Anchors in a Globalizing World

First paragraph: In the slender volume Awakening Community Intelligence, journalist and long-time community supported agriculture (CSA) advocate Steven McFadden argues for the exponential expansion of CSAs. In the face of profound, disruptive challenges in the 21st century—climate change, resource...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kimberley Curtis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems 2016-10-01
Series:Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/464
_version_ 1797722498721120256
author Kimberley Curtis
author_facet Kimberley Curtis
author_sort Kimberley Curtis
collection DOAJ
description First paragraph: In the slender volume Awakening Community Intelligence, journalist and long-time community supported agriculture (CSA) advocate Steven McFadden argues for the exponential expansion of CSAs. In the face of profound, disruptive challenges in the 21st century—climate change, resource depletion, geopolitical instability—McFadden believes CSAs have the potential to become "community cornerstones" that provide "key points of stability and orientation" (p. 20). In ten very short chapters, McFadden unfolds his vision of this potential and issues a call to action. A "cornerstone" is the central metaphor around which McFadden organizes his vision. Drawn from the craft of stone masonry, the cor-nerstone is "the base upon which other stones are set and the building takes its form" (p. 9). That base, as we look at CSA, is a specific plot of farmland with tangible connections to the natural cycles of life and to which shareholders and farmers freely tie their fates together in forms of reciprocity: the community of shareholders taking care of farmers while farmers take care of the land and nourish the community. These are the sturdy cornerstones. But McFadden's notion of community cornerstones is bigger and more dynamic than the world the stone mason metaphor conjures. It is the cosmic, scintillating image on the cover, he tells us, that captures his vision. With the help of digital networking, CSAs could become a "network of light-giving impulses"; they could serve as "a model for a dynamic, far-flung, and intelligent network of nodes" in which "community intelligence" and "land-based intelligence" is awakened (p. 10). Anchored and networked and intelligently sparking, CSAs, he thinks, can bridge the gap between the personal and the global, becoming worldwide nodes of "environmental and human health consciously woven into a network of associations" (p. 68)....
first_indexed 2024-03-12T09:49:12Z
format Article
id doaj.art-89594c95121540e4ad4569bb7e15c0b6
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2152-0801
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-12T09:49:12Z
publishDate 2016-10-01
publisher Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems
record_format Article
series Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
spelling doaj.art-89594c95121540e4ad4569bb7e15c0b62023-09-02T12:40:55ZengLyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food SystemsJournal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development2152-08012016-10-016210.5304/jafscd.2016.062.008464Anchors in a Globalizing WorldKimberley Curtis0Northern Arizona UniversityFirst paragraph: In the slender volume Awakening Community Intelligence, journalist and long-time community supported agriculture (CSA) advocate Steven McFadden argues for the exponential expansion of CSAs. In the face of profound, disruptive challenges in the 21st century—climate change, resource depletion, geopolitical instability—McFadden believes CSAs have the potential to become "community cornerstones" that provide "key points of stability and orientation" (p. 20). In ten very short chapters, McFadden unfolds his vision of this potential and issues a call to action. A "cornerstone" is the central metaphor around which McFadden organizes his vision. Drawn from the craft of stone masonry, the cor-nerstone is "the base upon which other stones are set and the building takes its form" (p. 9). That base, as we look at CSA, is a specific plot of farmland with tangible connections to the natural cycles of life and to which shareholders and farmers freely tie their fates together in forms of reciprocity: the community of shareholders taking care of farmers while farmers take care of the land and nourish the community. These are the sturdy cornerstones. But McFadden's notion of community cornerstones is bigger and more dynamic than the world the stone mason metaphor conjures. It is the cosmic, scintillating image on the cover, he tells us, that captures his vision. With the help of digital networking, CSAs could become a "network of light-giving impulses"; they could serve as "a model for a dynamic, far-flung, and intelligent network of nodes" in which "community intelligence" and "land-based intelligence" is awakened (p. 10). Anchored and networked and intelligently sparking, CSAs, he thinks, can bridge the gap between the personal and the global, becoming worldwide nodes of "environmental and human health consciously woven into a network of associations" (p. 68)....https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/464Alternative Food NetworksCommunity DevelopmentCommunity GardeningCommunity Supported AgricultureCSAFood Justice
spellingShingle Kimberley Curtis
Anchors in a Globalizing World
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
Alternative Food Networks
Community Development
Community Gardening
Community Supported Agriculture
CSA
Food Justice
title Anchors in a Globalizing World
title_full Anchors in a Globalizing World
title_fullStr Anchors in a Globalizing World
title_full_unstemmed Anchors in a Globalizing World
title_short Anchors in a Globalizing World
title_sort anchors in a globalizing world
topic Alternative Food Networks
Community Development
Community Gardening
Community Supported Agriculture
CSA
Food Justice
url https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/464
work_keys_str_mv AT kimberleycurtis anchorsinaglobalizingworld