Instructions: Using the Following Questions As a Guide, Develop a Response Essay for Your

2450 Response 3 Assignment due Thursday 10/24 Instructions: Using the following questions as a guide, develop a response essay for your viewing of Tapped, A World Without Water, Future of Food, Food, Inc., as well as the other supplemental films. Your essay should incorporate some of the ideas in the assigned readings for these films. In this paper I would like you to consider the scarcity and distribution of food and water, their public allocations and regulations, and the benefits vs. pitfalls of privatization and large scale production. What do you think we need to do?

Again, do not simply answer the questions--use them to guide your thinking (i.e., keep them in mind). Length should be 3-4 pages double-spaced (minimum 800 words). You can partner up with one other person to complete this, but see me first if you plan to do this.

On Water 1. Consider Nestlé and other mega-corporations engaged in the mining of water. Why are they calling it mining? How is this different from traditional drawing of water from its source? Why did local governments allow these water bottling companies to continue mining during shortages that put citizens on water restrictions? 2. The environmental impacts on streams and other water sources of drawing out water (not to mention the pollution from disposable containers) are denied by the corporations (in one case citing beaver dams as a cause of dried up streams!) Compare to similar denials we have seen in the issue of health effects related to the extraction and use of fossil fuels. 3. Coke’s soft drink and bottled water plant in Rajasthan, India is drying up the farmers’ water supply in the neighboring area. The World Bank and the British government paved the way for Biwater and the privatization of water in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The taps have gone dry for many residents while the cost has gone up and the water merchants say business is booming. Cui bono? Compare these cases to the locals in Fryeburg, Maine and their issues with Nestlé and their Poland Springs plant. 4. Maude Barlow contends that the model for fresh water services worldwide is said to be the same as that of energy, where there is a cartel that tightly controls supply and therefore the price. Were this true, would it be a problem? Why or why not? compare to Representative Dennis Kucinich claim that when one commodifies something as vital as water, there is the basis for serious instability. 5. Water is chronically short for 1/3 of world population and this projected to reach ½ of the world population in the next few decades. Privatization and commodification of water has been offered as a solution to the water shortage problem. Is this a good idea? Or should water be a basic right not reserved for those who are able to pay?

On Food 1. Describe the green revolution, its seemingly positive impacts on farming in the 20th century, but also the unintended consequences: Loss of biodiversity and monoculture’s consequences. Discuss the Irish potato famine and pesticide resistance as cases in point. 2. The patenting of food followed the Supreme Court ruling in Diamond v. Chakrabarty. Why did the constitution traditionally not allow the patenting of life? Why did the court overrule this tradition? Why are people like Jeremy Rifkin (from The Corporation) opposed to this ruling? 3. Explain the distinction between using Biotech under controlled conditions Biotech used in the development of foods. Why is this difference important? Explain the risks involved in each. 4. Eric Schlosser describes the American food system as “the world deliberately hidden from us.” Why do the main growers like Tyson not allow filmmakers in their chicken factories? Why are the growers increasingly required to close up windows at their facilities? Michael Pollan contends that the cornucopia of products in our grocery store is “an illusion of diversity,” that it’s a “clever rearrangement of corn.” Explain what he means by this. 5. Discuss the evolution of the American food system that ensued with the advent of mechanization at McDonalds and the fast food industry. Explain why all foods are affected by this trend, regardless of whether it is purchased in a fast food restaurant. 6. The modern food system in America is said by the industry to grow a lot of food, on a small amount of land, at a low price. “Someone explain to me what’s wrong with that” is the challenge. How might one address this challenge?