You choose the day – either Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday! (of next week)
Corn Challenge!
In the Land of Plenty (United States), with more arable land than most countries around the world – we seem to be heading towards a monoculture and commodity driven agricultural system.
(monoculture means growing 1 or 2 crops on the farm instead of a variety)
(commodities are products that make money for companies and are bought by most people)
Your Task: Pick a day: either Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday to complete the Corn Challenge. See directions below!
Corn Challenge: You will be faced with the challenge of doing your best NOT to eat any product with corn (or corn products) in it. Make sure to look at the ingredients list on anything/everything before taking a bite! Not sure if something has corn? Check any list websites devoted to the topic (corn-free items) , and you can also check out the link below! For some tips and pointers.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/kingcorn/cornchallenge.html
Rules to Keep in Mind:
1) you may not just “not eat” anything all day.
2) You must eat as much as you normally do, and please eat a healthy amount of food! Your assignment is NOT to starve – or just eat bananas all day.
3) Your assignment is to try and eat the normal amount of food that you have each day, but to try and stay away from any ingredients with corn listed in it.
4) The challenge will begin when you wake up or eat your first meal (usually it lasts from 7am-7pm or 8-8 etc… on a weekend or a bit earlier on a weekday)
5) you will not be graded on if you pass or fail the challenge, but showing the effort that it took you to TRY to pass it and the documentation of it (which you will turn in on Monday) will be the basis of the grade.
6) If OR when you fail, please make sure you write about how/why that happened.
7) If you succeed, please elaborate on how you were able to do so and what you noticed about why it was so difficult to do.
How do I get the grade?
1. Document your day! You will be keeping a “food and frustration journal” to record what it is like throughout the day, trying to avoid corn in your diet. (this part can be handwritten, typed, or video – your choice.). It will be submitted to me along with your final paper (see below).
2. Final Paper: Monday March 4th (B) or Tuesday March 5th (A), you will be turning in your food and frustration journal as well as a 1 page typed (Use size 12 font of Arial or Times New Roman – please double space it) reflection paper about your experience trying to go one day in the land of plenty (The USA), by avoiding just one single ingredient, corn, in your meals. Make sure that you connect your experience to how land is used in this country for farming practices (specifically corn farming).
Things to remember: This is a challenge you must accept. This is a challenge that you have to TRY to do. You are not allowed to just “not eat” anything so that you will avoid the product. The point of this is to make you aware of all of the products that corn happens to be in, and to try to connect your life to commercial agriculture, rural land use, and how the monocultures in our food system has driven down the price of processed foods (such as corn) and made it so conveniently available!
Advanced Placement Human Geography 