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Food Literacy, and The Real Cost of Food



How much do you know about the food you eat? How much do you know about the impacts it causes on its way to your plate?
 
My name is Eric Garza, and I have spent the last several years teaching about food literacy at various colleges and universities in Vermont, a state known for its progressive food culture. I meet so many people who want to better align their food choices with their values, but struggle to make sense of the often-conflicting information out there on the real cost of food. I see so much need for food literacy in the world today, but well-designed, reasonably priced learning opportunities on this subject are few and far between.

For the last few years I have wanted to offer my classes online, separate from any college or university, to make them accessible to broader audiences at a reasonable cost. What has prevented me from doing this a lack of the capital needed to set my website up for this venture and to record, edit, and transcribe lectures for this first course. My earnings as an adjunct faculty have been too meager to provide the funds, despite how frugally I live, so I have turned to crowdfunding to meet this need.
 
The funds I am raising will allow me to develop my course The Real Cost of Food  to offer online through my website. I will offer this 8-week course for $99, which is far less than what university students would pay. It will explore the monetary, social and environmental costs associated with food production, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal, and while it focuses on North America we will touch on issues in other parts of the world as well. Participants will watch video lectures, read articles, participate in discussion forums, and engage in an online Q&A session with me through Zoom each week, as well as other fun assignments. There will be no grading, and participants have flexibility in how they engage with the curriculum. I will develop other courses eventually, but figured I would start with this one since it is my most popular and my market research suggests it has the broadest public appeal.
 
All contributors will get a thank you note from me as a show of gratitude for supporting this endeavor. Those who donate $50 or more will be able to sign up for The Real Cost of Food  at no additional cost, which saves you $49. If you donate $100 or more you get a transferable enrollment coupon you can give as a gift to someone who wants to take the course. Regardless of how much you donate, I am grateful for all of the support I receive!

The itemized list below shows how funds will be used. Any additional funds above my goal will be used for scholarships. I will post updates periodically explaining how funds are used.

The budget for this project is as follows (in decreasing order of necessity):
Software licenses                                                                      $574
Web design & development                                                 $1,200
Honoraria for guest speakers ($50 x 8)                         $400
Video production                                                                       $1,200
Video transcription                                                                  $1,000
Laptop better suited to video editing                            $2,500
Total                                                                                                   $6,874
 
I will accept donations through this GoFundMe campaign until midnight on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. I will open registration for the course in mid-August, and the class will begin on Monday, September 30, 2019.

If you have any questions about the project, please feel free to reach out! Below you can read a few testimonials offered by former students. You can read several more on my website.

"As both a former student in one of Eric’s food literacy classes and an avid listener of his podcasts for the past couple years, I highly recommend taking his classes. I see Eric as an independent thinker who strives to live an intentional life and has inspired others around him, including me, to do the same. Something that stood out to me about Eric as a teacher is his fearlessness in leading the class to explore difficult questions together. I appreciated that the stimulating intellectual discussion he inspired was grounded in a relevance that extended beyond the classroom."
-Rylee W.

"Two of my favorite courses as an undergraduate student at UVM were The Real Cost of Food and Complexity in Food Systems, both taught by Eric Garza. Eric created such a welcoming space for students to engage in open discussion and healthy debate while simultaneously pushing us to question our own beliefs and opinions. The required coursework was practical, easy to understand, and intriguing. These courses were some of the few where I actually looked forward to doing my homework. Eric is a unique individual who brings an unparalleled life experience to the classroom."
-Carolyn R.

"I took The Real Cost of Food with Eric Garza a few years ago and still reflect on what I learned in that class, especially on the complexity of the food system. The class encouraged me to take a deeper look into the source of my food including where it comes from and who was part of the process of getting it to me, from small farmers to large industries. It was engaging and I would recommend others interested in taking a nuanced look at various aspects of the food system to take this class!"
-Michelle G.

"Eric’s class was one of the most thought-provoking I took in my master’s program at University of Vermont. At once both incredibly applied and also theoretical, it helped me to understand the role of energy in so many systems and products of our economy and built environment. It also was challenging on a deeply personal level—the intrinsic message of what we were learning was to challenge and reconsider our role in the energy economy, in the food system, and in our communities."
-Daniel K.

Organizer

Eric Garza
Organizer
Burlington, VT

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