Assembling Action

When it comes to my own personal history, I have been more extrinsically than intrinsically motivated. This tendency is what keeps me in good academic standing, but it is also what restricts me when it comes to personal endeavors. With most classes, this is not much of a problem. But this class is different. Since the beginning, I felt that it called for something more — something that has less to with what a professor thinks about my work and more about what I think about my work. That is, more intrinsic motivation. Nevertheless, I felt that sometimes I have come to shirk this intrinsic obligation to fulfill myself. With me, this fulfillment must come with action. This is due to two things: 1) my natural inclination to resort to pretty words and intellectualism rather than doing anything in the real world and 2) my gradual realization that action typically does more to produce change than my natural inclinations in (1) ever will. This is not to disparage efforts that are less action and more intellectual — sharpening our sociological and moral imagination is obviously crucial in any effort of change, especially climate change. I only mean to say that, when it comes to my own self-fulfillment — the intrinsic motivation that I feel this class means to channel — I ought to be more action-oriented. Even my initial idea of “Cultivated Conversation” was grounded in specific action-based engagements which would necessitate important conversations. My project thus far has included some instances of action which I’d say I’m proud of — mainly becoming vegetarian and inviting others to join — but I always felt that I could do better. Little by little, I began seeking opportunities in the community to act more.

For one, I reached out to the main coordinator of Green Apple Bikes in Manhattan and asked her if there was anything I could do to get involved. We had lunch, talked about the program as it is, the program’s future, and potential roles I could play. The Friday before spring break I was able to help detail the bikes and I plan to continue volunteering to help the program and learn about bike-sharing programs in general. Next year, I will probably fill the role of student liaison to help get the student’s on campus involved with the program. Speaking of which, anyone reading this is formally invited: Green Apple Bikes is getting new bike parts in and will be needing volunteers to help at their bike build on April 2nd at 11:30 am. There will be other anthropology students there and it is a great way to get involved with something that you (probably) care about! Also, if anyone reads this and wants to get more involved with the bike sharing program, PLEASE let me know — the program is in need of more consistent and dedicated volunteers.

Second, reaching out to the MHK Edible Gardening group on Facebook eventually led me to a campus-based spirituality center known as ECM (located at 904 Sunset Ave) that serves as a meeting place for Students for Environmental Action. The center supports has an organic garden, hosts free Real Food lunches (which is a REALLY cool program by the way; http://www.realfoodchallenge.org/ ) every Friday from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m, and supports fair trade and ethical consumerism. If nothing else, consider stopping by for the fantastic food and people. I walked in a couple weeks ago and, despite not knowing anyone, was able to meet the owner of the center as well as many very friendly people who are active members in Students for Environmental Action. As an atheist and someone who has never regularly attended a church or Christian center, the community I found here (and how much their interests were similar to mine) was astounding. Here, I started talking to a student who had the idea of creating a student-run locally-sourced food co-op on campus. I absolutely loved the concept and we exchanged information so we could be in further contact. I meet with her again tomorrow and the idea is still in development, but it will be presented in some form at the Food Security Symposium, which will be on campus all day on April 4th (I provide a link below for more info).

I’m pretty excited about this co-op idea. Today, I did some research and found a study performed by a student who formed a co-op at Berkeley and put together a senior thesis showing the best ways for other university communities to do the same (pdf link provided below if interested). Of course, with the corporatism of universities nowadays, it will be extremely difficult to work with the university to get this done, however, I am very intrigued by the possibility it presents. I read the whole senior thesis and I could geek out about specific details all day, but I’ll refrain from doing so (for now) and relate it back to the class. While thinking about the co-op, I was reminded again and again of Steve Rayner and his method of producing change. He argues that changing people is too tough, and it is more effective to “align technologies to provide the same satisfactions people want within their existing value systems.” I had this in mind as I read a letter about the Food Security Symposium (the link I provided below), which read “The goal is for various K-State departments and units to contribute to the effort through the momentum they’ve already established in this area — whether through research, teaching, engagement, or outreach and extension.” I think this “momentum they’ve already established in this area” concept is at least related to what I’m talking about. That is, building off of the pre-existing structures/values in order to make the most progress. What “momentum” does K-State have that’s pointed towards food security? K-State’s Ag School is a big deal, duh. I know almost nothing about K-State’s Ag department and I still know about its significance, not only in respect to the ratings/production of its academic departments, but from the culture I see walking through town every day — the country music, the cowboy boots, and yes, Dirty Dawgs. This is some of K-State’s “momentum”, and I think harnessing it in some way would be very helpful for any environmental effort on campus. And these thoughts remind me of a very important thing: never does this new project have to be explicitly about climate change. Granted, I need to do a lot of work to understand the values/motives of the ag students at KSU, but I’m sure that real food that supports local farmers can hold some appeal if pitched correctly. If it was pitched as environmentalism, though, wrapped in a “let’s prevent global warming” message, I think the ag culture would be much less receptive. Of course, this isn’t to say that a co-op on campus would purely be for ag students; rather, there may be some interested environmentalists in support of it. And hey, maybe some food sciences students would be interested in the cooking, business majors in the business plan, food systems students in the chain of supply. Steve Reyner referred to Walter Lippman’s idea of democracy as not having everyone think the same thing, but having people who think differently do the same thing. I am very interested in this co-op idea and if all goes well, then it will be a commitment which will probably last much longer than the length of this course. Not only does it offer an opportunity to take action on behalf of myself, but it also provides the chance to assemble a single action from many people who are very different than me.

 

Interesting Links

ECM:

http://www.k-state.edu/ecm/

Food Security Symposium:

-Info:

http://www.k-state.edu/today/announcement.php?id=24996&category=from_the_provost&referredBy=K-State+Today+Home

-Registration:

https://outreach.ksu.edu/etrakWebApp/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fetrakWebApp%2fRegistration.aspx%3fMeetingCode%3d231608&MeetingCode=231608

“Best Practices for Starting Sustainable Food Cooperatives in University Communities” thesis

http://nature.berkeley.edu/classes/es196/projects/2010final/OatfieldC_2010.pdf