2nd Grade Economic Interdependence Inquiry
What Makes Me Become We?
Download Entire Inquiry Here

Supporting Question 1- How do people meet their needs and wants?

This spring, Diane Chambers became the first member of her family within living memory to own her own home. Though it was a long time coming, it was still hard to believe. “It changes my life dramatically,” the retired school teacher says.
Previously, says Chambers, everyone in her family lived in big cities. “Homeownership was not something that anyone really did,” she recalls. “And it was something that not everyone could afford, of course.”
When she moved to New Jersey from New York City, where she taught high school in the Bronx, Chambers took a job at a local nonprofit, and that’s where she connected with Habitat Burlington County. “I would take young folks to volunteer, and I volunteered, too. But it never crossed my mind to look into a house for myself.”
Then she changed her mind. “I thought, ‘Just go ahead and apply.’ I never thought I’d be the first in my family, but I always wanted to own. ‘Make the possible out of the impossible,’ I like to say.”
The Habitat house, she says, has done just that. “I realized I didn’t have to depend on things outside myself anymore,” she says. “I had the tools to do whatever I wanted to.”
In a nice closing of the circle, Chambers says that at the dedication ceremony she noticed her sister looking closely at the house key. “She turned to me and said, ‘This has the same number as the place we grew up in.’ And she was right: 143. It’s almost like it was meant to be.”
One of Chambers’ favorite quotes is from the 13th century monk Nichiren: “If one lights a fire for others, one will light one’s own way.” It’s an idea she wants to pass along.
“One of the beautiful things about this is everybody who touched that house, all the volunteers, everybody whose heart went into helping build that home,” Chambers says. “It may be my home, but everyone else’s spirit is in there, too.”
Courtesy of Habitat for Humanity, www.habitat.org. Used with permission. http://www.habitat.org/magazine/article/first-her-family-own-home.

Customer Alvaro Maduro (left) speaks with Maria Vanegas with The Food Trust about whole grain tortillas at the Indiana Food Market in Philadelphia. Mom-and-pop convenience stores in poor neighborhoods in Philadelphia have been getting healthier through the “Fresh Corner” initiative, an effort designed to help residents eat better in places considered to be food deserts. Photo: AP Photo/Matt Rourke.
Poor People Cannot Find Fresh and Healthy Food
PHILADELPHIA — Poor people have a hard time finding food. There are few food stores in poor neighborhoods. What is worse, the food is often not safe.
Poor places have few markets. The poor mostly shop at corner stores. Scientists checked the food in corner stores.
What the scientists found was not good. The food is often rotten. It is full of germs. Eating this food can make people sick.
The customers agree. Rodney Jenkins ate bad fruit from a corner store. He got sick. He worries about giving bad food to his children.

Bad Food

Jennifer Quinland is a food scientist. Her team visited many corner stores. The scientists looked for germs.
The scientists looked at milk, eggs and vegetables. They also checked lunch meats and sandwiches. They found a lot of germs.
Bad food doesn't just make poor people sick. It also wastes their money. If food goes bad, you have to throw it out. This often happens with milk.
Sometimes the corner stores wait too long to put the milk in a refrigerator. Milk that gets warm goes bad faster. Bad milk starts to smell. No one wants to drink smelly milk. Customers do not know it is bad until they open it. Then they have to throw it away. It is like throwing money away.

Frozen Food

Quinlan said that poor people should try to get fresh food. But sometimes the food is rotten. She said it is better to throw it away.
Fresh fruits and vegetables go bad quickly. Quinlan said that frozen food is a safe choice. People can also buy canned and dried food. These foods last longer.
But sometimes people do not have frozen food. Or they cannot pay for canned and dried food. They have to eat whatever they can find.
Benjamin Chapman works on food safety. He said he understands why the poor eat unsafe food. It is better than eating nothing at all, he said.
Original version by the Philadelphia Inquirer, adapted by Newsela (newsela.com). 
Source B: Newsela staff, article about drought in California adapted from the Scripps National Desk, “Winter Usually Brings Snow and Water to California, but It’s Still Dry,” April 28, 2015
California is very dry right now. Very little rain has fallen there for a long time. It is a big problem for California's farmers. 
California grows more fruits and vegetables than any other state. Farming takes a lot of water. Now farmers have to change the way they grow their crops.
Last year, California farmers stopped using some of their land. They were told to not use it to save water. They took part of their farmland and set it aside. They did not plant any crops on it. They knew the plants' roots would drink all of the water.
Now scientists say farmers might have to set aside twice as much land this year. They say the dry weather in 2015 will be much worse than it was in 2014.

Fewer Farm Jobs In California

Wendy Fink-Weber works for a group that speaks for farmers. She says California lost about 17,000 farm jobs in 2014. She says that could mean more work for farmers in other states. 
Farmers in other states could start planting some of the crops California cannot grow. But they could only plant the ones that would grow right away. Plants like almonds will not work. Almonds can take three to seven years of growing before they are ready to sell.
Farmers cannot stop growing on land where they planted fruit and nut trees. The farmers would have to pull up all of the trees and start over. 
Instead, farmers will work on keeping the trees alive. The farmers will not water the trees a lot. They would grow larger and more delicious crops, but it would use up a lot of water. Instead, farmers will water the trees just enough to keep them alive.

There Are Water Rules To Follow

Dry weather is normal in California. But it has gone a long time with no rain. Now California has to use more groundwater.
Groundwater is water in underground pools, like water from a well. The pools form naturally. They take a long time to fill back up on their own.
In the spring, melting snow usually gives the state water. The water from the snow can be used to water farmers' plants. This year, there was only a little bit of snow. 
California has made new laws because of the water shortage. The laws say how much water people can use. Farmers do not have to follow some of the rules because water is such an important part of their jobs.
Many people want to help the farmers. Richard Howitt, who teaches at the University of California, wants to help, too.
He says farmers should grow different kinds of crops. When dry weather hits, the crops that need the most water could die. The plants that do not need much water might be OK.
Original version by the Scripps National Desk, adapted by Newsela (newsela.com).