PolS 334

4/4: Food Justice

4/4	The Food Justice movement (equitably transforming where, what and how food is grown, produced, transported, accessed and eaten) is one of the emerging holistic approaches to sustainability. What is food justice? What is the status of the current food system? How do environmental and food politics intersect? What are the global dimensions of the food system.
Assigned Reading Gottlieb, Robert and Anupama Joshi (2010) Food justice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Intro, plus chaps 1-5. Science_Journalism_Workshop.pdf Carbon_Footprint_Study.pdf Guest Presentation by Victory Gardens of San Diego (VGSD): Richard Winkler PPT/Food-Composting-Ag.ppt Vacant lot survey: PPT/Food Justice April 4 2012.pptx

Key Terms

Food Justice
Food Sovereignty

From the VGSD website:

VGSD is a program of the 501(c)3 non-profit organization San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project. VGSD comprises hundreds of volunteers working together to help people in our community grow their own food. We work anywhere in SD county and we collaborate with many other local gardening, food and community groups. VGSD provides hands-on garden education for people to be successful gardeners. Since our inception in March of 2009, VGSD has helped nearly 40 home gardeners build their gardens, provided assistance to 9 school gardens and 13 organizational gardens and held 15 garden education class series. These activities have involved over 250 volunteers and provided 2500 hours of volunteer service.

VGSD plays an important role in San Diego’s Regional Garden Education Centers (RGEC) program --which is an important step forward in building infrastructure for just and innovative bioregionalism. The RGECs are an component of a much bigger project called Healthy WorksSM, a countywide initiative making systems and environmental changes promoting wellness and addressing the nationwide obesity epidemic. As noted on the VGSD web site: Healthy WorksSM is a component of the County of San Diego’s “Live Well, San Diego! Building Better Health” initiative, a 10-year strategic vision for improving health and wellness and combating the toll of chronic diseases, including obesity. Healthy WorksSM creates “Paths to Healthy Living.” Healthy WorksSM engages San Diego County residents, businesses, and community leaders in systems and environmental approaches such as farmers’ markets, community gardens, bike-to-school and work programs, school exercise and nutrition programs, as well as changes involving land use and transportation.

Learn more at the Victory Gardens San Diego website: http://www.victorygardenssandiego.com/

San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project: http://www.sandiegoroots.org/

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Definitions below come from Gottleib and Joshi's Food Justice Book web site:

How we define Food Justice
Food justice seeks to ensure that the benefits and risks of where, what, and how food is grown, produced, transported, distributed, accessed and eaten are shared fairly. Food justice represents a transformation of the current food system, including but not limited to eliminating disparities and inequities.

What is the Food Justice movement?
Food advocates may work on several different issue areas, but share the common goal of challenging the injustices that exist throughout the dominant industrial and increasingly globalized food system. By striving to alleviate these injustices in the entire food system, the Food Justice movement is linked to and supports allied movements such as those related to the environment, land use, health, immigration, worker rights, economic and community development, cultural integrity, and social justice.

Farm to School Carbon Footprint Project: Organic Oranges and the Benefits of local sourcing. Video documenary produced by Source 44, LLC in collaboration with UC San Diego (Urban Studies and Planning Program, Keith Pezzoli and Students), San Diego Unified School District (Vanessa Zajfen), The Global Action Research Center, and local farmers,
Convergence: Food Justice Forum: Cultivating University-Community Partnerships for a Healthier Society