Foreign Food and Environmental Economics III
| Numbering Code | U-AGR04 3D319 LE82 | Year/Term | 2022 ・ Second semester | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | Lecture | |
| Target Year | 3rd year students | Target Student | ||
| Language | English | Day/Period | Thu.3 | |
| Instructor name |
Lee，Jemyung (Part-time Lecturer) Farabi-Asl，Hadi (Part-time Lecturer) |
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| Outline and Purpose of the Course | This course will cover a range of critical issues related to food and agricultural systems in a global, national, and local perspective. Students will learn to critically analyze how these systems work, how they have developed, how they affect both people and the environment, and what challenges they are facing today. The English-language level of the course is suited to undergraduates who are moderately capable in English listening, and motivated to improving their reading and writing skills. | |||
| Course Goals | To develop skills and critical thinking that enables participation in and understanding of the diverse range of food and agricultural issues in the English language, with a focus on environmental and applied economics perspectives. Upon completion, students will be in a good position to understand and critically analyze a wide range of debates about food and agriculture. In addition, we will provide feedback to help students improve their English speaking, reading and writing skills. English skills will not affect grade evaluation, but good attitude to learn and active participation are vital. | |||
| Schedule and Contents |
The semester is divided into two thematic modules covering different aspects of the food system, with each week providing a topic area and case study to deepen your understanding. Part I provides a specific focus on the potential of and limits to local decision making and consumer choices to bring about sustainable food systems. Students will learn about the scale and drivers of global carbon emissions caused by households' daily lives through current food carbon footprint issues. Part II introduces the application of clean energy in food and agriculture by learning about successful case studies in local and national scales. Students will learn about the concepts of climate-neutrality and diffusion of innovation in agriculture, which have logical interconnection. They also will acquire skills to find useful food and agriculture data resources from the public domain. Each week will feature a required reading and provide optional reading(s) for students seeking more information or preparing to write an essay. The required reading material is generally shorter and easier to understand than optional readings. Part I: Local food, rural society, daily activity, and environment (Jemyung Lee) 1. Introduction: Course outline, expectations and English-language considerations i) Course outline document (Link) ii) United Nations, THE 17 GOALS: Sustainable Development (SDGs), https://sdgs.un.org/goals 2. Local food, rural society, and environment i) Weber, C. and Matthews, H. (2008). Food miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States, Environmental Science & Technology, 42(10): 3508-3513, https://doi.org/10.1021/es702969f 3. Daily activity and carbon emission i) Jalas, M., and Juntunen, J. K. (2015). Energy intensive lifestyles: Time use, the activity patterns of consumers, and related energy demands in Finland. Ecological Economics, 113, 51-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.02.016 4. Carbon footprint: linking consumptions and supply chains i) Song, K., Qu, S., Taiebat, M., Liang, S., and Xu, M. (2019). Scale, distribution and variations of global greenhouse gas emissions driven by U.S. households, Environment International,133(A), 105137, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105137 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualising-the-greenhouse-gas-impact-of-each-food 5. Urbanization and carbon emissions i) Ottelin, J., Heinonen, J., and Junnila, S. (2018) Carbon footprint trends of metropolitan residents in Finland: How strong mitigation policies affect different urban zones. Journal of Cleaner Production, 170, 1523-1535. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.204 6. Poverty alleviation and environmental effects i) Lee, J., Taherzadeh, O., and Kanemoto, K. (2021), The scale and drivers of carbon footprints in households, cities and regions across India, Global Environmental Change, 66, 102205, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102205 7. Our choices and environmental results i) Jones C. and Kammen D. (2011) Quantifying Carbon Footprint Reduction Opportunities for U.S. Households and Communities. Environmental Science & Technology, 45(9), 4088-4095. https://doi.org/10.1021/es102221h Part II: Energy for food and agriculture (Hadi Farabi-Asl) 8. Clean energies for food and agriculture: case studies I i) Flammini A., Bracco S., Sims R., Cooke J., Elia A., (2018), Costs and benefits of clean energy technologies in the milk, vegetable and rice value chains. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/3/I8017EN/i8017en.pdf 9. Clean energies for food and agriculture: case studies II i) Flammini A., Bracco S., Sims R., Cooke J., Gomez Sanjuan M., (2019), Measuring impacts and enabling investments in energy-smart agrifood chains. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/3/ca4064en/ca4064en.pdf 10. Climate neutrality in agriculture and food processing industries i) Sims R., Flammini A., Santos N., (2017), Adoption of climate technologies in the agrifood sector. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/3/a-i7022e.pdf 11. Clean cooking in developing countries i) Farabi-Asl H., Taghizadeh-Hesary F., Chapman A., Mohammadzadeh Bina S., Itaoka K., (2019), Energy challenges for clean cooking in Asia, the background, and possible policy solutions. Asian Development Bank Institute Working Paper 1007. https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/529576/adbi-wp1007.pdf 12. Diffusion of innovations theory in agriculture i) Gwyn E. Jones, (1963), The diffusion of agricultural innovations. Journal of Agricultural Economics 15. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1477-9552.1963.tb02005.x 13. Water-energy-food nexus i) Flammini A., Puri M., Pluschke L., Dublos L., (2014), Walking the nexus talk: assessing the water-energy-food nexus. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/3/a-i3959e.pdf 14. Obtaining useful data from public domain on production, inputs, trades and emissions in food and agriculture sector i) The Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database website: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home 15. Feedback |
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| Evaluation Methods and Policy |
Part I (50%): Attendance and inputs during the lectures (10%) 2 x presentation (20%, 10% each) 1 x 1000 word essay (20%) Part II (50%): Attendance and inputs during the lectures (10%) 1 x presentation (10%) 1 x country case study report as a final examination (30%) Refer to 'Guide to Degree Programs' for attainment levels of evaluation |
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| Course Requirements | English proficiency suitable for understanding lectures, reading simple articles, giving a prepared presentation, and participating in class discussion. No specific background in economics is required. | |||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) | This course requires short readings, researching a selected food/agriculture issue, presenting the results, discussing topics in class (in English!), and writing short essays. | |||
| Textbooks | Textbooks/References | Readings are provided in PDF form or online. | ||
| References, etc. | See course schedule and contents | |||
