Author Archives: ash_marie

Holism & Combating White Supremacy

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Political ecology asks us to recognize the ways in which politics and the philosophies informing our politics, informs our understanding of environmentalism. It engages us to reflect on the evolution of our politics, and in that, we are explicitly coming face to face with white supremacy. Commonly these white supremacy ideologies surface in the pattern of individualism. I argue this to be a counterpart to reductionism (or atomism), which is a popular approach taken to identifying and solving the issues expressed throughout our environment and related fields such as our food system (ex. inverted quarantine). This approach is informed by western philosophies and sciences. It assumes that we may break down complex systems and their issues into smaller parts, tackling them one by one, as a solution. This is based in speculating that a system is no more than the interaction of these parts, and fails to considering the role they play in a system’s whole (which includes both their inputs and outputs). Holism is a shift away from this approach. This philosophy asks us to recognize that the sum of a whole system can not be reduced down to individual parts because they are constantly in relation to one another.

For this course, my group’s action project worked with the NGO Landesa to help develop social media material that would increase the awareness of women’s land rights. To do this in the most efficient manner, we decided to connect this topic to COVID19 by exploring the ways women’s land rights may help to combat the effects of pandemic diseases in underdeveloped communities. Through this research we found that in increasing women’s access to land, a community can find greater success in building resiliency to health crises via various avenues. This project was a first hand experience in discovering the interdependence of what may seem to be an ‘individual’ piece of the puzzle. This discovery uncovered that inhibiting a woman’s access to own land is not only a disservice to her own prosperity, but a disservice to the community as a whole. This is a framework that can be reflected in our own developed country when we consider how racism, sexism, classism, ableism, etc. is expressed within our society. Excluding groups of people not only limits abilities to fulfill their own capacity, but limits the fulfilment of our society as a whole.

Considering our current time, as communities come together to rise up and work towards dismantling white supremacy – it is our duty to recognize all of the ways our white supremacist society informs our decision making and daily actions. Taking the time and effort to adopt a holistic world view not only opens us to the realization that the liberation of black americans (and other marginalized groups) is the liberation for us all, but it is also an action we can take to unlearn deeply ingrained white supremacist ideologies and values.

Boxed in a Paradox

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Not everyone seems to be in agreement to following the guidelines of the stay at home order, reports of protest and sheer defiance of these safety precautions have been surfacing across the US. And with tensions rising, as well as anxieties building to reopen economies, many states are beginning to lift restrictions. But, there are still many who are not yet prepared to dive back into everyday life, aware that COVID’s threat still lingers, and wish to minimize their exposure and maintain healthy boundaries. A common practice many Americans have partook in, even in the thick of the stay at home order, has been the use of online and delivery platforms. Having their groceries and other essentials delivered,  can be seen as a much safer alternative – and it can be assumed that many will stick to this mode of action even as states begin to reopen. Unfortunately, only a few states such as New York and Washington have made this option available to those who rely on the federally funded SNAP program. And with the majority of SNAP beneficiaries being households with disabled individuals and/or individuals ages 60+, these demographics hold those most at risk to COVID, and would benefit the most from home delivery. This being said, wouldn’t be ideal for all states to adopt this option in the face of our current crisis, and beyond?

But let’s take a deeper dive into this topic, because as much as I am a supporter of making doorstep delivery an accessible option to these millions of Americans, it is not something should be mistaken as an easy fix. Let’s take into account that states who have included SNAP benefits through online platforms, have limited these available services to Amazon and Walmart; in other words corporations large enough to quickly and efficiently take on this new “infrastructure.” And this is where we find ourselves boxed in a paradox, which is ever present within our food system along all lines of production and consumption. Much like we can accredit big agriculture for its efficiency in mass production, a necessity seen to feed the world’s population, we also struggle to simultaneously hold this system accountable for its countless negative social and environmental impacts. A paradox parallel to this current situation. While Amazon and Walmart hold the capacity and capital to adopt platforms that can support SNAP beneficiaries, and meet the needs of at risk populations, this capacity has been made possible through the exploitation and mistreatment of their employees. Not unfamiliar to the reality before the COVID crisis, Amazon and Walmart have made major headlines related to labor strikes in response to the companies’ mistreatment of their workers. Low wages, long hours, unsafe working conditions, and heightened risks during this pandemic are all characteristics that are shared not only among these corporations but also among many of our essential farm workers.

Migrant farm worker and Amazon worker protest working conditions among the COVID crisis. Protest sign translation from Spanish to English: “Without peasants THERE ARE NO APPLES”

Just as the exploitation of migrant farm workers play their role in making cheap food a “possible” option for us all, the exploitation of Amazon and Walmart workers have made it “possible” to quickly adjust to the inclusion of SNAP payments. And so, we wake up to another groundhogs day of maddening paradoxes that many are fighting to break down. I believe it is viable for us to have affordable food and growing technologies that help to meet the needs of those living in disadvantaged states without exploitation and mistreatment making it “possible.” But, in order for us to achieve this we must go farther back down the chains of events and commands, around and through the loops and feedbacks, which all act as mechanisms within our complex food system. As maddening as these paradoxes are, we may only achieve breaking them down by stepping out of the box, and focus on restructuring our systems as a whole. 


Fruitful Thinking

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One of my favorite staple breakfast items is a parfait, it is a quick and easy option for me in the early morning hours before I make my way to attending class. It feels wholesome and healthy with yogurt, granola, and a selection of chopped fruit layered at the top. The most prized fruits I take pleasure indulging in, are mangoes and kiwis. I pick them out of my fruit bowl on the counter, which was filled either after a simple trip to the grocery, or more commonly, after my bi-weekly Imperfect Produce delivery. More often than not, I pluck them out of my full, colorful bowl of fruits, ripened nearly to perfection. Once they have been laid out on my cutting board, skinned and sliced, the sweet juices flow and I’m filled with delight – dancing about, licking my fingers as I transfer my fruity gems to the top of my yogurt and granola mound. Once my breakfast has been taken in, I go to class, about my day, and that small delight fades as quickly as my dishes fall into the sink, and my mind shifts to the tasks for the day. 

“Quick and easy,” sounds like a “non-humorous-things-seem-kind-of-fishy” type of funny, because up until my mangoes and kiwis were placed into my fruit bowl, nothing was quick and easy. It’s curious to me how almost all of us as US consumers, compartmentalize this process. We know that mangoes, kiwis, and other various tropical fruit production is limited to exactly that – the tropics. We know that the midwestern farmers and farm workers aren’t harvesting and growing bananas and star fruit. If you were to ask me, after taking a longing glimpse at my parfait, where did my fruit come from – I’d know they were from distant climates. Yet, even knowing this – knowing that if I were to travel to the farms of the kiwi and mangoes origins, it would be a full day or even more of traveling – I still compulsively think “quick and easy.” 

I sat with myself for a while, just trying to imagine the whole process of my mangoes’ journey to my kitchen counter. How long does it take for a mango to grow? How much time, effort, and energy is a part of the process? What are the cultural aspects of mangoes has the mass production completely altered? And from there, how many different hands, trucks, forklifts, planes or other mechanisms played a role in the operations between its harvest and my fruit bowl. I had expected this exercise to be illuminating in a way that would inspire maybe a deeper appreciation, but in reality – it was exhausting. I felt bogged down and drained trying to trace back the steps of this single mango that I indulged in for maybe, 10 minutes. I think it’s not just that it’s easy for us to disassociate from the realities of production, because we are so far removed from having to face these realities. But that, the various loops and chains of production are so complex, fogged, and don’t present the idealized images of a happy farmer on a green pasture – we get caught in a cognitive bias. It’s hard to say if this was a structure built with the malicious intent of constructing a veil that is upheld by the inability to fully fathom its matrix of relationships, or if this just happens to be another unintended (but conveniently beneficial to those profiting) consequence of these extreme complexities. 

I wonder how much would change if the realities were blared at us everyday. If the giant signs hanging above the fruit section didn’t imply a skewed version of the daily realities that take place all across the world, making it easy to assume that my mango’s migration has brought about no undesirable effects. Would we really continue to seek out our desires so freely? If it wasn’t as easy for us to disassociate from reality, would we work harder to avoid it? Or would something as simple and glorified as “awareness” bring about significant changes? It’s difficult to say, because even after this thought exercise, I don’t think I can promise that I won’t purchase another kiwi or mango. But, maybe instead – I/we can work a little harder to improve the conditions in which this system functions – to put this awareness beyond our dollars, and to really value lives over mangoes. 

“Essential Workers”: Heroes or a Sacrifice to Capitalism ?

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In the face of major shifts and/or unrest both global and domestic, the US has historically relied on the most marginalized groups to uphold the status quo; an aspect of our history that is too often left out of, or skewed within, popular narratives. An example ringing with familiarity, was the onset of WWII (when swaths of the agricultural labor force migrated into war production factories) the 1942 Mexican Farm Labor Program Act systematically promoted the exploitation of immigrant labor as a means to keep meeting food demands on the backs of “cheap” labor. Our immigrant workers are a labor force that has been consistently condemned, ridiculed, and cast out. And again, today, in the face of a global pandemic, we are turning to the numerous undocumented immigrants that make up our 2.4 million farmworkers to continue to supply us with our demands (Honig, 2020). They are essential to keeping America fed.

Yet, as the choir of bells ring through our cities in gratitude to those who are on the front lines, these essential workers continue to work unprotected in close quarters, high risk conditions, and extremely limited access to testing or health care. And when calls are made to solve these issues, and to provide adequate provisioning, they are too often being met with no answer. Ultimately, they are being ignored. Still though, the faces of leadership turn to the media to give praise and show appreciation of our essential workers… our “heroes.”

Is this the way to treat our heroes? Do we truly believe that these people put themselves at risk everyday, in-spite of the love of their families and own lives, to be our “heroes?” Or have they been given no other choice, no other option to sustain themselves, or their families? And, in knowing this well, the faces of leadership can chose to tend to their need or not. The migrant workers, who have always been an essential labor force, are treated as if they are disposable. This pandemic is not an independent actor, it is constantly being fed by the conditions that were already established, long before it’s outbreak. Vulnerable living conditions, limited access to health care, muted voices, and insufficient ground to establish self-determination are the by-products of our capitalist structure that continues to sustain itself through the most marginalized people, who tend to fill our most essential positions.

 

This blog post was inspired by the FERN article: https://thefern.org/2020/04/as-pandemic-spreads-and-growing-season-ramps-up-farmworkers-deemed-essential-but-still-largely-unprotected/