?

A B E @ I L L I N O I S

Hunter Gatherer ReadingsPrologue to The Covenant

Topics : – Starvation– Infanticide– Abandonment– Remarriage and multiple wives– Spirituality, artistic expression and relation to animals

Was this an affluent society of 26 people? Was this society sustainable? What were the gender roles? The fictional account of a San tribe’s trek is based on research…

– What are the advantages of semi-fictional accounts?

Hunter-Gatherer Cultures

Quick Write Questions:3. It may be easy for us to picture how we may coax an existing

Hunter Gatherer society out of their current mode of survival. However, what we have not touched upon is that in times when presumably all societies were nothing but hunter-gatherers, there were no western societies to do the coaxing.

What were the driving factors that pushed hunter-gatherer societies towards agriculturally derived foods.?

A B E @ I L L I N O I S

Hunter-Gatherer Culture DiscussionCompare and contrast the readings? What were the common themes? What aspects seemed to diverge? Can you harmonize them?

Discussion Questions from the class website… What was life like to be a hunter/gatherer? Why did humans abandon their sustainable way of life (a nomadic

hunter/gatherer lifestyle) for farming (a sedentary lifestyle)? Compare and contrast hunting/gathering with sedentary farming.

What are the benefits and shortcomings of each? Humans began to farm 10,000 years BC, but they didn't rely solely

on farming and herding until 4,000 to 6,000 years later. If sedentary agriculture has so many benefits, why did it take so long to rely solely on farming?

Are large settlements and complex civilizations the inevitable outcome of an agricultural way of life? Explain.

16

(Source: L. Moyer, 2009)

/capita

Making connections to modern issues…What determines affluence in modern

society?

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Breakdown of Current Energy Use, Renewables &

Biofuels

Source: Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy

Share of total U.S. energy consumption, 2008

Do we have energy sustainability & security?

Water – Energy – Food Nexus

As population & prosperity increases, societies will demand) more food, water, and energy

Increased food supply = more water and energy

– Water & energy for new arable land will be higher

Increased energy = more water & ag. supply (biofuels)

– Water needs for remaining fossil fuels is higher

Increased water supply (& standards) = more energy

– Energy for advanced treatment & transport is higher

Significant technology development and coordinated management is needed to avoid resource limitations