Soils Worksheet to Accompany Documentary ‘Dirt the Movie’.
You should know the definition of the following terms after viewing the movie. We will watch the movie in 3 sections and have a discussion about it after each viewing session. (if you have questions ask the instructor):
- sand, silt, clay
- humus
- hydrolgic (water) cycle
- carbon cycle
- agroecology
- biomimicry
- monculture
- mycellium
- volatile organic compounds
- food sovereignty
Some questions for class discussion:
- What is your reaction to hearing about the number of farmer suicides in rural India over the last decade? (film indicates 200,000) If such a thing occurred in this country, what do you think would happen?
- Is it possible to reconcile food sovereignty and globalization? In other words, how can people retain and exercise their right to produce and control their own food resources in the face of international market forces?
- Is there a role for deforestation in the modern economy? Are there right and wrong ways to harvest trees? Why is burning the waste after logging so detrimental to reforestation?
- Should a greater understanding of the importance of soil be part of everyone’s education? why or why not?
*Your homework for this week is to learn how to measure distances utilizing Google Earth or Google Maps. We start discussing watersheds in greater detail next week and you will be conducting some work in pairs to determine impervious surface area of you campus.