lexicon short intro

8/8/2019 Lexicon Short Intro

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THE LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITY

Beginning in 2004, Douglas Gayeton spent five years documenting the origins of Italys Slow FoodMovement using a photographic collage process called flat film. The work ultimately became anaward winning book, SLOW: L ife in a Tuscan Town (Welcome Books, 2009). Already in its third

printing, it features an introduction by Alice Waters and a preface by Carlo Petrini, founder of theSlow Food Movement.

Douglas Gayeton lives on a farm in Petaluma, California and is the co-founder of Laloos Goat MilkIce Cream. He has witnessed first hand the vibrant transformation of both businesses and smallfarmers seeking to become more sustainable and has decided to make this the subject of his nextbook: The Lexicon of Sustainability.

We are the first generation to lose everything. Weve gone from living in a world of infinite resources toone where everything has become disturbingly finite. To find solutions, more than new thinking isrequired.

If language provides the tools for inventive thinking and opens the gateway to change, we need to

define the words of this new language and create a ... lexicon of sustainability.

The importance of creating this new lexicon is best expressed by telling the story of an egg.

Ten years ago the term cage free first emerged in the pub lic conversation. If a chicken didnt haveto live in a cage, the chicken would be happier and their eggs would obviously taste better, right?This is what consumers subsequently decided when they shopped, and egg producers had tochange their practices. However, for many factory farms, this simply meant removing the cages butleaving chickens in the same sunless warehouses to eat the same feed. Hardly a great improvement.

Then someone invented the term freerange. Now chickens would be not only outof their cages, but able to range freelyaround. Unfortunately, chickens were stillconfined to the same warehouses and ate

the same feed, except now they had apatch of grass they could walk on outside.A nominal improvement, except farmersplaced blinking lights above these doors tokeep the chickens inside. Not exactly freerange.

Recently, a new term has emerged.Pasture raised and food producers mustnow contend with legions of consumers whonow want their eggs from chickens who areactually allowed to live outside. Theintroduction of a term, and the publicsquickness to embrace it, will lead to

eventual changes in an entire industry.

A shift in public consciousness can bebrought about by educating people throughthe introduction of a few simple terms.

This is the goal of the Lexicon of Sustainability Project. To create a healthier, more stablefuture, one where both consumers and food producers work together, building a common languageand a new way to look at food.


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For the past year, Douglas Gayeton has beenphotographing and filming entries for the Lexicon ofSustainability. Together with his wife, Executive ProducerLaura Howard, he has hired researchers to collect termsfrom13 different areas:

FARMING FOOD, WATER, ENVIRONMENT, WASTE,PUBLIC POLICY, ARCHITECTURE,MANUFACTURING, TECHNOLOGY,

ENERGY, FINANCE, LIFESTYLE AND SPIRITUALITY

In a short time the Lexicon has grown to over one thousandfive hundred entries. In many cases individuals andorganizations have submitted terms or coined which bestrepresented what a term meant. Often, competingdefinitions of the same term have emerged. Aconversation has begun.

The Lexicon Project will feature a number of cross-mediacomponents that leverage the authors unique background

as a filmmaker, social media pioneer and photographer. These include a traveling photographicshow, a series of short films, a series of books, and finally a number of online initiatives designed tocreate a community and cultivate a conversation about sustainability.

THE BOOK: As with SLOW, the book will be part reportage, part lushly designed photo book, partsustainability guide ... featuring large format photo narratives and a mix of anecdotes, interviews,recipes, and enlightened kernels of farming/food knowledge. The authors personal narrative will beinterspersed with 30-40 large scale flat films and approximately 100 smaller photographic works.Short personal essays by a few key individuals featured will also be included.

SHORT FILMS: a series of 26 video shorts, with one definition per each 2-3 minute episode, will runon-air as an interstitial series, stream onlineas weekly webisodes, and be combined

into a long form film project on farming,food and sustainability.

TRAVELING PHOTOGRAPHY SHOWAND LECTURE SERIES: a travelingexhibit featuring a lecture series, films,photography, and the participation of localluminaries in the sustainable movement.The show will begin in October 2010 atTerra Madre, the worlds largest gatheringof thought leaders in farming, food, andsustainability. It is expected that 300,000people from over 130 countries will attendthe event. Following Terra Madre the event

will circle the globe.

ONLINE: a dedicated online communitywhere members can add new terms to thelexicon, debate existing definitions, or signup to receive daily blasts of new lexiconentries. This will be a curated site wherehealthy conversations will be carefullycultivated as an online community takesshape.


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In short,THE LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITYPROJECT usesfilms, photography, public conversations and the Internet to buildcommunity, foster a meaningful conversation between the leading

voices in sustainable agriculture and food production, distill

knowledge into a variety of useful forms, and then disseminate thisknowledge to a wide audience.!

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