Author Archives: aliyahw

Colonialism, The Environment, and The Global Search For Justice

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More than anything this quarter, I have learned that problems do not exist within a vacuum—that the greenhouse gas emissions from the dairy industry are symptomatic of the same system that has allowed for the rise in obesity in America. Additionally, issues surrounding the environment and climate change do not exist in a separate world from social issues, and are in fact magnified by racism, sexism, and classism. The systems thinking approach that was modeled to me has allowed me to gain a new perspective on my role in the world food system, but my role in the global social system as well.

 

My work with Landesa this quarter has emphasized the relationship between the environment and social systems, especially how that relationship can be manipulated to bring about better living conditions to tackle poverty on a global scale. Much of their work involves securing land rights for farmers so that they are able to exercise more agency over how their land is used. Owning land is essential to the maintenance and development of wealth, because property rights “mold the distribution of income, wealth and political influence”, as scholar Gary D. Libecap writes for the Hoover Institute. By increasing the access to land rights, Landesa aims to counteract the widespread poverty in developing countries around the world.

From ThisIsAfrica.me. The Legacy of the Berlin Conference. By Socrates Mbamalu.

However, in looking at the work that Landesa is doing, it struck me that the racial problems that are disrupting the U.S. today are outcomes of the same historical system that created the massive wealth disparity between developed countries and developing countries. The intersection of white supremacist and capitalist ideologies encouraged imperialist nations to take Africans as slaves and use their labor to build their empires, wiping out indigenous populations as they did so. The same ideologies encouraged the Scramble for Africa, where the largest European players divided up spheres of influence in Africa based on available resources to exploit. Thus, the legacy that slavery has left on the United States is linked to the legacy that imperialism has left on many African nations. The struggle for racial justice, then, must continue on a global scale. 

Enacting change on a global scale is virtually impossible for the individual. One of the most important things I’ve learned in this class, though, is that I have power as an individual and a citizen to fight for the better world I want to see. 

Environmental Racism: In Response to North Carolina’s Hog Industry

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As we have discussed quite often in this class, the effects of harmful environmental policy are often felt disproportionately by minorities. In my classmate’s piece, “North Carolina’s Hog Industry is a Telling Example of Crumbling Tort Law in America”, they describe this phenomenon localized to North Carolina hog farms, and how the majority of hog farm waste is situated near communities of color, where they contend with the stench of putrefying feces year round. The occurrence of racially disparate impacts of environmental policy can be described by the term environmental racism. 

 

The framework of environmental racism holds that access to clean air, water, land, and even food, are restricted on the basis of race to generate another axis of control over minorities. Its effects are highly visible and manifold. Black and Latino children are far more likely to suffer from asthma due to the fact that communities of color are more likely to be situated closer to sources of pollution, and it is often impoverished majority-minority neighborhoods that are the last to receive aid in the wake of natural disasters, most notably after Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina. 

 

In thinking both about climate change and about the state of race relations in the U.S. today, it is imperative that we consider the ways that race and environmental policy intersect, as well as how they are related to other social and political issues. For example, the increased incidence of asthma among people of color means that they are predisposed to require certain kinds of medical care — acquiring inhalers, for example. Given that our current healthcare system privileges those with access to wealth and that racial wealth disparities are quite prevalent, environmental racism’s impacts become even more clear. Looking toward the future, then, any proposed solution or treatment for climate change must address the mechanisms that environmental racism justifies, and rectify the harms it has caused.

 

Sustaining Myself

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As a young person in today’s interconnected world, I am often so consumed with my role in social, academic and political systems that I forget I am a part of my own system. When I ask myself, “who am I?”, I think of my roles in others’ lives. I am a daughter, a sister, or maybe a friend, but I rarely think of myself as possessing a body that interacts with and consumes from the world.

A drawing I made, representing how we are all unique individuals, but we are largely similar with regards to our needs for survival.

Being so disconnected from my body, I rarely think about the way I am treating it. I base my eating habits around what will make me happy instead of what will make me feel good. Two pints of ice cream sound wonderful at the end of a taxing day, but perhaps my day would have been better if I had drank more water and nourished myself more completely throughout the day. Not only do I contain a living system within me, but I am also part of a system composed of my past and future selves. What I eat and the thoughts I have today will affect the person I am in a few days or years, and the experiences I have between now and then will shape the way I remember myself as I am today.

These are lemons that I helped pick from my dad’s lemon bush.

Learning about the food system forces me to connect to my body, because I am forcibly reminded of how reliant I am on international systems to survive. It’s now impossible to ignore the voice in my head nagging me to not only eat healthier, but more sustainably. The next time I go to the kitchen, perhaps, I will choose a fruit that comes from a family member’s tree, and feel secure in the knowledge that I am paying it forward to myself and to future generations.

Source: Sarah Oliver, VIM Fitness.

Coronavirus Exposes Weaknesses

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Amidst the daily deluge of COVID-19 news, I came across a disturbing image. A photo of rotting fruit, with the title reading, “Farmers destroy crops grown for restaurants, hotels.” The United Press International ran this story last week, citing that farmers across the U.S. are compelled to destroy their crops because of the diminished demand from commercial venues. 

 

Simultaneously, I’m being inundated with stories of people tightening their purses in the face of coronavirus-induced job loss. The juxtaposition of people going hungry while food is being destroyed suggests a serious problem with the national food system: that food is being produced not to feed as many people as possible, but rather to serve commercial interests.

 

The solution is quite complicated. Often, farmers rely on high-volume buyers to make ends meet. Without these sales, farmers face severe financial struggles. Local food banks become overwhelmed with produce that will go bad before it can be distributed, and farmers themselves can’t afford to ship the produce to needy areas. This is where the federal government can step in. By funding supply chain networks between overabundant farms and areas in need, resources can become allocated more appropriately and this strain can be alleviated.

 

Moving food from one place to another is not a panacea for all of the food system’s problems, however. The pandemic has only brought to light the tip of the iceberg of its shortcomings. As systems theory posits, the function of a system must be derived from what it does, not what it is intended to do, and it has become increasingly clear that the modern day food system is structured to profit off of the distribution of food around not only the U.S., but the world, instead of maximizing our capacity to feed as many people as possible. 

From UPI website > Photo courtesy of Tony DiMare/DiMare Fresh