What is the role of economics in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries in creating and maintaining the ecological crisis presented below? Should everything on the planet be considered an economic resource, or is there a better way to think about things such as clean air and clean water? How is the loss of biodiversity related to public health? Do you think there can be restoration without government assistance?
1. Please watch and read in the order provided.
2. Please refer to the appropriate rubric.
3. Please be sure to write a minimum of 800 words.
4. Please give a sincere effort.
When Women Thrive, Society and Nature Thrive. How do the following videos and articles demonstrate the importance of women’s and girls’ well-being as a prerequisite for economic development and saving the planet?
Too Young to Wed:
Feeding the World with Agroecology:
Kenya’s Greenbelt Movement:
Mother Cow:
Please watch in the order provided.
Please refer to the appropriate rubric.
Please be sure to write a minimum of 1000 words.
Please give a sincere effort.
Sacred Cows:
Mother Cow:
Well, …. Actually:
Sadhguru:
Shiva:
After watching the videos and reading “Mother Cow” by the great Marvin Harris, consider how Harris favors a political-economic and ecological approach to explaining his ideas on food and culture. (To be fair to Harris, he was arguing against the “conventional wisdom” of his time.)
1. What insights does Harris provide when he argues against the Western narrative of “Sacred Cows”? (A modern-day example is shown in the first video (Sacred Cows, by the History Channel, which curiously, does not draw a parallel to Ancient Egypt’s veneration of the Cow.)
2. What are the many “environmental” and “economic” reasons that Harris claims that Hindus do not eat beef?
3. How would Harris’ argument have been different (improved/rejected) had he consulted with an Indian believer, rather than from his “armchair”?
4. Finally, and most importantly, although Shiva places ecological importance on the cow, how is her approach much more systemic than Harris’s?
