https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/2021/03/01/air-board-tells-san-joaquin-valley-growers-phase-out-burns-2025/6874611002/

Teleconnections: The Supply and Demand of Beef
How might Costco's beef supply chain be regulated to mitigate inequitable health impacts on distal communities?

Ramsay Ritchie, Brooke Alsterlind, Stephen Culbertson, Claire O'Dea, Pengyi Du, and Anna Kelly

Some days, the air quality is so bad that 6 year old Kira Hinslea isn’t allowed to play outside of her home in Kern County, California. Kira suffers from severe asthma, as do one in six children in the San Joaquin Valley.

According to the American Lung Association’s 2018 measurements, concentrations of PM2.5-an air pollutant caused by nearby cattle farms and dusty farmland- reach unhealthy levels in the valley on over 40 days of the year. On these days, Kira’s mom reads the air pollutant gauge on their back porch and decides to set Kira up with an ipad or video game instead of letting her play in the backyard.

Learning objectives

  • Understand the connections between food consumption in urban areas and the inequitable distribution of environmental impacts in distal areas
  • Develop an understanding of supply chains and the environmental impact of dominant grocery chains

Case location

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