Memo 8: Three Literatures, Thirty References + Short Annotations
Natalie Yap
This memo should identify three literatures your research will draw on and contribute to. Describe each
literature in a few hundred words, list at least ten references and briefly (2-4 sentences) annotate these
references -- noting the main argument and evidence of the reference, and how it could inform your
research.
Sustainability Education in K-12 public schools in the U.S.
Residential Water Conservation Efforts in Northern California
Food Waste, with a focus on produce, in the U.S. and it’s produce partners, like Mexico
Permaculture, Soils, & Food Justice
1) The Nitrogen Cycle
 Basics about how nitrogen flows through the earth and cycles into the atmosphere and
through living organisms. Beneficial in understanding how to have healthy soils, and how high
levels of nitrogen from pesticides can create imbalances in soil composition.(Markov)
2) The Ugly Truth About Food Waste in America
 An NPR broadcast discussing how food production results in loss of major amounts of food.
Inspirational in figuring out where to intervene in these waste systems. (The Ugly Truth About
Food Waste In America)
3) The Urban Revival from the Asphalt Up
 Article about urban initiatives that are working in promoting “urban Renewal”, of creating
spaces that help break the concrete jungle and turn it into more sustainable places. Examples
of green roofs, carbon tax, and renovating spaces to help the homeless. (Abramsky)
4) Laws affecting the built environments of low-income and minority children with obesity
 Chapter about how to combat childhood obesity in America, specifically dealing with lowincome and minority children, through the use of zoning, legislation, public/private
partnerships, and contracts being used at the local, state and federal levels. These legislations
include providing more accessible health-based activities, and promoting healthy food
availability in these systemically disadvantaged neighborhoods. (Lindholm)
5) Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in Three Corn Belt Ecoregions: Similarities and Differences.
 Focused on corn and soybean production in the U.S. in the Corn Belt, “which includes the
Eastern Corn Belt Plains (ECBP), the Central Corn Belt Plains (CCBP), and the Western Corn Belt
Plains (WCBP).” Delves into the transition of “agricultural land use to grassland or shrubland
and from agricultural to urban land.” (Auch et al.)
6) Waste : Uncovering the Global Food Scandal
 Book about food waste in Western countries (the US and EU), touching on how we can feed
the world with the amount of food we already produce, if it was dealt with and produced more
efficiently. Suggestions and innovations about how to go about solving this problem, touches
on how wasting is a luxury. (Stuart)
7) Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Finding a Solution to Food Waste in America
 Book focusing on food waste in America, stating how over half is lost in production and
shipment, and how the “average American wastes 10x the amount of food as a person in
Southeast Asia.” Looking at these current systems of inequality, how can we address the global
hunger crisis through the redistribution and retrofitting of current food systems? (Kalashian)
8) Consequences of the cultivation of energy crops for the global nitrogen cycle

Paper that poses the idea of having a carbon tax that moves current energy use into biofuel
use, so that less greenhouse gases, such as carbon and nitrogen dioxide, are released into the
atmosphere. (Bouwman, van Grinsven, and Eickhout)
9) Obesity interventions in underserved communities: Evidence and directions.
 Connecting socioeconomic standing with pressing health issues, such as obesity, this paper
covers why certain groups and more heavily targeted than others and what current
community-based initiatives as well as policies that are being taken to address the needs of
these traditionally underserved and overlooked communities. (Brennan et al.)
10) Pesticide residues in food: data and federal oversight
 Discusses the need for the having stricter standards put on by the FDA for regulations for
pesticide use on conventional crops and the effects it has on public health. (Morrison)
11) The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impact
 Identifies how food waste is connected to energy waste, excessive greenhouse gas production,
and water waste, especially in America, with the way we consume our food. (Hall, Guo, Dore,
and Chow)
12) The Philosophy of Farming in America
 Agriculture turning into the domestication of the continent, as opposed to the harmonious
flow of utilizing what resources were available. Begins with the history of Native American
displacement, the forcing of European-styled societies onto American land, and the current
state in which we utilize our land. (Thompson)
13) Estimating Pesticide Exposure from Dietary Intake and Organic Food Choices: The Multi-Ethnic
Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)
 A study done to see the amount of pesticide intake, primarily through food consumption, that
an average American intakes, and how this amount is noticeable reduced due to intake of
more organic foods, as opposed to conventionally grown and processed foods. (Curl et al.)
14) Childhood obesity: the declining health of America's next generation
 Focusing on this epidemic that had reached the US, why are so many of our children
overweight and obese? Can this be linked to corporations actively targeting specific
socioeconomic groups? (United States: Congress, Senate; Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions; Subcommittee on Children and Families.)
15) Does Certified Organic Farming Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agricultural Production?
 Investigates the trend of “going organic” and how the movement has been spilt between those
who can afford to get licensed and say their food is organic, but is lowering the “organic”
standard. Other smaller farms are organic, but cannot label their produce as so because they
have not been able to go through the process, however are helping in reducing greenhouse gas
emissions. (McGee)
16) NEW RESEARCH FINDS WIDE DISPARITY IN FOOD COSTS THROUGHOUT THE NATION MAP THE
MEAL GAP REVEALS MILLIONS OF LOW INCOME AMERICANS OFTEN LIVE IN AREAS WHERE FOOD
COSTS ARE HIGH
 Based on information released by Feeding America, the most food insecure populations live in
areas where cost of food is 4 to 5 times higher than places that have less food impoverished
communities. (“NEW RESEARCH FINDS…)
17) NEW DATA SHOWS 48 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH
HUNGER FOOD INSECURITY OVERVIEW: 15 MILLION CHILDREN; 12 MILLION LATINOS; 11 MILLION
BLACKS

More information released by Feeding America shows that minority and low income and
minority populations are facing higher rates of food insecurity, but are also more prone to
obesity. (“NEW DATA SHOWS…)
18) Cultivating Capital: A Look at the Issues Affecting Urban Farms as a Business and How New
Innovative Policy Changes at the Federal and State Level Will Impact the Financial Sustainability of
Urban Farms
 How does policy affect the financial stability of Urban Farms in America, especially with the
increase in urban farming around the US? This focuses on the start-up culture of urban farms.
(Semaan)
19) Distressed Cities and Urban Farming: Are We Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill?
 A critical review of the urban farming movement, calling it a “fad” and trying to dispel the air of
hype that surrounds this green movement. (Wendel)
20) Effectiveness of Educational Interventions Conducted in Latin America for the Prevention of
Overweight and Obesity in Scholar Children from 6-17 Years Old; a Systematic Review
 Educational interventions that attempt to redirect the current ways health and body image is
taught to children ages 6-17 years on in Latin America. (Navarrete et al.)
21) Feasibility Study of Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste in St. Bernard, Louisiana. A Study Prepared
in Partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency for the RE-Powering America's Land
Initiative: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites
 Focuses on the shift of producing renewable energy (anaerobic digestions) in areas that cannot
be used for agricultural purposes. (Moriarty)
22) Food waste runs rampant in America
 795 million people worldwide are food insecure. How can the way America currently consumes
food be adjusted to address this food issue? (“Food Waste Runs Rampant in America”)
23) From Wasteland to Oasis: How Pennsylvania Can Appropriate Vacant Urban Land into Functional
Space Via Urban Farming
 The transformation that communities can undergo when community gardens are established
and implemented throughout traditionally underserved communities. (Slabinski)
24) Relationship between parent demographic characteristics, perinatal and early childhood
behaviors, and body mass index among preschool-age children
 Out of the US children population that is classified as overweight or obese, minority children
are disproportionately affected by this issue. How does parental influence of speaking English
affect the health of these children? (Messiah et al.)
25) The devolution of urban food waste governance: Case study of food rescue in Los Angeles
 What role do Civil Society Organizations play in the role of food waste governance in LA?
Salvaging food and redirecting waste streams are ways to combat the issue of food waste, but
what further actions can be taken to tackle this problem at its source?(Warshawsky)
26) Nurturing the Seeds of Food Justice: Unearthing the Impact of Institutionalized Racism on Access
to Healthy Food in Urban African-American Communities
 A case study on the demolition of the Morning Glory Community Garden located in the South Bronx by the
city of New York, without coming to an agreement with the local community that tended for the area. (Meals)
27) Radical, reformist, and garden-variety neoliberal: coming to terms with urban agriculture's
contradictions
 Urban agriculture as a form of systemic change in promoting the neoliberal perspective.
(McClintock)
28) Can home gardens scale up into movements for social change? The role of home gardens in
providing food security and community change in San Jose, California

Focus on home gardens as a source of sustainable revolution within communities. Can they
become “agents of cultural preservation”? (Gray et al.)
29) LatCrit South-North Exchange: The Global Politics of Food: Sustainability and Subordination: Food
Justice as Interracial Justice: Urban Farmers, Community Organizations and the Role of
Government in Oakland, California
 Struggle of interracial justice, as seen in Oakland CA, with the fighting for justice and basic
rights to better health through the implementation of food related projects, as seen with the
Black Panthers and transitioning into Oakland’s modern-day justice movement. (Curran)
30) Food and Green Space in Cities: A Resilience Lens on Gardens and Urban Environmental
Movements
 Paper detailing how to turn urban spaces back into ones promoting sustainability through
urban farming initiatives, after urban areas have become successful detached from their food
sources throughout the century. (Barthel, Parker, and Ernstson)
Bibliography
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Auch, Roger F. et al. “Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in Three Corn Belt Ecoregions: Similarities and
Differences.” American Geographical Society’s Focus on Geography 56.4 (2013): 135–143.
EBSCOhost. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
Barthel, Stephan, John Parker, and Henrik Ernstson. “Food and Green Space in Cities: A Resilience Lens on
Gardens and Urban Environmental Movements.” Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) 52.7
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Bouwman, A. F., J. J. M. van Grinsven, and B. Eickhout. “Consequences of the Cultivation of Energy Crops
for the Global Nitrogen Cycle.” Ecological Applications 2010: 101. Print.
Curl, Cynthia L. et al. “Estimating Pesticide Exposure from Dietary Intake and Organic Food Choices: The
Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).” Environmental Health Perspectives 123.5 (2015):
475–483. EBSCOhost. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
Curran, Christopher J. “LatCrit South-North Exchange: The Global Politics of Food: Sustainability and
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“Food Waste Runs Rampant in America.” UWIRE Text 2015: n. pag. Print.
Gray, Leslie et al. “Can Home Gardens Scale up into Movements for Social Change? The Role of Home
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Kalashian, Carmen Shaeffer. “Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Finding a Solution to Food Waste in America.” San
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Lindholm, Raymond. “Laws Affecting the Built Environments of Low-Income and Minority Children with
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Meals, Kate. “Nurturing the Seeds of Food Justice: Unearthing the Impact of Institutionalized Racism on
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Messiah, Sarah E. et al. “Relationship between Parent Demographic Characteristics, Perinatal and Early
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Moriarty, K. “Feasibility Study of Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste in St. Bernard, Louisiana. A Study
Prepared in Partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency for the RE-Powering America’s
Land Initiative: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites.”
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Review.” NUTRICION HOSPITALARIA 31.1 (2015): 102–114. Print.
“NEW DATA SHOWS 48 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH HUNGER
FOOD INSECURITY OVERVIEW: 15 MILLION CHILDREN; 12 MILLION LATINOS; 11 MILLION BLACKS.”
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