Last of two parts
The previous part is at thevoice.us/balanced-diet-with-justice-healthy-climate-one-goal
What’s In A Social Justice Diet? Ray Levy Uyeda contributed the following article in YES! magazine (Journalism for People Building A Better World)
Shift food policy by buying regionally
“In nearly every corner of the country, it’s cheaper to purchase a liter of soda than it is to buy a head of broccoli; a 2013 study found that a healthy diet cost $550 more per person per year than an unhealthy one. For a family of four, that’s an extra $2,200 each year. ‘The system is set up to feed poor people more poorly,’ said fifth-generation farmer, Andy Dunham, who runs an organic vegetable operation in Grinnell, Iowa. ‘The only reason that soda is so cheap [is because] the United States government subsidizes the hell out of those crops: sugar cane and corn.’ Billions of federal dollars are disbursed annually growing Big-Ag products: corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice, and to industries like big beef and big pork rather than small family farmers.
‘“I don’t think people have any idea about how much we spend on policy that [is] environmentally degrading,’ Dunham said. To combat today’s industrial production, he calls for establishing ecologically-diverse farming systems and a managed grazing system that allows soil to sequester carbon. And empowering people to know the difference. If consumers and voters understand the environmental implications of what they’re purchasing and which businesses they’re supporting through their consumption, then food policy at the federal level might look different. ‘Having a food literate society allows for policy to be sane,’ he said.
“In terms of what that translates to on the plate, Dunham said climate-justice eating is about having a region-based diet. That doesn’t always mean picking plants over meat; it means taking into consideration where your food was raised and what kinds of energy, chemicals, and transport went into that process. You may need to change your approach to plan menus to reflect what’s in season, rather than relying on production somewhere that’s enjoying Summer during your Winter. This approach supports local farmers and keeps the carbon footprint of your food relatively low.
“Support community-run collectives
“All forms of structural inequalities are made visible in the industrialized food system, from production to consumption, said Victor Brazelton, a community activist and educator with Planting Justice, an Oakland, Calif.-based grassroots organization that works to cultivate food sovereignty, economic justice, and community healing through individual and communal empowerment. Planting Justice hires organizers, farmers, and activists who were formerly incarcerated. Part of its work is to combat current-day colonization and community displacement by building access to organic food through community gardens and educating kids about what healthy food looks and tastes like. ‘Food is medicine,’ Brazelton said. ‘Sustainable farming practices heal people and the planet’.
‘“Community first starts wherever you are,’ Brazelton said, which includes acknowledging and collaborating with the people who originally stewarded the land. In the East Bay of California, the state government forced Ohlone tribes from their land through violence, but despite this, they still live and practice Ohlone culture today in what’s now called Oakland. Planting Justice developed a partnership with the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, which works to repossess stolen Ohlone land. Planting Justice is working to pay off a two-acre land parcel, and when it does, it will hand the deed over to the Land Trust.
‘“What’s really important is people having agency over their food,’ said Molly Scalise of FRESHFARM, a D.C.-based food justice organization. FRESHFARM brings healthy food directly to communities through farmers markets, in-school programs, and gleaning programs, which distribute unsold produce to shelters. The organization runs a farm-share through local schools, where parents can purchase produce at a subsidized rate using SNAP benefits. Scalise said this is necessarily a collaborative effort with D.C. residents to make sure it’s ‘not invasive or intrusive.’ She said solutions arise from working with neighbors and communities.
“The goal is making options more accessible to consumers in order to impact community health while ensuring that local farms remain profitable.
“Develop relationship-oriented
food systems
“How can we begin to talk about justice when those most impacted have the least access to decision-making tools and systems? That question is at the center of Jamie Harvie’s work. Harvie is the executive director of the Institute for a Sustainable Future, which works to build solutions for ecological health through advocacy and research. A food justice diet, he said, must mitigate climate impact, reduce poverty, and ensure that decision-making processes include those most impacted.
“Ultimately, Harvie said, what’s good for the climate will be good for people, too.
“Food justice must return systems to communities, Harvie explained. Organizations such as Oregon Rural Action tackle food injustice from a farming and policy perspective, by working to change state laws that allow farmers to sell directly to consumers, as well as collaborating with the state’s Department of Energy to provide low-interest loans to schools upgrading their energy systems, and building access to local farmers markets. Local food systems that are communally- owned and operated allow for communal wealth creation. This means that food is not only eaten in the same region where it is produced, but the financial and public health benefits uplift the community, as well.
“Tying together food and climate justice isn’t an intellectual exercise, Harvie said. Justice work, in any form, is about creating and sustaining relationships with one another, including the relationships with the Earth and our food systems. We have to do the hard work of moving from a transactional, colonial, and capitalist, model of feeding ourselves to a relational model of feeding and caring for each other,’ Uyeda wrote.”