If I’d been asked at the beginning of the semester, I would never have been able to predict the ways in which this school year has changed my dreams and aspirations. A big part of that the fact that this was my first year in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, which I have been applying to for three years now, from the Faculty of Arts. Having all of my courses centred around what I came here to study has been incredibly edifying. (This may also be due in part to the fact that I have completed first year basics such as the hundred-levels of chemistry and math.)

I have officially quit my long-time summer job as a firefighter, and decided to stay here in Vancouver for the summer in order to pursue work in this field. (Which is terrifying, by the way – I have not had to face so many rejected applications in years.)

I am applying to a couple of the farm internships, and also looking into other volunteering options around the city with organizations and some local community garden projects. My goal is to start working towards a career that is related to agriculture. This is not something I had previously envisioned myself doing, but now I think that one day I would like to have a farm of my own. I grew up on a farm, and I loved it, but I never thought I’d like to become a farmer. Now I think I would. However, that is not to say I am going to begin farming immediately – I have a lot more to learn.

I am interested mainly in the growing and eating parts of the food system (the fun parts!), and how they connect to people. My dream now is to one day have a farm that is economically viable – no easy feat, from what I gather. The goal would be to have a multi-layered system, almost an “old-fashioned” homestead type of farm. The economically viable part would come from some kind of re-connection for people and food, which is where the “a lot more to learn” comes in.

I am currently studying Sustainable Agriculture, and through my undergrad degree would like to get a solid grasp on the tangible and tactile elements to farming: the soil science and growing basics, and the general knowledge required to run a complex farm system. I am now considering doing a master’s, which I would focus on the nutritional side of the food system, and then perhaps a Ph.D in the psychology of food. The idea would be to then integrate these pieces into a farm that re-connected people to their food. I feel that a lot of our problems as a society, from diet-related diseases and chronic conditions, to body-image issues, stem from a disconnect with our food and the natural cycles.

I would like to have a place where people can come and re-connect with their food and the natural environment that it comes from. From the lettuce to the cows and the chickens, and everything in-between. I think that getting your hands dirty is one of the best therapies there is, and I would like to give people a chance to do so. I have started looking into whether farms such as this exist, and there are several related to reconnecting youth, especially those who have trouble conforming to society. There aren’t too many farms, from what I can find online, that seem to be related to giving people a chance to get away from their fast-paced, pre-packaged lifestyles and learn about how things get to their plates. This is what I would like to do. Finding a niche and a piece of land to do this on is another matter, and for now I still have a couple years to get my undergrad, but this course, and this school year in general, has given me an exciting vision for my future, and a big goal to work towards.

I am currently in the process of completing my “Dossier de Candidature” for SciencesPo in Paris. If everything goes as planned, in a few short months I will be catching a flight to one of Europe’s most famed (and infamous) cities. My roommate, who as also travelled extensively, went on exchange to the Netherlands and maintains the opinion that everyone should go on exchange if they get the chance. It is somehow very different to simply throwing your belongings in a backpack and heading out to whatever country strikes your fancy. For one, there is a lot more paperwork!

However, I am nonetheless very excited to be heading off on a European adventure, school-related or not. I chose SciencesPo for several reasons. I have chosen French as my language, and I feel that Paris is the ideal place for me to perfect my language skills. Being at a French university, and surrounded by peers who are speaking the language I intend to become bilingual in, is undoubtedly the best way to improve my fluency. SciencesPo offers courses,like, “A l’origine de la crise écologique : pour une histoire environnementale” and “Agriculture, Food and Globalization” that would be very fitting with my interests and current pursuit here at UBC. My resource specialization is sustainable agriculture, and I am interested in all stages of agricultural business, from farming to marketing to consumption and waste. I would very much like to study how Europe is dealing with current issues of sustainability, and feel that SciencesPo is an excellent place from which I will be able to do so, and also have first-hand experience.

I am hoping to live and work in Europe once I have completed my undergraduate degree here at UBC. I am also interested in pursuing a Master’s degree in the EU, and therefore am keen to study there on exchange to make academic as well as personal and professional connections which may further my studies and perhaps even my career in the future. I would very much like to be in a bigger centre, like Paris, in order to have the most potential at my fingertips.

At the end of December, I hope to get over to Scotland to visit my Gran for Christmas, and then am applying to go to the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands for the spring semester. I have never been to the Netherlands, and am very excited about the chance to live and study there for a few months. It may be a fair while till I’m back at UBC!

During the lecture that Dr. Dharamsi gave on Socially Responsible Approaches to Global Engagement, he opened his lecture by saying, “Today, write down words that strike you. And keep those. And reflect.” So during the lecture and discussion, I bolded words in my notes that stood out to me in some way. One of the very first sentences in my notes was, “We live in a hyper-competitive world.  Who’s the fastest woman in the world? We live in a gendered world.”

This statement stood out to me, mainly because the class was quite dumbfounded: not a single person knew who the fastest woman in the world was. It also tied in to what we later talked about in my LFS class – food citizenship. There our instructor stated, “There was a perception that being tied to the kitchen was quite demoralizing…the devaluing of the home economy and the work of a housewife was quite strong.  This has implications for our food system.” The disconnect from food has been ever-expanding in our modern world, due in part to this push to have women in the workforce, and at demanding levels. He went on to say, “So women aren’t valued unless they’re CEO’s? Unless they’re a part of our economy? I’m not saying that women should go back to the kitchen, but -someone- should.”

These statements got me thinking about gender differences and equality and how things are in our current world. It is true that the world is gendered, and it always will be. I think that people are coming to terms with that, by which I mean that the somewhat overly-specific, second-wave feminist movement is being replaced by a more holistic view of women. There are also many articles emerging about the balance that women must find between their place in the public sphere and their place in the private sphere. The fact that the world is hyper-competitive leads into a struggle between whether to pursue a dream career, or raise a family. It is often the woman who must make this choice, despite rising number of stay-at-home Dads in the late 20^th century. It is difficult to Granted work and family do not have to be entirely separate paths, but they are definitely difficult to strike a balance between.

The competitive nature of our current society, in addition to the desire to break out of gender roles, has lead to a lot of people being very disconnected from the food that they eat. As our instructor said, it’s not necessarily women that need to get back to preparing food, but our society as a whole. The Slow Food movement is a good example of this philosophy: a movement which, “believes in recognizing the importance of pleasure connected to food.” They are of the opinion that, “We should learn to enjoy the vast range of recipes and flavors, recognize the variety of places and people growing and producing food. We should respect the rhythms of the seasons and conviviality.” (©2013 Slow Food Canada. All Rights Reserved.)

There is not any easy or immediate fix to a problem that has arisen over the last sixty years, however I do believe that there is a growing recognition of this problem within society. It seems to me, coming from the country, that it is much more prevalent in cities. And despite the fact that people acknowledge these problems, it is easier to simply call and order-in than to make time for home-cooked, seasonal food, and family.

On November 26^th the lecture in Land and Food Systems 250 was about Food Literacy, and to prepare for class we had to read two articles, one entitled “Forget Shorter Showers”, by Derrick Jensen, and the other “Civic Agriculture and Community Problem Solving” by T.A. Lyson. Together the articles are a very interesting juxtaposition of opinions, and it was well worth reading them together. I was very intrigued by the article on Shorter Showers. Despite being a less-polished text, Jensen had some very interesting ideas on the subject of environmental change. He advocated that what we need for change to happen is not personal change at an individual level, but policy change on a large-scale governmental level.

This, of course, is a very controversial argument. A lot of people right now are invested both physically and mentally in the “green” movement. Jensen brushes off these small-scale movements, in order to emphasize his thesis. On this point I disagree with him – I think that in order for things to change people do need to have a personal, vested interest in conserving energy, reducing waste and water consumption, choosing local products etc, and that discouraging this philosophy is of no advantage. However, I do agree that to be considered an “activist” one must be “socially or psychologically risky and not just sit around at home and eat vegan food” (Valley, Lecture). That said, I don’t really think that everyone wants or needs to be an activist. Everyone supporting the movement in whatever way they can is of benefit, in my opinion, but recognizing that for radical change to happen, radical efforts will be needed is also important. And Jensen’s points about needing to pressure government into change are of interest to me. From what I gathered, he was of the opinion that we are in need of a social revolution, rather than the social reform that has slowly been starting to take place.

Perhaps this idea resonated with me because I have been questioning what I want to do with my degree, and have been considering the option of somehow becoming involved with policy or politics. As one of the instructors said during lecture, “Political is almost like a dirty word right now.” To me that really rings true, and so in reading the article on Shorter Showers, I suppose it allowed me to open my mind to viewing political career options in a more positive light. Jensen questions whether or not becoming food literate is enough, and suggests that there is a limit to what individuals can do. He believes that we need to engage with the political system, and that regulatory control is what makes the big differences. An example of this would be the eventual ban of lead gasoline use, which resulted in the biggest improvement in our air quality in years.

That is not to say that I have now decided on a career path or know exactly where I want to take my degree, but it opened my eyes to viewing more positively the option of becoming involved with policy. At the same time it has provoked many questions about our current approach to change. It is true that the social and political structures around us have a profound impact on what we do. It is hard to imagine a revolution taking place anytime soon, but maybe that’s what is really needed.

During this week’s lecture and subsequent discussion about development, a certain statement really sparked my interest. It ignited the memories of a debate I’d been having with some lovely people on Thanksgiving weekend, friends and hosts in Nelson.

The question that arose in class was, “Do we go in with the best intentions? Or is there always self-interest? Even just self-satisfaction?”

The debate that I’d been engaged in previously was not at all in relation to development, at least not as it was being discussed in class. It was merely the question of whether or not it is inevitable in humans for there to be some kind of self-interest involved in whatever acts of goodwill or kindness they are doing. Whether it be to neighbours, friends, loved ones or family. And I would argue that yes, that is the case – there is no such thing as one-hundred percent, straight-forward altruism in human beings. It does not exist.

This allegation, of course, is often met with some form of consternation and a heated rebuttal. But I am convinced that such is the case, and I do not see it in a negative light whatsoever. On the contrary, I think that each and every person should have selfish motives for whatever it is that they choose to pursue in life. Let me therefore define the word “selfish” as I intend to use it: 

“self·ish: devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one’s own interests, benefits, welfare, etc.” – dictionary.com

Most definitions would also include a provision for the disregard of others, however, this is not something I believe needs to be a part of the word. A person can be self-interested and have no ill effect whatsoever on those around them.

I would argue that having a vested personal interest in what you are doing is the key to really making a positive influence in the world. Someone who is say, at heart a farmer, and is forced by one of the innumerable pressures within society to become a doctor is never going to be all that happy. They might do just fine at it sure, but their heart won’t be in it, and therefore their impact on society as a whole will be a little less positive as a result. But if that same person were to follow what they truly loved, what they truly wanted, and what they saw as most beneficial to them, then the things efforts that they put into their work would be done so with joy and passion, thus leading to a net benefit much greater for all.

That is not to say that philanthropy is not a worthy cause, nor to discredit the practice of those who pursue it. Yet even this pursuit, often seen as noble and worthy, has threads of self-interest, but as I see it, not at all a self-interest of negative connotation. It is, interestingly, very difficult to find a word in the English language to define what I mean by this. When I finally Google-searched the definition I was looking for, I came up with the German, “Mitfreude” which translates into “sympathetic joy”, and the Buddhist term, “Mudita”, which is essentially the same. What I would propose then, is that by nature we enjoy feelings of happiness, joy and unanimity, and so those who are philanthropic are, in part, feeding there own personal desire for Mitfreude. Again, I would like to reinforce that I do not see this different take on selfishness as a solecism, nor as a metaphysical fault, but as an underlying reality of the human condition that cannot be changed, but can and should be utilized to one’s advantage.

This is an old essay that I wrote just before I cut my dreadlocks.  I think I have finally let go, but I thought I would share these thoughts, as it’s almost exactly a year since I cut them off….

I am Canadian.  My Dad is from Ontario, and way back on his side of the family there is German and before that Russian.  My mum is Scottish and emigrated when she was in her twenties.  I don’t feel that I have an “ethnicity”, and therefore, my dreadlocks are not connected to anything of that sort.  I have wanted to dread my hair since I was young, probably before I was in grade 8 (thirteen, fourteen probably) but it is really expensive to get it done in a salon here.  I didn’t trust my friends enough to do them for me, so I ended up waiting until I was in Thailand to have them done.  I also have really, really straight, fine hair (but lots of it) so I figured it wouldn’t be easy to make it stay and wanted to get them done properly.

I really like a lot of the beliefs behind dreadlocks, and have definitely done some reading into it because I have them.  However, I disagree with extremes of any sort, and don’t like a lot of the narrow biblical extremes that become involved in the on the radical side of the faith.  Also, on a sidenote: the term “Rastafarian or “Rastafarianism” is not technically correct as the entire faith/belief system is built in opposition to the western system. Attaching “ianism” to the end links it with western society. As Professor Nettleford put it in his ceremonial address on behalf of University of West Indies to “Marley’s Music: Reggae, Rastafari, and Jamaican Culture” conference,

Rastafari say that they reject -isms. They see a wide range of -isms and schisms in modern society, for example communism and capitalism, and want no part in them. For example, Haile Selassie himself was an anti-communist during the cold war, and was deposed by a Marxist coup. Rastafarians would reject Marxism as part of the Babylonian system or, at the very least, just another version of western Humanism. They especially reject the word “Rastafarianism”, because they see themselves as “having transcended -isms and schisms”. This has created conflict between some Rastas and some members of the academic community studying Rastafari, who insist on calling this faith “Rastafarianism” in spite of the disapproval this generates within the Rastafari movement. Nevertheless, the practice continues among scholars, though there are also instances of the study of Rastafari using its own terms. [Professor Rex Nettleford, Ceremonial Address on Behalf of University of West Indies to “Marley’s Music: Reggae, Rastafari, and Jamaican Culture” conference, in Bob Marley: The Man and His Music (2003)]

The central belief of love really reverberates strongly with me, and a lot of that part of it I really agree with.  I love reggae music, and I also like a lot of the ideals behind the lifestyle commonly associated with it. That said, I don’t smoke pot. I never have, and at this point it’s partially due to a refusal to become an addition to, or reinforcement of that stereotype. Interestingly, I stumbled upon an article about Zahra Redwood, who is, “ the first Miss Jamaica to be crowned from the country’s minority Rastafarian faith” who also stated, “Not all Rastafarians smoke. People criticise what they don’t know or understand and develop preconceptions, and so given that, I have gone against what they’ve developed as a stereotype,” She also commented that, “Rastafarians – who worship the late Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie as a God they call “Jah” – stress peace, love, spiritual goals and natural living.” [theage.com.au/articles]

Since I got my dreadlocks, they have become more and more a part of who I am. They definitely affect the way people see me and judge me, I noticed that the day I got them. But personally I feel that it is for the better.

I get asked if I wash them a lot. But I’m pretty used to answering that one at this point. I wash them with Dr. Bronner’s peppermint shampoo and don’t use any conditioner. However, when people are really ignorant I occasionally like to suggest the use of peanut butter…

I also get asked if I am a vegetarian significantly more often than I used to. I firefight in the summertime, and this summer was deployed to the Yukon. When we go on deployments, our meals are prepared for us, and they usually go around and make sure there are no dietary restrictions at every new location. I got asked every time if I was a vegetarian. Once, when I replied no, was met the the response, “Really? Are you sure?”

I also get searched for drugs every time I go through airport security. Not long ago my friend sent me a link entitled, “Woman Busted Smuggling $150,000 Worth Of Coke In Dreadlocks” with the caption below the picture of the South African woman reading, “Authorities at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok removed 3.3 pounds of cocaine from 23-year-old Nolubabalo “Babsi” Nobanda’s fake dreadlocks.”[http://www.buzzfeed.com/abrams/woman-busted-smuggling-150000-worth-of-coke-in-h ]

Wearing them has definitely influenced me in a lot of ways. I believe that the people I meet are different because of them, and I have done more research than I probably would have otherwise into the Rasta movement and faith. As with any learning, this has led me to see things, and a lot of aspects of life, differently.

This summer I am hoping to transfer to a different location for work. The work I am hoping to do will involve rappelling, and therefore I will not be able to keep my dreadlocks. I have often talked about cutting them off, as they do not suit a large part of my lifestyle (I work out five or six days a week and firefight – not ideal conditions for dreads) but I love them anyways. Being faced with this ultimatum has made me realise just how much they really mean to me, and how much I am going to miss them when I do cut them off. It has, of course, challenged my idea of whether or not I really want to do it. Of that I am not certain. But I do know that what I have learned in the time that I have had them will always stay with me. And who knows, I may have them again in the future.

                A topic that came up with my roommate as I chatted with her after class was the fact that there is such a grey area in the middle of the wealth spectrum.  We briefly touched on in this idea during the discussion led by Mercedes and Dr. Dharmas, but it is a difficult topic to navigate.

It is easy to say that the consumerism of the financially rich is superfluous and wasteful, but where does one draw the line?  This is something that I feel is difficult to define clearly, both within society and within my own life.   On one extreme end of the spectrum, it is easy to say that someone purchasing a Bugatti Veyron is inordinately wasteful and that such a car is not at all necessary, and on the other extreme that someone barely able to afford rice is completely justified in buying meat every now and then, but what about the middle ground?  What about the quotidian purchases of every day, middle class people?  How are those divided into wants and needs?

I find that it can be hard to delineate between wants and needs.  More often than not, especially in our society, the “wants” override what is really necessary.   For instance, SUV’s and trucks seem excessively large and wasteful for city driving, but some people may consider such vehicles to be “needs” as opposed to “wants” in life.

Interestingly, when I came home from class, I was looking a word up on Dictionary.com, and there was an icon advertising “Word of the Day!”  It is not something that I have ever bothered clicking on before, despite the fact that I use the site frequently.  For whatever reason, I decided, out of curiosity in that moment, to see what it was.  The word was “Desiderata”, meaning “things wanted or needed”.

Desiderata

 Desiderata is a plural noun, with the singular form desideratum, meaning “things wanted or needed”: “Happily-ever-after” and “eternal love” appear to be the desiderata of the current generation to whom “fat chance” say those of us who are older, wiser and more curmudgeonly.

For many, the word desiderata most often evokes the famous poem by Max Ehrmann, written in 1927 and often referred to simply as Desiderata, without attribution or quotation marks. The poem begins with oft-quoted the lines, “Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, / and remember what peace there may be in silence.”

Though the poem has achieved a mythic quality and a near-spiritual significance for some, it was not well known until the 1970s when it was made into hugely popular posters and sound recordings.  – dictionary.com

                I found Wednesday’s GRS class, led by Mercedes and Dr. Shafik Dharams, both interesting and thought provoking, as I’m sure we all did.  The most shocking revelation to me was when Dr. Dharams asked the class who considered themselves rich, there were only two people in the class who put up their hands to say that they felt “rich”.   Those two people were me and one other girl.

                It was difficult to form a lucid explanation on the spot, but I felt I managed to touch on a couple of components which are fundamental to my understanding of wealth: a happy, healthy family, and always having food and shelter.  By Google’s simple definition, rich is “Having a great deal of money or assets, wealthy.”  This may be what comes to mind for most people.  To me, the definition is something closer to one of those supplied by the Mirriam-Webster: “2. a : having high value or quality,   b : well supplied or endowed”.

It is always dangerous to assume, but I would have assumed that most of our GRS class is, by my definition, “rich”;  perhaps not in all aspects of life, but in at least a few of the fundamental areas.  Then again, maybe the majority was thinking more in terms of monetary wealth, but even still, to be living in Vancouver and managing to somehow afford a degree at UBC (a very expensive degree, as Dr. Dharams pointed out near the end of the lecture), those students are either well off financially, and / or rich in opportunity.

I have always considered myself fortunate.  Perhaps that is why I was compelled to raise my hand.  Despite the fact that my family has always been happy and healthy, and that there are rarely anger or negative emotions in the house, there have definitely been times when we were not rich in assets or finances.  When I was quite young, there were large bags of rolled oats in the pantry that were breakfast for a long of time.  That kind of stuck with us – I was never allowed a full bowl of sugary cereal – half of it always had to be plain rolled oats, and my Mum got to decide what half was, since my brother, sister and I had a much chintzier estimation of “half”!  Yet I don’t have any memories of ever being unhappy with what I had in life, or of wanting more.

Rich is not the word I would generally use to describe myself, and it may have been in light of the video that we had just been shown that I felt compelled to raise my hand.  Although the concept of being “rich” comes into my life and mind often, in that I feel very blessed with what I have – perhaps its meaning is too readily misunderstood as having expensive material assets rather than the less tangible concept of wealth.

Well, nothing like leaving this one till the last minute.

I have been meaning to blog about food for a while now, but (obviously), just haven’t gotten around to it.

Health and nutrition has always been something that I am interested in.  (To the point that I’m wondering whether or not I should be majoring in it.)  Lately, in between studying my Biology and Economics texts, I have been reading a couple of books on the subject – It Starts with Food, by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig, and Eat Right for Your Type, by Peter J. D’Adamo.

The approach that D’Adamo recommends for my type fits in well with the central themes in the Hartwig’s book, which is basically a Paleo diet approach.  The book itself is involves a fair amount of scientific reasoning, and is well explained.

However, after having read two books advocating the consumption of a fairly considerable quantity of meat, I am thinking that I had best balance out my readings with some vegan and raw-food arguments, to see what that side of the story is.  My sister has recently gotten into raw food, so perhaps I will ask her what she read that really changed her mind.

For the time being, I have found a website that seems to have a fair amount of information on the subject:

http://www.kristensraw.com/why_raw_details_benefits.php

And here is the opposing argument of the Paleo approach:

Why Paleo?

And Peter D’Adamo’s ideas about blood type and how it is related to what you should be eating:

http://www.dadamo.com/program.htm

Perhaps when I have read some of the other side of the story, I will blog a little bit about what I have concluded…

In the meantime, hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season eating all kinds of delicious holiday delights!

An article that a friend posted:

http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-destructive-canada-oil-sands-2012-10?op=1

A shocking and profoundly sad collection of images.   I had no idea that the area was so large.  It’s hard to fathom even with the pictures to prove it, and the size of the trucks shown in relation to their surroundings.

After reading this article and a couple others on the subject, I ended up chatting with a someone who is working in the industry.  An insider’s opinion was interesting to hear, and the explanation of how everything works, and just how much money is involved is astounding.

I suppose it is always a battle of economics vs environment, but it always leads me back to thinking about the Cree saying that is popular on posters, and is floating around the internet right now.  Upon searching it I came up with this article, which is an interesting background to the saying that often comes to mind these days:

http://moniyawlinguist.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/a-note-on-the-nebulous-cree-saying/