Sony Brief Concepts
OPTION #1 - Food Revolution
Plant based food alternatives
- Side by side comparisons
- Cow milk vs other milk options
- Cow hamburger vs impossible burger
- Chicken nuggets vs soy nuggets
Macro shots of plant based alternatives
Still life in studio - highly stylized, poppy
Portraits/interiors of leading members in the industry
OPTION #2 - Sustainable Farming
Focus on Local Farm in South Africa - The Sustainability Institute
- Learning center/farm that aims to educate their community on the importance of sustainable farming and eating practices
Photograph farmers and leaders at the center
- Studio portrait or environmental portrait?
- How to do this while maintaining my aesthetic?
Photograph crops and produce in studio with bold/vibrant colors and light
- Create diptychs of produce isolated next to portraits of the people that produced them
Research
In terms of anthropogenic activities, agriculture is the largest cause of global environmental change
Global environmental change:
- Climate change
- Deforestation
- Desertification
- Damage to coastal reefs and marine ecosystems
Food production:
- Contributes approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the livestock sector alone represents almost half (14.5%) of these emissions
- Occupies about 40% of global land
- Uses 70% of freshwater
- Is the largest factor threatening species with extinction
- Causes eutrophication (nutrient overload) and dead zones in lakes and coastal areas
- Has led to a majority (~60%) of the world fish stocks to be fully fished or overfished (33%) – only 7% are underfished
Global environmental change increases risk of irreversible/catastrophic shifts in the Earth system
- Rising human mortality, morbidity, conflict, and food insecurity
- One of the largest global factors is lack of clear/agreed upon direction in battling the issue of agriculture
Sustainable food production:
- Set of boundaries that global food production should stay within to “decrease the risk of irreversible and potentially catastrophic shifts in the Earth system.”
Six key earth system processes:
- climate change (based on greenhouse gas emissions)
- land system change (based on cropland use)
use of freshwater
- biodiversity loss (based on extinction rate)
- nitrogen and phosphorus cycling (based on the application of these fertilizers)
Required shift in global systems: Reorient agricultural priorities from producing high quantities of food to producing healthy food
Shift the emphasis in food and agricultural policy from high volumes of a few crops to greater diversity of nutrient-rich crops
Issues with farming:
- increasing fertilizer use has led to the degradation of water quality in many regions
- irrigated lands have become heavily salinized, causing the worldwide loss of 1.5 million hectares of arable land per year, along with an estimated $11 billion in lost production
- Up to 40% of global croplands experiencing some degree of soil erosion, reduced fertility, or overgrazing
- The loss of native habitats also affects agricultural production by degrading the services of pollinators (bees)
- Founded in 1999
- International living and learning centre teaching
- Recognised as a leading expert institution in navigating the transition towards social justice and change in complex futures in Africa
- Research and practice maintains a strong focus on sustainable African futures, through our student, faculty and consulting research.
- Particularly interested in the claims made for more sustainable alternatives and in the role that power relations play in the food system.
Angela Coetzee - lead research consultant
- Her Masters focused on production claims made for more sustainable chicken production in the Western Cape
Sustainable farming
- aims to maintain or increase output, while increasing the environmental benefits.
protects biodiversity
- beneficial to plants, animals and the environment
- protects soil fertility for future food production
- supports organic and low carbon food production
- avoids the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides as well as genetically modified organisms
- crop rotation and avoiding the use of monocrops
- Planting varied crops helps with soil fertility and biodiversity
- manage pests with natural predators
- plow fields less and integrate crops and livestock
- aims to avoid damaging or wasting natural resources
- minimizes its contribution to climate change throughout the whole production process
- Nutrition is also playing an increasing role in defining sustainable foods
- growing movement towards plant-based foods that tend to have a greater emphasis on whole foods and fewer processed ingredients
