Food and the Environment

This quarter we’ve spent a lot of time discussing how food relates to environmental justice. This can range from what packaging is used, the practices used in growing and manufacturing, what ingredients are used, and the sources they come from. Food is necessary to human survival, but that doesn’t mean that change can’t be made, both on bigger and more individual scales. By learning about food and how it affects the environment, I was inspired to think more about my personal food habits.

My family and I mostly shop at bigger grocery stores such as Schnucks or Walmart. While this is the most convenient for us, it may not be the smartest choice. I think we, like a lot of people, just do what’s convenient, both in what stores we chose to shop at and what we buy at them. To be honest, a lot of thought doesn’t go into it, which I think may be a problem. I don’t really do the grocery shopping, but I think my parents try to get things like organic products and grass fed meats, but I don’t think it goes much beyond that. I think that buying organic products is definitely a good step, but also some people may feel a false sense of good by just immediately equating organic with problem-free and perfect.

In order to try to change our food habits to be “greener” I think that my family can think both about where we are shopping and what we are purchasing. I will try to encourage my parents to consider buying some things from other places that are more locally sourced. I know a lot of people shop at the Co-Op, which is a great option, and there are also local farmers that do things like CSAs in the summer. We can definitely do more to support local farmers and businesses rather than big corporations, and Champaign-Urbana has a lot of great options. The other main aspect is what specific food we buy. As was talked about in some of the readings (one example was foods with irresponsibly sourced palm oil) many foods, even ones that market themselves to look smarter, use practices that can be really bad for the environment. I think my family and I could spend some time researching food companies to see what their practices are and make good decisions. We could find foods that use palm oil that is obtained through bad practices and find alternative products to buy.

Making change, small or big, can seem daunting but I think if we all make small commitments and work together that it can be done. As far as trying change the food system, I don’t think that me trying to start my own initiative would be effective or worth it, so it is better to support things already in place. I will definitely research initiatives and organizations that are trying to combat the problem and then support them either monetarily or through participating in the work that they do. That might be boycotting products, writing to representatives, or many other things. If we all work together we can make a change.