• View
• Edit
• Page History
• All Recent Changes
• Print

Ami

WEB RESEARCH Kalona Organics Website Hy-vee offers Amish-grown Fare

I was looking at the Iowa Valley Resource, Conservation and Development website and it linked to a newspaper article about Kalona Organics’ partnership with Hy-vee stores in the region. In the article titled “Hy-vee Offers Amish-grown Affair,” Andrew Lary was quoted saying, “People are concerned about how far their food is traveling and the impact that has on the environment. Not only that, it’s fresher because it’s local," which indicates an increased level of consciousness among some consumers. The sales of Kalona Organics products in Hy-vee stores exceeded expectations in the first year and the only request store managers have is to receive deliveries more often. Curious to find out what newspaper this article was published in, I poked around the Kalona Organics website and although I could not figure out the origin of the article, I found a lot of interesting information about their entrepreneurial endeavor. Kalona Organics functions as a processing and marketing cooperative for Amish farmers around the Kalona area. It is particularly interesting to think about the energy use of this company in the light of Amish values. Because the Amish farmer’s do not use phones, trucks, or electricity, without the help of Kalona Organics, sales and distribution would be very difficult. With the cooperative, farmers deliver their produce, milk, and eggs by horse and buggy, and it is stored in an 80-pallet storage facility cooled by a gasoline-powered generator, rather than electricity. I am curious what their thoughts or beliefs about renewable energy sources are. It seems odd that gasoline power is OK, but I do not know enough about Amish beliefs to understand why this would be acceptable when cars are not and electricity is not. Kalona Organics also uses the least amount of processing possible on their products, which reduces energy use as well. Overall, this company is providing a great service for local farmers and consumers.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

While we talk about energy, it is important to recognize energy use as a social phenomenon. Our daily choices about energy consumption, waste reduction, and environmental impact are shaped by our society’s values. These structures not only shape what people do, but also who is involved and interested in environment issues. I will review and synthesize the articles Technology is Not Neutral by Jerry Mander and Global Warming is Colorblind by Jennifer Oladipo. Although the topics are not closely related, the theme of both is linked: People in power control our fundamental perceptions and beliefs about the world, the environment, and our place in it; and the message varies between social groups. Jennifer Oladipo is a black woman who works and volunteers at a nature-preserve in Louisville, Kentucky. In her two years of working there, she noticed that no other minorities came to activities at the center. At first she thought they were just disinterested, but after looking at lists of where newsletters and advertisements from the center were distributed, she realized that minority areas were excluded from the mailings. Oladipo’s article points out the systematic exclusion of minorities from environmental issues, activism, and enjoyment based on the American ideology that “‘green’ means ‘white.’” Jerry Mander argues that although most American’s believe that technology is neutral and its use depends on whose hands it falls into, these assumptions are completely false. I have adapted the form of his arguments to the context of Oladipo’s concerns to demonstrate the connection between societal structures and assumptions and the resulting practices in daily life. Jerry Mander writes:

If you accept the existence of advertising, you accept a system designed to persuade and to dominate minds by interfering in people's thinking patterns. You also accept that the system will be used by the sorts of people who like to influence people and are good at it. No person who did not wish to dominate others would choose to use advertising, or choosing it, succeed in it. So the basic nature of advertising and all technologies created to serve it will be consistent with this purpose, will encourage this behaviour in society, and will tend to push social evolution in this direction. Similarly, if you accept environmental interest, education, and activism as it exists currently, you also accept a racially stratified society in which white people are superior to people of racial minorities. You also accept the notion that only white people like the outdoors or care about the environment. Racial minorities do not have the resources, the time, or the desire to take an active interest in their world, so naturally they are excluded from any outreach campaigns by environmental organizations. So the basic structure of environmentalism creates a racially stratified participation in environmental issues and attitude towards the environment. Obviously this thinking is flawed. In order to create a change in our environment, there has to be a change of thinking in society—and society includes all races, genders, religions, and beliefs. If specific populations are excluded from the process of saving our planet, we will all bear the environmental problems of our stratified social structure. Environmentalism, whether in the form of turning off lights and installing CF bulbs or getting involved at local environmental centers, can only take hold and create change if it is colorblind. The earth belongs to all people—thus we must all be involved in its preservation.

GROUP PROJECT: For the group project I will be working with the Local Foods Coop group. By the end of the semester I will complete a GIS map of all local foods producers in the Iowa Valley region, including Poweshiek and surrounding counties. This map will be included on Coop website and be useful for determining potential suppliers, delivery routes, and educating buyers about where their food is coming from. More immediately, I will work with Vicky and Hart contacting the area food producers listed in the Directory of Grinnell Area Food Producers Who Market Locally.