[SustainableTompkins] Food justice article & question

[Thomas Shelley]

At 08:53 AM 2/2/2008 -0500, you wrote:

>Here's a  sobering article about how we  sustain
>or don't sustain all members of our communities.
>Question: How can we ensure that
>relocalization/sustainability strategies
>(policies, economics practices,  agriculture,
>lifestyle, etc.) address this issue?

Hi, Elan.  Yes, this is alarming and disconcerting, but not surprising.  I 
wonder if urban poor are worse off than rural poor in this regard, where 
rural peoples often raise their own food, particularly vegetables?  At any 
rate, here's a couple of suggestions, some of which might be obvious:

Fostering of community gardens.  I have heard of small urban farms in 
places like East Los Angles where the participants have grown much of their 
otherwise to-expensive-to-purchase vegetables, in the heart of terribly 
down and out neighborhoods.    This would require extensive commitment from 
concerned and empowered individuals.  Neither is easy to find in many 
communities.

Community outreach by Cooperative Extension-type organizations to 
foster/develop/provide seed grants for food and diet education, gardening 
education, development of community gardens mentioned above, etc.

With so many food crops being raised for biofuels, which is going to turn 
out to be a giant fiasco at the expense of the masses of taxpayers, the 
situation is going to get worse.  Instead of raising vegetables it will be 
a lot more profitable to raise a GMO biomass for biofuel, like corn or soy 
beans, instead of table vegetables.  This along with increased fuel/energy 
prices will drive the cost of vegetables up even more.  So only those able 
to help themselves will be o.k.   I'm all for urban gardening as I think 
it's a viable solution for many communities.  Take care.   TomTom

Tom Shelley
118 E. Court St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
607 342-0864
tjs1 at cornell.edu
http://www.myspace.com/99319958
P I thank you for printing this e-mail only if it is necessary

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present 
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own 
needs."

The World Commission on Environment and Development,
Gro Harlem Brundtland
Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, 1987

MY NOTE:  Sustainable development does not mean "sustainable growth" as 
growth per se is not sustainable.  And the term "sustainable" has to mean 
"for a very long time" (A. Bartlett).

"The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives."        Sioux proverb