GEOG 455 - Sustainable Food Systems

Units: 4 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-D; Sustainability
Basis for sustainable food systems from local to global scales, including social, economic and environmental dimensions of food production and consumption. Examination of the sustainability of daily food choices and tools for determining impacts of local, processed and imported foods.

Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division Area D1-3 requirements; and GEOG 200.
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas A1, A2, A3 and B4 with grade C- (CR) or better.
Possible Instructional Methods: Entirely On-ground.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UD-D - Upper Division Social Sciences, Overlay - Sustainability
Course Typically Offered: Variable Intermittently

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

identify, discuss and explain a range of critical issues at the local, national and global scales associated with the sustainability of modern foods and food production systems.
list and illustrate with examples key concepts, definitions and labels associated with unsustainable and sustainable food choices.
identify, investigate and evaluate opportunities to increase food sustainability through different food choices and urban farming/gardening potential within local foodsheds.
analyze and evaluate the environmental sustainability implications of different food choices (such as food miles, embodied energy and water, and greenhouse gas emissions/carbon footprint).
discuss and explain the methods and benefits of small-scale urban agriculture (such as container gardening, community gardening/urban farming, and hydroponics).
articulate well-reasoned assessments and arguments concerning the social, environmental and economic sustainability aspects of modern food and food systems.

UD-D. Upper-division Social Sciences Learning Outcomes

analyze how power and social identity affect social outcomes for different cultural and economic groups using methods of social science inquiry and vocabulary appropriate to those methods;
demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply accurately disciplinary concepts of the social or behavioral sciences; and
demonstrate an understanding of and ability to effectively plan or conduct research using an appropriate method of the social or behavioral sciences.

Sustainability Overlay Learning Outcomes

identify the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability, either in general or in relation to a specific problem;
analyze interactions between human activities and natural systems;
describe key threats to environmental sustainability; and
explain how individual and societal choices affect prospects for sustainability at the local, regional, and/or global levels.