http://www.dailycal.org/2012/04/22/protesters-occupy-uc-berkeley-owned-farm-in-albany/
Several members of the Occupy movement recently moved onto a tract of land owned by UC Berkeley and, as a demonstration, started to farm it. The land, a former tract farm now owned by one of the university’s housing complexes, is the slated site for a Whole Foods Market, along with a senior center and parking lot. The Occupy members say that it should instead be used for agricultural education and to prove this, they have tilled the land, begun to plant various crops, and brought in chickens. As of the evening of 4 April, there had been police warnings but no continued police presence and the Occupy members had set up tents. The protest seems to be over at this point, but its brief existence brings up a few interesting points.
Unique to this protest is the nature of the movement’s actions. They comprise a very interesting method of protest where signs are traded for scythes and chanting is replaced by chickens. If actions speak louder than words, it seems as though these Occupiers have really gotten their point across.
Another chewy situation brought to light is the disconnect between planning authorities and those affected by the land use. The Occupiers claimed that both community and campus had wanted to use the tract farm for agricultural education, but the university had been an active participant in the development plans. Furthermore, the article makes note that these plans have been developed for years. If this land is so important to the protesters, the campus, and the community, why is there no prior history of protests?
The article also focuses on the idea that a Whole Foods Market is going to be built on the site, placing less emphasis on the senior center and the parking lot. Whole Foods is a popular way for shoppers to make what they hope are sustainable, environmentally-friendly choices, even though there are often few local options. There is an element of greenwashing to the idea of this Whole Foods; it seems as though the Occupiers and the community members who had lobbied for the tract farm’s educational use might certainly think that this decreases interest in local sustainability. Is the easy ability to attain organic food more or less important than the proposed agricultural education? What is the best option here?
Earth Day, as witnessed by other blog entries, is sometimes a contentious celebration and used as a publicity stunt. It seems to me that these Occupiers are using Earth Day as a springboard to draw attention. However, I do not necessarily think that this is a bad thing; regardless of the origin and connotations of Earth Day, the public is more inclined to pay attention to matters of environmentalism thanks to the concentration of environmental messages. I think that the protest might be poorly timed, and (given the extent of the plans) ultimately futile, but I also think that this is a very interesting type of protest. Instead of just occupying the land, they tried to revitalize it and demonstrating sustainable farming practices.
I agree that this is a very interesting take on a protest, one that is much more focused on action than on words. Rather than telling the city how the land could be used, the protestors are putting in the effort to actually show what they would do with the land, and it may turn out to be a very effective way of influencing public opinion.
ReplyDeleteThis ties in well with ideas of land conservation and environmental preservation sites as well. By showing the potential importance of this land to the community as an educational plot for community members to engage in agricultural and learn about sustainable practices, this group may attract the eye of a land conservation group that would be in a better position to try to buy the land and preserve it for community use. Particularly if there are not a lot of other sites like it in the area, this land could be even more valuable as green space than it is for retail and development purposes.
This Occupy movement seems a little more focused than the other Occupy movements in cities like NYC, Chicago, and Philadelphia. I liked that they set out to educate people about agriculture. As we discussed in class on Thursday, Earth Day is tough to define. How do we just choose one day to focus on the pollution issues that plague us everyday? Agricultural education is an important issue to focus on since it affects us and the environment. Smart farming can be good for the soil and land around it, and very nutritional for those who consume it. I think that the Occupy movement has received a negative connotation for its questionable protests in the past, so maybe this will not be as successful as they hope. However, this demonstration could be a good way to start to turn around the public's perception of the Occupy movement, and even Earth Day.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of making a brave and demonstrative point to actors, both positive and negative, in environmental sustainability, this Occupy movement may have done something. But in terms of educating and causing change amongst the general public concerning agricultural sustainability, like Cu mentions, this Occupy was generally futile. In the least, it helped reinstate their own (the occupiers) commitment to the movement. For those of us more knowledgeable of environmental sustainability, their short scheme does get us to think about the environmental friendliness of supermarkets like Whole Foods, who often market themselves as an organic/local products supporter. I'll definitely think about the occupiers and the sustainability of my shopping list the next time I enter a Whole Foods store.
ReplyDeleteI’d never really thought about UC Berkeley being an ag school before, since their areas of expertise seem to be focused in other directions. But I think that the land there, with the controversy from the Whole Foods debate, could be used in a more biological setting that studies sustainability and crops. I’d also never really heard about senior centers being put on college campuses. If this were a good place to go to med school that would makes sense, as would the Whole Foods movement to promote healthy eating. But there is a big difference between a medical school and an ag school. The other potential way I could see this “farm plot” being used is to provide food for some part of the school (the dining hall, the senior center, a farmers market, etc), or as a community garden for students on campus. However, I do not see any of this as needing an Occupy movement to get it moving forward. While Earth day does seem to be a good day for promoting environmental activism, I agree with everyone above that this seemed a lot like people “occupying” just to occupy. If the school had wanted to put a nuclear reactor on the plot of land, that would have made sense. But a senior center and a whole food market are not at the top of the “must protest” list in my book.
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