>
> > OMAHA, NE--According to a U.S. Poultry Council report released Monday, the
> > collective efforts of the world's 16 billion chickens have yet to yield any
> > appreciable results. "For thousands of years, chickens worldwide
> > have put a tremendous amount of energy into their various activities, which
> > include flapping, squawking and pecking with a great deal of vigor," the
> > Poultry Council report read. "But it remains unclear
> > what has been accomplished as a result of their unfocused efforts."
>
> Hmmm, wonder if the same could be said of humans? -Anita>
Whatever the genuiness of the above report, it reminded me of what I have
read somewhere of the power of advertising. Why do most people who eat
eggs prefer chicken eggs over those of ducks? Because hens squack, flap
and make such a song and dance about it that we are forced to take note of
it. Au contraire, ducks so nothing of that kind and so are left to
incubate its eggs till they hatch.
On a more serious note, sometime or the other sustag movement has to
seriously engage with the power of advertising. Apart from the fact that
much of today's unsustainable consumption pattern is propelled by
advertising, farmers who go in for organic, who want to sell local, or
directly to consumers etc. often do not possess professional marketing and
advertising skills to wean away consumers from earlier consumption
patterns. This does not mean however that we should go in for the same
techniques. Far from it. My own view on the above story is that the ducks
are wiser. By and large they have been left alone. Adertsising have made
us consume things that we do not want, and has passed off stuff as highly
desirable that actually hide a whole lot of hidden effects for the
environment, society, family and the indivdual.
At a recent workshop, on issues of pedagogy and curriculum for an
environmental sociology course, one of the debates was regarding
sensitizing students, especially technology students to environmental
issues. Teachers find that very often they have to contend with
"knowledge" that students acquire from the media and advertizing.
My question is how does the sustainable agriculture movement prevent
itself from remaining a duck in the pond while retaining the freedom and
and developing the capability to let itself grow?
Thanks for listening
D.Parthasarathy
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology, Powai
Mumbai, 400076, India
Phone: 091 022 576 7372
email: dp@hss.iitb.ernet.in
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
http://www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail