People are quick to blame fast food for the increased prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases amongst America’s poorest communities, but new research shows that we’re jumping to the wrong conclusions.

There’s no doubt that people in lower income brackets have a higher instance of lifestyle-related diseases. A 2010 Canadian study showed that people earning under $15,000 a year doubled their risk of contracting type-2 diabetes, and a 2009 study in Current Cardiology Reviews showed that the longer that a person lived in poverty, the more likely he or she was to contract heart disease, with an 82 percent increase in the risk for those who were disadvantaged as children.

But while people have been quick to point fingers at fast food for this problem – for instance, encouraging the city of Los Angeles to instate a ban on new fast food restaurants in low income neighborhoods in South L.A. in 2008 – it turns out that correlation does not prove causality in this case.

Mythbusting the Link Between Fast Food and Income

New research from Jay Zagorsky of Ohio State University and Patricia K. Smith of the University of Michigan proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the common conviction that fast food is the reason for health problems amongst America’s poor is unfounded. Their research found not only that low-income and high-income adults consume almost the same amount of fast food, but that members of the middle class are more likely to indulge in a Big Mac and fries than the poorest Americans, albeit not by much.

Seventy-nine percent of 8,000 people reported eating fast food at least once during the three-week survey; 23 percent ate three or more fast food meals per week. When broken down by socio-economic status, the survey reflected that about 80 percent of those with the lowest 10 percent of income ate at least once at a fast food restaurant, compared to about 85 percent of those who were ranked near the middle and 75 percent in the richest 10 percent.

“Everyone eats fast food,” says Zagorsky. “The poor, the rich, the middle class. It’s not just poor people.”

The common misconception, he says, stems in large part from what L.A. was attempting to avoid with its legislation: the fact that fast food restaurants are far more likely to crop up in low-income neighborhoods.

“People associate fast food with poorer neighborhoods,” says Zagorsky, “and they sort of make the logical connection that since fast food came from poor neighborhoods, it must be poor people who eat fast food… except for me, who happens to be popping in here.”

Why Do People Turn to Fast Food?

Even though people know that fast food is unhealthy, they keep going back to it – even when they can afford something healthier. But the reasoning behind this trend doesn’t boil down to income, but rather time.

The study revealed that while socio-economic status doesn’t contribute to likelihood of chowing down on Burger King, the time crunch resulting from long hours at work and not much downtime does. Given the “fast” in its name, it’s perhaps no surprise that people who are short on time are more likely to opt for fast food, but Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Certified Nutritionist, suggests that it’s more complicated than that. She says that it’s not just ease, but also comfort, that makes time-crunched individuals choose the drive through.

“When you work long hours, you have less time for leisure, no time to exercise or do yoga, and little time to get outdoors into nature,” she says. “This can lead to low serotonin and low GABA levels causing you to stress-eat carbs, self-soothe with comfort food, and self-medicate with fast-food.”

Low serotonin and low GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid – the neurotransmitter that reduces neuronal excitability) can make people anxious and stressed, something that they then instinctively try to fix by eating starchy, fatty foods, according to a 2016 study in the International Review of Neurobiology.

“Chronic stress can negatively affect hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning, thus influencing eating behavior and increasing desirability of highly palatable foods,” reads the study.

Long-term, however, serotonin and GABA are better raised by eating a whole food diet, exercising, and reducing stress through yoga or meditation, according to Scott, so by choosing fast food, people are renewing, rather than solving, the problem.

So Why Are Poorer People Getting Sicker?

This study unfortunately puts us back at square one when it comes to the reasons behind the higher instances of lifestyle-related diseases amongst America’s poorest.

Zagorsky doesn’t have the answer, but he does have a hypothesis linking lifestyle-related illness less with what poor Americans are eating but rather when they’re eating it.

“Poor people tend to get money at irregular intervals,” he says. With the SNAP program, for instance, people receive their income once a month. Because of this, Zagorsky notes, they tend to eat a lot of food at the beginning of the month, when they can afford it, “and then they sort of diet – not willingly” at the end of the month. This cycle of bingeing and starving is “not really good for maintaining a nice, stable weight,” according to Zagorsky.

Solving the Fast Food Problem

While the city of Los Angeles had its heart in the right place when it attempted to reduce fast food establishments in poorer neighborhoods, this isn’t the right way to go about solving the problem of lifestyle-related disease amongst America’s poorest – nor is it a great way to encourage middle- and upper-class Americans to steer clear of Happy Meals.

“If government wants to get involved in regulating nutrition and food choices,” said Zagorsky in a University news release, “It should be based on facts.”

The Conversation suggests that government intervention would be better put to use by making nutritious foods more readily available more easily, for example by reducing red tape required for food trucks or mobile soup kitchens serving real foods. Legislation to revitalize food deserts would also be helpful, bringing inexpensive healthy food options to neighborhoods where healthy food tends to be more expensive, and the introduction of free or inexpensive programs encouraging people to get outside and exercise could reduce instances of stress and anxiety, making people less likely to reach for fast food as a temporary solution to this problem.

Related on EcoSalon
Revitalizing Food Deserts: 3 Ways to Bring Healthy Food Where It’s Needed Most
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How Complaining Rewires Your Brain (and 5 Things to Do About It)

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EcoSalon reviews a new documentary about urban farming.

Do you feel overwhelmed by all the negative stuff happening in the world? Want to create sustainable change but aren’t sure how to tackle massive issues like social inequality, insufficient education, food deserts, consumption, waste, and unemployment? Yeah, me too. But those feelings fell away when I watched “Growing Cities,” a new documentary about urban farming by young filmmakers Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette.

The movie opens with short introductions by Susman and Monbouquette. Like many of us, they used college as an excuse to flee their hometown. Natives to Omaha, Nebraska, the pair fled to the coasts to find themselves, and others who wanted to change the world. After discovering their passion for sustainability, food, and film making, they decided to return home, but only long enough to gather supplies for their next adventure: a nationwide a road trip to meet the men and women who are challenging the way America grows and distributes its food.

Urban farming may seem like a cliche term batted about by people who can afford to shop at Whole Foods, but Susman and Monbouquette’s adventure proves that the reemergence of city-based farms is much more than a yuppie past-time. The film follows their journey to San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Detroit Milwaukee, Boston, New York, Atlanta and back again. At each stop, they meet hardworking community members who’ve chosen to dig in (literally) rather than surrender their neighborhoods to blight, violence, or poverty.

Watching “Growing Cities” exposes the viewer to many different styles of urban farming. You’ll see folks growing food in vacant lots, front yards, on rooftops, and in abandoned buildings. Some of these urban farming operations are brand new while others are decades old, remnants of the Victory Garden era–a time when growing food was endorsed by the government and considered the most patriotic act one could perform, aside from enlisting.

As hungry as it will make you to see all the fresh fruits, veggies, herbs, and even eggs and fish growing on these urban farms, the food isn’t even the most inspiring part.

What I loved most about “Growing Cities” was the way that it demonstrates how urban farming can be the simple, sustainable answer to many of the problems plaguing our society. Cities that grow their own food are also growing economic security, healthier citizens, a stable job market, an educated and multi-skilled workforce, and perhaps more importantly, a sense of pride and accountability for the environment around us.

The film was released last fall at film festivals, and is beginning community screenings this spring. The creative team invites you to host-a-screening for Earth Day or to kickoff the gardening season. Doing so will share the “Growing Cities” journey with an America that believes in a more sustainable, just, and healthy future for all!

I highly encourage you to watch, but be warned: a side-effect of this movie is that you’ll immediately want to get your hands in the dirt.

Related on EcoSalon

5 Urban Farming Ideas for Your Own Backyard

Revitalizing Food Deserts: 3 Ways To Bring Healthy Food Where It’s Needed Most

Foodie Underground: Truck Farm

Images via Growing Cities

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For millions of Americans who find themselves in food deserts, getting their daily apple is tougher than usual.

The USDA defines a food desert as an impoverished region of the country where thousands of people can’t regularly access healthy, affordable, and organic foods due to lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and personal transportation. And the constant availability of fast food restaurants in these food deserts certainly doesn’t help America’s rampant obesity epidemic.

U.S. cities lacking in fresh fruits and veggies aren’t limited to the big city expanses of Los Angeles, Oakland, Detroit, or Chicago; in fact many small towns in the heart of the nation suffer just as much from lack of fresh greens.

Here are some big ideas for providing resources to help food desert dwellers around the nation enjoy the taste and benefits of farm-fresh produce.

1. 100 Yards of Harvest After having to sack its football program due to low enrollment, Paul Quinn College, a small liberal arts college near Dallas, Texas, transformed their vestigial football field into a huge farm. Today, staff and students (and in collaboration with PepsiCo Inc.) at Paul Quinn cultivate the WE Over ME Farm, growing collard greens, heirloom tomatoes, swiss chard, mustard greens, and more. The cornucopia of food harvested from the farm is then distributed to local charities, grocery stores, community markets in surrounding Dallas, and the college students, who get to enjoy the fruits of their hard work.

2. Mobile Markets  Some 550,000 Detroit residents suffer from an imbalance of healthy food options  — grocery stores are few and far between compared to fast food restaurants. Mobile food co-ops that bring the farm to the city, like Detroit’s Peaches & Greens, go the extra mile in ensuring people get the foods they need at affordable prices. And in California’s rural valleys, California’s Second Harvest Food Bank exists to travel 63 sites throughout San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

3. Urban Aggies It’s not “Green Acres” on 5th Avenue, but it’s close. Urban farming initiatives are on the rise, educating and empowering big-city communities to grow their own produce. City Slicker Farms of West Oakland organizes and encourages folks like Abeni Ramsey to start up independent urban farming enterprises of their own. And in Chicago’s South Side, Iron Street Farm provides seven acres of farmland to the community. – J. Scott Donahue

This article appears courtesy of Sierra Magazine

Related on EcoSalon

How To Save Money and Support The Sharing Economy During The Holidays
5 Reasons To Kick Your Shrimp Recipes To The Curb
11 Food Trucks That Would Make a Killing: Foodie Underground

Image: urbanists

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Is it easier to buy a gun or a bunch of carrots? 

When it comes to food we often talk about the necessity of access; those that don’t have easy access to healthy food don’t consume it. 23.5 million Americans don’t have a supermarket within one mile of their home. What do they have? Guns.

According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, there are 129,817 federally licensed firearms dealers in the United States. That’s more than three times the amount of grocery stores in the U.S. (36,569), meaning that simply factoring in the numbers, it’s easier to get a hold of a handgun than a bag of spinach.

Hunger is a serious issue; in 2010, 48.8 million Americans lived in food insecure household (in the same year about 5.4 million new firearms were manufactured in the U.S.). Access to food alone won’t change that statistic, poverty has a lot to do with it, but we have to start somewhere, and in a world where a gun shop might be closer than a market, it’s time to question our priorities.

Which raises a good question to ponder: what kind of a society we would have if instead of food deserts we had gun deserts?

Image: Emily Stanchfield

The post An Issue of Access: The U.S. Has Three Times as Many Gun Dealers as Grocery Stores appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnAre you willing to shop package free?

If you’re reading this you probably bring your own reusable bags to the grocery store. Maybe you even wash out your plastic produce bags until they’re in tatters. But how far are you willing to go down the no-packaging road?

If the Brothers Lane in Austin, TX have their way, you’ll eschew packaging all together and buy everything in bulk. You’ll bring cloth bags or pre-weighed plastic or glass containers to In.gredients, the store they plan to open this fall in East Austin. You’ll refill wine bottles and lotion containers. You’ll not purchase anything that comes in a box or package.

Their plan is to nudge Austinites along the path to no packaging, gently, by opening a package-free, zero waste grocery store that offers compostable and reusable containers to those who haven’t quite picked up the habit of bringing their own.

Why is this important? We send 1.4 billion pounds of waste to landfills per day in the US. 40% of it comes from packaging—much of it very convenient, but entirely unnecessary.

Think about it. Does cereal have to come in a bag AND a box? No, the box just makes for easy transport and shelving and provides convenient space for advertising. Eggs, on the other hand, kind of need to be transported in egg cartons. Luckily they’re compostable. Unfortunately Austin doesn’t offer curbside composting to residential customers. The city picks up yard waste, but unless you’re a really crack home composter, you’re going to have trouble composting packaging. Throwing compostable packaging in the garbage doesn’t address the issue. Hopefully people will reuse any compostable packaging the store provides as many times as possible.

Taking into account the impossibility of going 100% waste free, opening a store like this is still a bold move. Customers will be asked to completely change the way they shop. Cleaning products, beer, wine, lotions, oils, and such will all come in bulk, as will things like yogurt, milk, and other dairy products. Think about the center of the store with its shelves of packaged foods. It will not exist. This means no “good” processed foods like canned tomatoes and beans that make cooking from scratch quicker and easier.

“It sounds intriguing, but as far as I can tell the number of people that bring their own bags to the market – even at the farmer’s market – isn’t incredibly high, so I am not sure about folks bringing their own containers, said Briana Stone, East Austin resident. “Targeting food deserts is an interesting idea, and reducing waste is definitely important, but I hope they figure out how to keep the prices reasonable and  make their concept work for busy, not wealthy families. I plan to check it out when it opens,” she added.

Christian Lane, one of the founders of the market, addressed the issue of pleasing and attracting a diverse clientele:

“We’re hoping that our location, on the border between one somewhat gentrified neighborhood, and other less affluent neighborhoods will be an advantage in reaching the people who want and in cases need to get away from over-processed foods (and junk foods) and cook from scratch. There are many Latino immigrants and children of immigrants (us included) who have never stopped cooking from scratch. Post recession, people of all incomes and backgrounds are realizing that we need to slow down and do what we can to achieve sustainability.”

The store will offer produce, grains and legumes, spices, tea and coffee, dried fruits and nuts, baking ingredients, oils, dairy, and beer and wine. There will be animal proteins offered in proportion within the product mix to reflect the expense and resource intensiveness of their production. The focus will be on local, organic, non-processed pant-based foods without artificial ingredients. Products that require packaging for food safety will be “package light,” and recyclable and compostable whenever possible.

“We want to reduce waste, but we also want to offer better food at a fair price to everyone, while supporting farmers and food producers in our community,” said Lane. “We’re hoping to be a spark of change and an anchor in the neighborhood for the people that want to come along with us and make some simple changes. This will require education and community involvement – a very collaborative effort – which is something we’re really excited about,” he said.

The store is set to open this fall in a just-announced location in East Austin. The group hasn’t secured enough funding yet, but they announced early in hopes that the originality of their concept would attract the necessary funding.

Time will tell how many customers will go whole hog in supporting the store’s efforts by bringing containers, beyond the now pervasive reusable shopping bags. But I have high hopes. Think what could happen if the idea spread to other stores in other areas and we also got our food waste under control. A girl can dream.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Images: BC Mom, Rubbermaid, Editor B, Boedker

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If you ask food experts like Michael Pollan, Marian Nestle, Gary Nabhan, Vandana Shiva, and numerous other writers and scholars what the biggest problems in our global, industrialized food system are, you’ll end up with a lot to chew on.

It’s difficult to separate the problems into discrete categories because everything is connected. Big problems lead to seemingly smaller problems, that, when allowed to fester, become open wounds – much like the foul waste lagoons on industrial pig farms that dot our landscape, or the actual wounds on human flesh caused by antibiotic resistant staph infections, which are a direct result of the overuse of antibiotics in livestock operations.

Most of the problems in the system stem from one giant problem: Concentration of power, land, wealth, and political influence in the hands of a few large players who have gamed the system for their benefit. Here are the biggest issues, as we see them, followed by suggestions for what you can do about them.

1. Food Safety

Big players in the meat, dairy, eggs, and bagged greens industries are unsafe at any speed. Nobody paying attention to the news over the past few years could have missed the biggest food recall stories, nor the very real harm and deaths that have resulted from many of them. E-coli in beef has sickened many, killed some, and ruined lives. Recently, salmonella tainted pasteurized milk was pulled from shelves. Nobody could have missed the recent recall of about a half a billion eggs, and there have been numerous recalls of bagged greens – the most recent in June. These stories are becoming nearly every day occurrences, leaving us to wonder if our food system is DESIGNED to kill us. The problem is a direct result of lax food safety enforcement laws and lack of inspectors. This is at least partially because industry lobbies make sure that inconvenient regulations are not passed. Concentration in the industry also leads to over-crowded, sadistic farm operations requiring the use of massive doses of non-therapeutic antibiotics and grown hormones, and resulting in air and water pollution that contribute to a host of environmental and public health nightmares, and misery for the animals trapped in the system.

What can you do about it?

Know your farmers, ask about their practices and support what they are doing. You’ll eat better, you’ll worry less and you’ll support a better food system. When bagged spinach was first recalled a few years ago, I knew that the spinach in my CSA box was fine. Likewise, during the recent egg recall, I worried not a whit about the pastured eggs I buy at the farmers’ market.

2. Declining Wild Fish Stocks

As Taras Grescoe pointed out in Bottomfeeder and Paul Greenberg most recently outlined in Four Fish, we eat too many of a very few species of wild fish – mostly the ones that are higher on the food chain. Continuing in this vein will cause the eventual decimation of our oceans.

What can you do about it?

Branch out and try something new. Eat bait, or smaller fish, like anchovies, sardines, and small Spanish mackerel. These fish are more sustainable, more plentiful, more resilient, and healthier for you than the larger predators.

3. Poor Aquaculture Practices

Aquaculture may be an important food source in the future (see above) but much of it is practiced in ways that are unhealthy for eaters, native species and the environment. If GMO salmon is approved, (still pending at press time) it will only add to the list of everything that is wrong with farming carnivorous fish in the open ocean. Don’t replace that salmon on your plate with shrimp. Ever wonder why the shrimp is so cheapat restaurants like Red Lobster?

What can you do about it?

Educate yourself on sustainable aquaculture. In general, only eat farmed fish that are natural vegetarians and only buy from suppliers that are transparent about the origins of their fish.

4. Genetically Modified Crops

Besides being untested for their effects on human health, genetically modified seeds don’t necessarily produce greater yields, and can lead to over-application of pesticides that in turn can cause super weeds which have the potential to threaten overall biodiversity, and to contaminate non-gmo crops with their genetic material. The most recent case involving GMOS ended badly when the USDA issued permits allowing GMO sugar beets to be planted in defiance of a federal judge. The judge had issued a decision to stop the planting of GMO sugar beets on the grounds that they may cross-pollinate table beets and Swiss chard. Despite the fact that most other countries have laws outlawing or requiring the labeling of GMO foods, our government continues to bow down to industry.

What can you do about it?

Educate yourself about which crops are commonly genetically modified and only buy organic versions. Better yet, support the companies involved in the non-GMO project. These are the companies willing to go out on a limb and actually test their organic ingredients to make sure they are not contaminated. Also, raise your voice and let the USDA and our legislators know that you don’t want GMOS!

5. Exploitation of Workers

From actual documented slavery in Florida’s tomato fields, to daily pesticide exposure in farming communities, to the fact that America’s lowest paying jobs are in fast food restaurants – our food system crushes workers, ruins their health, and keeps them in poverty so that they need the cheap, processed, industrialized food to survive.

What can you do about it?

This is a tough one, because buying from local, organic farms isn’t necessarily the answer. Even the nicest local, organic farms don’t pay their workers much and require long hours of backbreaking work. The farmers often work just as hard and can’t even afford health insurance for themselves or their families, so even if they want to do better by their workers, they can’t. This is where raising your voice for a more fair government policy that benefits small farmers equally can help. The new USDA is doing a better job clamping down on the big guys and supporting small-scale farmers than ever before, but we’ve got a ways to go.

6. Lack of Equal Access

You’ve no doubt heard the term food desert. Our food system is unjust because it does not provide healthy, affordable food to everyone. People in urban areas often have no access to any fresh food at all because there are no grocery stores. Likewise, rural residents in the heart of agricultural areas sometimes cannot afford to buy the very food they may help to harvest. According to a survey of farm workers in Fresno, county – conducted by The California Institute of Rural Studies – in 2007, 45 percent faced food insecurity. Also, children who are hungry at home are more likely to depend on school lunch programs for most of their nourishment. Even the kids know what a disaster that is. A society that allows such a large percentage of its citizens to go hungry or rely on unhealthy foods that make them sick is shameful.

What can you do about it?

It’s not enough to vote with your fork. Volunteer with and give money to organizations that work on food access issues. There are many. A good place to start is The Community Food Security Coalition.

7. Not Enough People Engaged in Agriculture

Somebody’s got to grow all that food, but farmers are getting older and farming has long been in decline as a career choice. That’s because the system favors machine over man and profits over everything. This means lack of opportunities for farmers to earn a living wage that allows them to buy food and health insurance (see point five from last week). And it’s also unsustainable. (See point number 9 below). If we want to continue to eat, we’re going to have to get more people engaged in farming and we’re going to need to integrate agriculture into society.

What can you do about it?

One way is to grow your own, support neighborhood and school gardens, and urban agriculture. But the real change has to happen at the policy level, so speak up. Now is the time to start working with groups engaged in guiding policy for the next farm bill, such as The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

8. Monocrops

Monocropping is bad for the environment because it’s chemical dependent, harmful to wildlife and ecosystems, and kills the soil. It also increases the chances of famine due to lack of crop diversity. It makes communities dependent on imports of other needed crops, instead of fostering self-reliance. Processed packaged foods depend on monocrops, like palm oil, that cause deforestation and push indigenous people off their land, and soy, which is often genetically modified. (See point 4 from last week). In particular, soy monocropping is causing tensions in Argentina, as it displaces other types of farms.

What can you do about it?

Don’t buy packaged, processed food. Buy fresh, local foods grown by farmers with diverse operations. Cook real food from scratch in your own kitchen.

9. Finite Resources

Our modern, industrialized food system is dependent on fossil fuel based inputs and an unlimited supply of water and soil. All of these things are finite. Add to that that the food system is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, and it’s clear that we cannot continue the way we are going. We have to find a better way.

What can you do about it?

This problem is bigger than all of us but you can keep voting with your fork for the food system you want. And if you get into an argument with your uncle about how we can possibly feed the world with organic agriculture, say what Michael Pollan has said, “how do we know? We’ve never tried.” (paraphrased)

10. Biofuel Production

Of course it would be easier to simply continue doing things the way we have been and just find another way to fuel our wasteful ways, but that’s not going to work. Replacing fossil fuels with biofuels made from virgin agricultural crops (as opposed to recycled vegetable oil) could devastate our food system and environment. Biofuels, which are made from corn, palm oil, sugar cane and other agricultural products, are monocrops (see point eight) so they have the same potential to cause deforestation and other environmental problems. They also displace people and cause the price of basic commodities to rise, which is devastating to poor people who spend a large proportion of their income on food.

What can you do about it?

This is another bigger-than-all-of-us problem, but you can do your small part by reducing energy use, driving less, and speaking up for sane urban and suburban planning and smart energy policies.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Images: chronos-tachyon, Danielle Scott, Muffet, Jonathan Assink, avlxyz, unanoslucror, lucianvenutian, ebruli, Jeffrey Beall, Daisy Double Oh, MSVG, Calc-Tufa, 91RS

The post The 10 Biggest Issues With the Global Food System appeared first on EcoSalon.

It’s difficult to separate the problems into discrete categories because everything is connected. Big problems lead to seemingly smaller problems, that, when allowed to fester, become open wounds – much like the foul waste lagoons on industrial pig farms that dot our landscape, or the actual wounds on human flesh caused by antibiotic resistant staph infections, which are a direct result of the overuse of antibiotics in livestock operations.

Most of the problems in the system stem from one giant problem: Concentration of power, land, wealth, and political influence in the hands of a few large players who have gamed the system for their benefit. Here are the biggest issues, as we see them, followed by suggestions for what you can do about them.

1. Food Safety

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• 2
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• 5
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• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
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Big players in the meat, dairy, eggs, and bagged greens industries are unsafe at any speed. Nobody paying attention to the news over the past few years could have missed the biggest food recall stories, nor the very real harm and deaths that have resulted from many of them. E-coli in beef has sickened many, killed some, and ruined lives. Recently, salmonella tainted pasteurized milk was pulled from shelves. Nobody could have missed the recent recall of about a half a billion eggs, and there have been numerous recalls of bagged greens – the most recent in June. These stories are becoming nearly every day occurrences, leaving us to wonder if our food system is DESIGNED to kill us. The problem is a direct result of lax food safety enforcement laws and lack of inspectors. This is at least partially because industry lobbies make sure that inconvenient regulations are not passed. Concentration in the industry also leads to over-crowded, sadistic farm operations requiring the use of massive doses of non-therapeutic antibiotics and grown hormones, and resulting in air and water pollution that contribute to a host of environmental and public health nightmares, and misery for the animals trapped in the system.

What can you do about it?

Know your farmers, ask about their practices and support what they are doing. You’ll eat better, you’ll worry less and you’ll support a better food system. When bagged spinach was first recalled a few years ago, I knew that the spinach in my CSA box was fine. Likewise, during the recent egg recall, I worried not a whit about the pastured eggs I buy at the farmers’ market.

2. Declining Wild Fish Stocks

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• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
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• 10
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As Taras Grescoe pointed out in Bottomfeeder and Paul Greenberg most recently outlined in Four Fish, we eat too many of a very few species of wild fish – mostly the ones that are higher on the food chain. Continuing in this vein will cause the eventual decimation of our oceans.

What can you do about it?

Branch out and try something new. Eat bait, or smaller fish, like anchovies, sardines, and small Spanish mackerel. These fish are more sustainable, more plentiful, more resilient, and healthier for you than the larger predators.

3. Poor Aquaculture Practices

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• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
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Aquaculture may be an important food source in the future (see above) but much of it is practiced in ways that are unhealthy for eaters, native species and the environment. If GMO salmon is approved, (still pending at press time) it will only add to the list of everything that is wrong with farming carnivorous fish in the open ocean. Don’t replace that salmon on your plate with shrimp. Ever wonder why the shrimp is so cheapat restaurants like Red Lobster?

What can you do about it?

Educate yourself on sustainable aquaculture. In general, only eat farmed fish that are natural vegetarians and only buy from suppliers that are transparent about the origins of their fish.

4. Genetically Modified Crops

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• 4
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• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
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Besides being untested for their effects on human health, genetically modified seeds don’t necessarily produce greater yields, and can lead to over-application of pesticides that in turn can cause super weeds which have the potential to threaten overall biodiversity, and to contaminate non-gmo crops with their genetic material. The most recent case involving GMOS ended badly when the USDA issued permits allowing GMO sugar beets to be planted in defiance of a federal judge. The judge had issued a decision to stop the planting of GMO sugar beets on the grounds that they may cross-pollinate table beets and Swiss chard. Despite the fact that most other countries have laws outlawing or requiring the labeling of GMO foods, our government continues to bow down to industry.

What can you do about it?

Educate yourself about which crops are commonly genetically modified and only buy organic versions. Better yet, support the companies involved in the non-GMO project. These are the companies willing to go out on a limb and actually test their organic ingredients to make sure they are not contaminated. Also, raise your voice and let the USDA and our legislators know that you don’t want GMOS!

5. Exploitation of Workers

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From actual documented slavery in Florida’s tomato fields, to daily pesticide exposure in farming communities, to the fact that America’s lowest paying jobs are in fast food restaurants – our food system crushes workers, ruins their health, and keeps them in poverty so that they need the cheap, processed, industrialized food to survive.

What can you do about it?

This is a tough one, because buying from local, organic farms isn’t necessarily the answer. Even the nicest local, organic farms don’t pay their workers much and require long hours of backbreaking work. The farmers often work just as hard and can’t even afford health insurance for themselves or their families, so even if they want to do better by their workers, they can’t. This is where raising your voice for a more fair government policy that benefits small farmers equally can help. The new USDA is doing a better job clamping down on the big guys and supporting small-scale farmers than ever before, but we’ve got a ways to go.
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6. Lack of Equal Access

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You’ve no doubt heard the term food desert. Our food system is unjust because it does not provide healthy, affordable food to everyone. People in urban areas often have no access to any fresh food at all because there are no grocery stores. Likewise, rural residents in the heart of agricultural areas sometimes cannot afford to buy the very food they may help to harvest. According to a survey of farm workers in Fresno, county – conducted by The California Institute of Rural Studies – in 2007, 45 percent faced food insecurity. Also, children who are hungry at home are more likely to depend on school lunch programs for most of their nourishment. Even the kids know what a disaster that is. A society that allows such a large percentage of its citizens to go hungry or rely on unhealthy foods that make them sick is shameful.

What can you do about it?

It’s not enough to vote with your fork. Volunteer with and give money to organizations that work on food access issues. There are many. A good place to start is The Community Food Security Coalition.

7. Not Enough People Engaged in Agriculture

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Somebody’s got to grow all that food, but farmers are getting older and farming has long been in decline as a career choice. That’s because the system favors machine over man and profits over everything. This means lack of opportunities for farmers to earn a living wage that allows them to buy food and health insurance (see point five from last week). And it’s also unsustainable. (See point number 9 below). If we want to continue to eat, we’re going to have to get more people engaged in farming and we’re going to need to integrate agriculture into society.

What can you do about it?

One way is to grow your own, support neighborhood and school gardens, and urban agriculture. But the real change has to happen at the policy level, so speak up. Now is the time to start working with groups engaged in guiding policy for the next farm bill, such as The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

8. Monocrops

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Monocropping is bad for the environment because it’s chemical dependent, harmful to wildlife and ecosystems, and kills the soil. It also increases the chances of famine due to lack of crop diversity. It makes communities dependent on imports of other needed crops, instead of fostering self-reliance. Processed packaged foods depend on monocrops, like palm oil, that cause deforestation and push indigenous people off their land, and soy, which is often genetically modified. (See point 4 from last week). In particular, soy monocropping is causing tensions in Argentina, as it displaces other types of farms.

What can you do about it?

Don’t buy packaged, processed food. Buy fresh, local foods grown by farmers with diverse operations. Cook real food from scratch in your own kitchen.

9. Finite Resources

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Our modern, industrialized food system is dependent on fossil fuel based inputs and an unlimited supply of water and soil. All of these things are finite. Add to that that the food system is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, and it’s clear that we cannot continue the way we are going. We have to find a better way.

What can you do about it?

This problem is bigger than all of us but you can keep voting with your fork for the food system you want. And if you get into an argument with your uncle about how we can possibly feed the world with organic agriculture, say what Michael Pollan has said, “how do we know? We’ve never tried.” (paraphrased)

10. Biofuel Production

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Of course it would be easier to simply continue doing things the way we have been and just find another way to fuel our wasteful ways, but that’s not going to work. Replacing fossil fuels with biofuels made from virgin agricultural crops (as opposed to recycled vegetable oil) could devastate our food system and environment. Biofuels, which are made from corn, palm oil, sugar cane and other agricultural products, are monocrops (see point eight) so they have the same potential to cause deforestation and other environmental problems. They also displace people and cause the price of basic commodities to rise, which is devastating to poor people who spend a large proportion of their income on food.

What can you do about it?

This is another bigger-than-all-of-us problem, but you can do your small part by reducing energy use, driving less, and speaking up for sane urban and suburban planning and smart energy policies.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Images: chronos-tachyon, Danielle Scott, Muffet, Jonathan Assink, avlxyz, unanoslucror, lucianvenutian, ebruli, Jeffrey Beall, Daisy Double Oh, MSVG, Calc-Tufa, 91RS

The post The 10 Biggest Issues With the Global Food System appeared first on EcoSalon.

Last week we began a discussion on the biggest issues in the food system.

We noted that the issues are all connected and go back to one big problem: The stranglehold that agribusiness has on our public discourse and our political system. Somehow our legislators and much of society have been convinced that cheap food is just cheap food and that there are no externalized costs. It’s just not true. When the real cost of production is completely divorced from the product, we pay. Whether it’s our health that suffers, our environment, or our communities, the cost is borne somehow.

In Part One we talked about food safety, aquaculture, overfishing, GMOs, and exploitation of workers.

Today we’ll talk about how our food system contributes to hunger, the demise of vibrant agricultural communities, and environmental degradation and then we’ll tell you how to take action to change the system.

6. Lack of Equal Access

You’ve no doubt heard the term food desert. Our food system is unjust because it does not provide healthy, affordable food to everyone. People in urban areas often have no access to any fresh food at all because there are no grocery stores. Likewise, rural residents in the heart of agricultural areas sometimes cannot afford to buy the very food they may help to harvest. According to a survey of farm workers in Fresno, county – conducted by The California Institute of Rural Studies – in 2007, 45 percent faced food insecurity. Also, children who are hungry at home are more likely to depend on school lunch programs for most of their nourishment. Even the kids know what a disaster that is. A society that allows such a large percentage of its citizens to go hungry or rely on unhealthy foods that make them sick is shameful.

What can you do about it?

It’s not enough to vote with your fork. Volunteer with and give money to organizations that work on food access issues. There are many. A good place to start is The Community Food Security Coalition.

7. Not Enough People Engaged in Agriculture

Somebody’s got to grow all that food, but farmers are getting older and farming has long been in decline as a career choice. That’s because the system favors machine over man and profits over everything. This means lack of opportunities for farmers to earn a living wage that allows them to buy food and health insurance (see point five from last week). And it’s also unsustainable. (See point number 9 below). If we want to continue to eat, we’re going to have to get more people engaged in farming and we’re going to need to integrate agriculture into society.

What can you do about it?

One way is to grow your own, support neighborhood and school gardens, and urban agriculture. But the real change has to happen at the policy level, so speak up. Now is the time to start working with groups engaged in guiding policy for the next farm bill, such as The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

8. Monocrops

Monocropping is bad for the environment because it’s chemical dependent, harmful to wildlife and ecosystems, and kills the soil. It also increases the chances of famine due to lack of crop diversity. It makes communities dependent on imports of other needed crops, instead of fostering self-reliance. Processed packaged foods depend on monocrops, like palm oil, that cause deforestation and push indigenous people off their land, and soy, which is often genetically modified. (See point 4 from last week). In particular, soy monocropping is causing tensions in Argentina, as it displaces other types of farms.

What can you do about it?

Don’t buy packaged, processed food. Buy fresh, local foods grown by farmers with diverse operations. Cook real food from scratch in your own kitchen.

9. Finite Resources

Our modern, industrialized food system is dependent on fossil fuel based inputs and an unlimited supply of water and soil. All of these things are finite. Add to that that the food system is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, and it’s clear that we cannot continue the way we are going. We have to find a better way.

What can you do about it?

This problem is bigger than all of us but you can keep voting with your fork for the food system you want. And if you get into an argument with your uncle about how we can possibly feed the world with organic agriculture, say what Michael Pollan has said, “how do we know? We’ve never tried.” (paraphrased)

10. Biofuel Production

Of course it would be easier to simply continue doing things the way we have been and just find another way to fuel our wasteful ways, but that’s not going to work. Replacing fossil fuels with biofuels made from virgin agricultural crops (as opposed to recycled vegetable oil) could devastate our food system and environment. Biofuels, which are made from corn, palm oil, sugar cane and other agricultural products, are monocrops (see point eight) so they have the same potential to cause deforestation and other environmental problems. They also displace people and cause the price of basic commodities to rise, which is devastating to poor people who spend a large proportion of their income on food.

What can you do about it?

This is another bigger-than-all-of-us problem, but you can do your small part by reducing energy use, driving less, and speaking up for sane urban and suburban planning and smart energy policies.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Images: ebruli, Jeffrey Beall, Daisy Double Oh, MSVG, Calc-Tufa, 91RS

The post The 10 Biggest Issues with the Global Food System: Part 2 of 2 appeared first on EcoSalon.