Arzaville

Week 2 – Discussion Forum 1

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Food Resilience Plan for Arzaville [WLO: 2] [CLOs: 2, 3]

Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read Chapter 4 in your course textbook.

Imagine that you are a resident of Arzaville, a community whose characteristics are described below. You have come together with your neighbors for a special meeting to devise a management plan for helping the community become more resilient and sustainable in terms of its food production by 2050. A community that is resilient is able to recover quickly from events like drought or storms. By increasing its own food production, Arzaville can also reduce its food miles—the distance that imported food must travel. By making its food production more sustainable, Arzaville can help ensure that its residents’ food needs are supplied for generations to come, without placing undue harm on the local environment in the process.

Fortunately, you have all attended the meeting with the knowledge that you have gained from your readings in this course. Now it is time to put your thinking cap on and get to work! Your ideas should consist of one or more of the following elements (some suggestions may apply to both categories):

• Food resiliency measures (e.g., building vertical farms in the city center to ensure that urban residents can have access to fresh, organically grown produce).
• Food sustainability measures (e.g., phasing out use of organic pesticides in favor of companion planting and other organic methods).

This week’s discussion will take place in an online app called Tricider. There, you will be able to post your ideas for plan components and also share pros and cons of different proposals during the week. Finally, you will be able to vote on the three components that you think the plan should include.

In Tricider, you will be expected to do the following:

• Post at least two separate and entirely original ideas. Do not duplicate ideas already posted by your peers.
  •  Include your full name for each one.
• Post at least six different pros and six different cons for your classmates’ proposed ideas (12 in all).
• Vote on what you feel are the top three ideas in the list.
  • Do not vote before Friday, so that you can vote from the full collection of student ideas.

You must complete the three tasks above to receive full credit for this discussion.

In this discussion area, your instructor will post the following:

• The Arzaville description you will be using for this activity.
• The link you will be using to access Tricider for this activity.

Haleh

Population:                    1,419,516

Population Growth:        +8.4%

Elevation                       62 ft. above sea level

Avg. Low Temp (Jan.):   46^oF

Avg. High Temp (July):  79^oF

Annual Rainfall:             21 in.

Annual Snowfall:           0 in.

Sunny Days Per Year:     266

Drinking Water Source:   distant rivers via canals

Urban Area:                   372 sq. mi.

Main Power Source:       natural gas

Average Commute:         24 minutes

% Taking Mass Transit:  4.0%

Top Occupations:           health care (12.6%)

professional, scientific, technical services (11.8%)

retail trade (9.8%)

Overview:

The city of Arzaville is located on an ocean coastline and boasts a Mediterranean climate that is relatively warm and dry year-round. A popular destination for outdoor activities like sailing and surfing, the city has a strong economy with abundant arts and culture opportunities. Freeways are everywhere and air quality has declined over the past decade as the resident population has grown substantially. Away from the coast, the inland features mountain chains interspersed with desert valleys.

Haleh

Second but separate from above

Week 2 – Discussion Forum 2

Your post is due on Day 7 (Monday). Your grade will reflect both the quality and depth of your post. Each of the elements detailed below, with an explanation, is worth .5 point for a total of 1.5 points.

Food Resilience Plan Voting Rationales [WLO: 1] [CLOs: 3, 4, 6]

Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read Chapters 3 and 4 in your course textbook.

Now that you have cast your votes for the Arzaville Food Resilience Plan, it is time to explain your choices to the class. Please make a post of at least 150 words in which you

• Identify (briefly) the plan elements on which you voted.
• Explain why you selected each one.

Each of the elements with an explanation is worth .5 point for a total of 1.5 points.

Note: You will not be able to view others’ posts until you have made your own. At the end of the week, the instructor will post the winning Arzaville Food Resilience Plan, which will include the top three ideas selected by the class. In cases where two action items are judged by the instructor to be nearly identical, the instructor reserves the right to combine the ideas into a single one (and add votes together) in order to determine the winning ideas. This plan will be posted in the Announcements area of the classroom.