Topic
How we, as every day citizens, can take actions to a more
sustainable food system.
Supplemental
Materials
Roger
Doiron: My subversive (garden) plot (20 minute Tedx Video)
The United States food industry
makes access to healthy nutritious food somewhat difficult. Roger Doiron proposes
a revolution to the food supply industry through backyard gardens and their
power to increase access to foods that are healthy for the planet and us.
The New York Times:
“Pollan Cooks!” by Mark Bittman (ET 10 minutes to read article)
We have become disconnected to food. Today, more college
students eat out than cook their own food. Michael Pollan highlights the
importance of shifting our lifestyle prioritizations so that we may place a
higher priority on cooking food and its potential to make those who cook not
only examine their relationship with food differently, but have a deeper
relationship with it.
Reflection: (ET 10
minutes for reflection)
Before our meeting in class on
Thursday, please consider the following questions.
1)
What does
sustainability and a sustainable food system mean to you?
2)
What is an action that
an individual person or a community could take to have a more sustainable food
system on any level (household/individual, local, or national)?
In the space provided below,
please write about the action you have thought of and respond to the
supplemental materials in either question or comment form.
Thank you for spending time
considering these materials and responding, it is greatly appreciated and will
help give depth to our discussion on Thursday!Personal Reflection
Sustainability is about having a system that uses resources in an efficient and good intentions so that it maintains an ecological balance for the health of humans, other animals, and the environment in which they live in. A sustainable food system would be one that uses natural resources efficiently so that there is a low amount of waste in the production, processing, distribution, and consumption of food. The food industry would also work to provide its consumers with food that is good for the body. To work towards a more sustainable food system, one thing individual actors could do is to invest, create, or work for a program that promotes education about healthy food choices and gardening.
I think sustainability means having a system that is beneficial to all form of life as a way of living together for a long period of time. I think a sustainable food system is where we have a limited about of waste to our food and where evyeryone is not in need of food. That everyone has the same access to the foods they need in a daily bases.
ReplyDeleteI think having the idea of everyone growing their own food is not sustainable with how our socioeconomic structure is set up in America. As I mentioned in the previous class many people in lower economic neighborhoods do not have the time or resources to grow the food they need.
I think if we could create a system where fresh food from local farms or small farms can be distributed to those who can't afford to grow their own food or do not have the resources to go to a supermarket would be interesting.
I also think if we moved toward a greener way of farming using resources like the sun and wind and moved away from harmful pesticides that destroy the environment and living organism than we could create a eco system for living.
Many thanks to you, Megan, for providing our supplementary materials and getting us thinking about this very important subject!
ReplyDeleteMy inclination is to define the term “sustainability” in a really broad manner. I believe that there are many different components that make up true sustainability. This can include our care for the environment, our emphasis on human rights, and yes, even our economy. For me, true sustainability cannot be reduced to one factor. It needs to mean developing a system that can continue on for generations, not just in one area, but in all of them. I think that sometimes, it can be easy to get caught up in one aspect of sustainability. We see economists putting financial systems ahead of the environment, environmentalists not fully thinking through economic implications, etc. Although it’s hard to do, I think we all need to think about sustainability in a well-rounded way.
I really appreciated your question about creating a more sustainable food system on multiple levels. I feel like sometimes we get caught up in talking about micro and macro solutions as though we can only focus on one or the other. In reality, I think it’s important to figure out solutions on both these levels.
As I was thinking about this subject, my thoughts were primarily on the micro level. I wanted to think about what I could do as an individual / what my personal household can do. When I was growing up, something that I noticed was how much food went to waste in my household. We grew a lot of vegetables in our garden, but we didn’t necessarily plan out our meals as they related to the food we were producing. This meant that sometimes these vegetables went to waste so that we could eat food that we bought from a grocery store. The TED talk made me think not only about the importance of gardens, but also about the importance of how we utilize gardens. As a family, we definitely could have thought more critically about how we used our food. A more sustainable gardening process would have involved planning out our meals based on the vegetables we’d grown. Then, when we went grocery shopping, we could have avoided making purchases that were wasteful.
When I think of sustainability, I picture a large scale system that goes beyond the organisms and environments that we hold valuable. Sustainability also brings to mind a system that can be continued without human interference. This brings to mind the food forests that we talked about on Tuesday/Wednesday. Cutting out all the extra, non-natural, aspects as well as some improved methods could produce a well sustained food source/system. I feel that the sustainable food system refers more to humans and how we can create a system in which everyone can and is encouraged to have a strong connection to the earth and the food that we get form it. By this I mean growing and maintaining our own food, sharing knowledge with neighbors and friends as to continuously improve the way the system works. I do not believe there will ever be a perfect system that will last forever, things tend to change. I believe that we can come up with a model that is flexible and allows for continuous adaptations and changes.
ReplyDeleteI think that the main action, at least initially, that an individual/community could take to improve a sustainable food system is to question everything. Yes, even question the science behind it. I see this heavily in the way that Amy talks about her management of her farm and crops. She questions and experiments in the hopes of learning something new, even though she knows that she will never know everything there is to know about food and growing it. This is why I am a strong advocate for the power of questioning things. The second action I would advocate for is having an open mind and pushing the boundaries of their comfort zones. That way the questions they ask will be more thought provoking and lead to further change/efficiency in our food system.
Sustainability on food have two meanings for me. Firstly, I would consider whether the food made my body sustainable. For example, most of the junk food would lead to serious chronic disease, like obesity, diabetes, heart-attack and etc. So, if I eat too much junk food, my healthy body would collapse, and if all the humans eat too much junk food, everyone would get sick, and if one day we can’t move and buy these junk food, the system would not exist. Therefore, for this reason, sustainable food system means a system providing healthy food for people. The second consideration is the diversative of food producers. As the article said, consumers like to spend less, cheaper food are produced form large company, and large like to buy from large, all these facts imply that the market have the tendency to promote small number of large producers and discourage large number of small producers. However, it is not safe to depend too much on the single producer. For example, if there is an epidemic disease, bankruptcy, or any accident in producers farm, people would loss the access to food, which should clearly be unsustainable. For this reason, sustainable food system means a large number of food producer.
ReplyDeleteIn order to have a more sustainable food system, for a single person, I agreed with the speaker in tedx video, that people could grow their own food, that way it would help people to create a value to distinguish which food is healthy and with food is not. For a community or nation, I think they should subsidize the small local farms and make more program to educate people on food.
Something I've been thinking about more and more as I'm getting older, and especially as prompted by the NYT's article about Michael Pollan, is cooking and the act of/ceremony around cooking a meal for yourself or to share. I think I'm an ok cook and I can definitely follow a recipe but I don't think I enjoy it as much as I could or have the knowledge base to feel comfortable making something new or different or experimental. There's a joke in my house that we just add onions and peppers to everything we're cooking because we don't know how to do anything else. When I'm thinking about cooking I always come back to my parents and the example they have set for me, my dad loves cooking and goes through distinct phases cooking variations on the same meal every weekend for months and my mom has this vast knowledge base about how to cook everything and I had to google how to hard boil and egg yesterday! Something I'm interested in pursuing and I think will help me cultivate a sustainable practice of fueling myself and interacting with what I eat in a healthy way, is learning from my parents and engaging in this generational knowledge that I have been so lucky to have had access to.
ReplyDeleteSustainability means maintaining a sustained environment. A sustained environment could involve natural resources, food, culture, and people within a specific community. During my study abroad program in San Jose, Costa Rica, I remember taking courses and learning about sustainability as it relates to the environment and as it relates to community members in the country. I had an opportunity to learn how the country of Costa Rica makes efforts towards creating and maintaining a sustainable environment. During this program, I had an opportunity to learn more about sustainability and how it applies to different countries around the world. Pertaining to a sustainable food system, I think it means sustaining a food system that helps to benefit both people and the environment that people live in. There are a few ways that a community or an individual person could be more sustainable when it comes to food systems. Education in a great way to spread more awareness about the sustainability of food systems. This can happen at an early age for children, so that these teachings can be passed on for future generations. Additionally, the involvement of political leaders can help create policies and awareness for community members. As mentioned in the TEDTalk, redefining what “good food” is is also a great was to improve food systems. This could happen through the cultivation of gardens, where families and other people can have access on how to grow foods. This method towards improving food systems could also be economically relieving (saving money for many people) can also contribute to better sustainability.
ReplyDeleteFirst, rock on Roger Doiron! That guy is singing my song. He's right about cooking too--honestly I'm not sure I would have ever really embraced cooking if it weren't for my passion for gardening. I'm not a great cook nor do I love cooking in the way that John does--but once you grow something, you want to find a way to eat it! And because I want to grow EVERYTHING, I end up learning to cook a lot of different things that I might never have ever tried if my food was coming solely out of a grocery store. I think Pollan's thoughts on cooking have value too--there is something sacred and special about preparing food for oneself, friends, and family and sharing meals together. It's an act of love.
ReplyDeleteWhich is not to say that I think people should be shamed if they don't always have time to cook! There are many days when my lunch is a cup of yogurt out of the library cafe refrigerator. And like we said about gardening last week, if you are working two or three jobs to make ends meet, cooking from scratch at the end of the day is probably not going to happen. But it also seems fundamentally wrong to me that our society is structured such that some people don't have time for basic pleasures like cooking and eating together. I guess the other thought I have about gardening and cooking is that one thing I've learned is that cooking out of the garden is usually faster for me than cooking out of the grocery store. That's because the garden veggies are so fresh and delicious that I usually end up preparing them very simply.
I think I'm avoiding the question about sustainability because it's a hard one to answer. One of the critiques of the "sustainability movement" is that the word "sustainability" can imply a sort of stasis--as if a system of any kind could be sustained indefinitely. But on this ever-changing planet, sustainability seems to be tied inextricably with adaptation, flexibility, and resilience in the face of unexpected disturbance, even destruction. That's why I think sustainability has to include diversity--of crops, genetics, microbes, people, cultures--because within that diversity are the materials and knowledges necessary for adaptation.
When I think about sustainability on my farm, I think about it having multiple facets. One facet is ecological sustainability, which for me means that I am not depleting either the ecosystem in which I live or other ecosystems (through off-farm inputs)--I am harnessing and building upon the energy within the farm's ecosystem. Another facet is economic sustainability--if the farm is to continue, it can't drive me into bankruptcy! Another facet is relational sustainability--I need to have sustainable, reciprocal relationships with my customers and CSA members in which their interactions with the farm are mutually beneficial. And finally, the farm has to be sustainable in relationship to my health and well-being. If the farm is continually depleting me physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually, at some point I will no longer be able to continue to do this work.
I think that there are a lot of actions we all can take to work toward a more sustainable culture. I think a key to figuring out what actions are most appropriate for an individual in a given situation is what Francisco said about questioning everything and becoming increasingly aware of the interconnectedness of all things. Sometimes certain things (products) are marketed as “sustainable” when they are truly anything but.
Sustainability is to use any kinds of resources in a efficient way and it should be able to continue. It is important because sustainability is a key process to achieve ecological balance. For sustainable food system, the first thing in my mind is farming system. The soil needs to be reasonably used to maintain sustainable food system.
ReplyDeleteAs individual, I should aware what sustainable food system is. I will support it in social media and communities. Provide the opportunities to other people know about sustainable food system.
To me, the word sustainable means that it can be continued in a way that is healthy and beneficial for all parties involved. In terms of food this means that it is healthy for the consumer and grown in a way that is healthy for the earth. Farms are sustainable, in my opinion, when they can continue to produce life and crop without destroying things along the way. It is when one aspect of the farm is used to provide for another aspect which provides for another aspect. I saw an example of this in a farm we visited while studying in Thailand- they grew a citronella plant that they squished into a natural pesticide that they sprayed on their vegetable plants from which the rotten or dried parts were collected to ferment into a food supplement mush for their pigs. Thus, their practices seemed sustainable to me because products from one aspect were being used to benefit another aspect of the farm in a healthy and cyclical manner.
ReplyDeleteOne action an individual can take on a local level is to get to know any local farmers in their area. This can be done by simply locating and attending a farmer's market and starting a conversation with some of the people working there. This can help the individual to gain a better awareness of local food options and ways to support small farmers. Even just that added bit of knowledge about supporting local farmers can be a step toward a more sustainable food system.
To me, sustainability is a multifaceted concept. Ecological sustainability, which we have discussed often in the past few weeks, is only one part of the equation. I believe that there is also a social aspect to sustainability, which ties in with the idea of a community garden. Many people in the contemporary US are incredibly isolated, even if they work in an office with other people. This is especially prevalent in suburbia. Community gardens are not only beneficial to humans as sources of food, but also as a way to interact with the people of one's community, regardless of age.
ReplyDeleteIn order to have a more sustainable food system, the first step is to acquire knowledge. Many people don't put much thought into the concept of sustainability or even our food system. This is slowly starting to change, but too often it is only people with sufficient funds. This is not to say that starting a community garden and/or eating sustainably requires a large sum of money, but that access to many kinds of information is often reserved for people with middle class or upper class incomes. I feel strongly that I can play an important role in helping to spread information about sustainable food systems; with the internet, this can even be done for free.
to me, the word sustainable means being able to sustain a lifestyle or act permanently, which involves a cyclical progression and a balance in the inputs and outputs of a system. A sustainable food system to me is one that can provide me with nourishment required for the wellbeing of my body and mind and of my community's body and mind, permanently. This means that the inputs and outputs of this system would be balanced- the resources and the waste. This would involve a plant based diet with little to no meat and dairy as the production of this food has larger externalities in terms of waste. The sustainable food system would also mean that the power involved in maintaining the system, whether that be largely human driven or a more permaculture type system, would be sustainable.
ReplyDeleteOn an individual level, a step to take to develop a more sustainable food system would be to have a small backyard garden like the one in the TEDTalk. on a community level, this would mean getting involved in my own local community (schools/community centers) and helping with a community garden or food education.
Sustainability for me means "self-maintained”, where the output and the input are cyclical. Nothing is “wasted”, in the sense that we don’t create a produce/waste that is not used - ultimate, the waste becomes a product in some form or another. However, sometimes we need to challenge the words we are using in order to be critical. Maintain implies the maintenance of the status quo, and sustainability is not the status quo right now, neither is the mindset of not just reducing waste, but not producing waste at all. I don’t have any practical solution that doesn’t assume certain privilege or that isn’t inherently problematic - there are many mini solutions, but none of them are long term.
ReplyDelete