The far reaching impacts of climate change on our food security, economic stability, and social inequality is nothing less than overwhelming. Food industries across the globe will have to grapple with the multifaceted impacts of climate change. From the decreased yields seen in commercial fishing due to ocean acidification, to the increasing widespread draughts, there is a shift towards scarcity…. Read more »
Practical and realistic changes have stood out as “aha moments” because it offers a way to contribute to better uses of food. Whether this is through the conservation of water, gardening approaches, food shopping, or being informed of large company practices (i.e. Pepsi Co.) I am able to make better choices for my family and play a broader role in… Read more »
I know plenty of people who I consider to be smart and reasonable who believe that any critique of genetic engineering of seeds is unfounded conspiratorial thinking. I have long found this notion unfair. I don’t think that genetic engineering is wrong on principle. However, I think it is too soon to know the effects on our health and the… Read more »
In recent times there has been an increase in awareness of the downsides associated with industrial agriculture. The loss of soil, inefficient water and resource usage, toxic chemicals, poorly regulated GMO’s, and the inhumane environments for animals. With such a long list of skeletons, it’s no wonder that a range of movements to shift away from this system have… Read more »
Hunger is in effect a systemic issue. Our media over simplifies it to a lack of food or resources when we must in-fact look at a broader system that changes how and why there is hunger in a world where we have enough food to feed everyone. There are an assortment of complex variables at play. First we see… Read more »
The world’s food system is intricately connected through a myriad of national and international organizations and policies. Ironically, at the same time that millions of people are dying from a lack of access to food, the Western diet of an overconsumption and processed foods is increasing mortality through diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Food and trade… Read more »
Social justice and equity are important areas of exploration in the political ecology of the world food system. Socioeconomic factors contribute greatly to resource and information access, and those in vulnerable circumstances seem to have significantly increased risk factors in both overall health and exposure to contaminants due to the food they consume. As Norah MacKendrick points out, for her… Read more »
What is the real cost of cheap food? In Michael Carolan’s book, The Real Cost of Cheap Food, he tries to answer this question by explaining chapter by chapter what we lose when we consume “cheap” food (anything mass produced and sold as affordable to the working class.) Whether a country that produces cheap food or a human who consumes… Read more »
The ecologic impact of land use regarding various parts of our lives is an important aspect of how we live on this planet. How the food we eat requires grazing land, and our usage of built up, energy, and forest land to provide ourselves housing makes a complex footprint that we create by living here. The supply chains and associated… Read more »
Michael Pollan suggests in his book In Defense of Food that our reliance on processed foods and obsession with fad diets is a kind of disordered eating – that we have become so far removed from the natural processes of creating food that we have lost touch with the need to consume whole, unaltered foods. His discussion of nutritionism posits… Read more »