Author Archives: arisbm

ENVIR 385: A Reflection

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My group had the opportunity to work with Landesa; a non-profit organization that helps secure land rights for the world’s poorest. Although Landesa covers a more general scope, our focus was to bring awareness to the issue of women land rights in underdeveloped countries, and to learn more about how it connects to resilience-building within communities in the face of a pandemic. 

We learned that the women in the regions we researched make up the vast majority of the agricultural workforce, but due to the huge gender disparity, the lack of land rights puts women in vulnerable positions, especially when facing a health crisis. If the patriarch falls ill or passes away, there isn’t much a woman can do to support her family. At least not with the current system.  

Women’s Land Rights infographic. (Created by Ashley Wright)

This quarter we talked about systems theory. We are all part of a system(s). If a part of the system is changed, then the other parts will be affected– impacting the system as a whole. This impact could either be negative or positive. Through our research we found that by giving women legal access to land, it could be the latter. They have the ability to help their communities build resilience by making an economic and ecological impact; all they need is change. The current status quo is an example of an unsustainable system.

Unsustainable systems are everywhere. We don’t have to go to an underdeveloped country to see them. Our food system is a big one. 

Individual, institutional, and structural racism lives in our food system. In the reading, “The Color of Food”, Raj Patel concludes that racial disparity in wages and representation can be found in most occupations along the food chain. POC are often limited to low-wage food jobs in the food industry, leading them to experience high rates of food insecurity, malnutrition and hunger. But consumers are oftentimes unaware of these exploitations because there is a great disconnect between consumers and the food chain. 

The Color of Food, Raj Patel

With the BLM movement in full force right now, it is important to understand that racism goes beyond just police brutality. It lives in different parts of our society. 

As this class comes to an end and our projects wrap up, I can’t help but think about the systems I belong to and the impact I’m having on them. Raj Patel stated that, “consumers vote with their purchases”. As a consumer in this unsustainable system, my choices matter when it comes to food. 

A Response: The Time to get to Know What’s in My Cup

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A response to: “The time to get to know what’s in my cup” by grahamms

As a fellow coffee drinker, @grahamms’ reflection resonated with me. Not only do I regularly consume large amounts of coffee but it’s also my way of connecting with friends and family. Interestingly enough, the thing that connects me to people is the one thing I’ve never considered myself connected to. What I mean by this is that I never give it a second thought. Coffee makes me feel good, therefore, I drink it. And that is that. @grahamms brought up an interesting point in his post- the introduction of coffee pods. We no longer see the coffee we’re drinking! We’re consuming a product that hugely impacts our environment and we don’t even see it anymore.

I like contemplative practices because they allow us to open up a dialogue with ourselves and others. It puts us in a space where we can question the process of things and the role we play in it. That is why when @grahamms voiced my own feeling of impotence as he mentioned his lack of control over the issues of coffee trade; it led me to wonder- what can we do? Would decreasing or completely stopping our consumption of coffee help alleviate this environmental problem? 

I thought back to Richard Robbins’s essay on the consumption of beef and sugar from a few weeks back. Although Robbins considers reduction, he notes that there are a couple of inconveniences tied to it; not only would the size of the reduction have to be extremely large to see real change, but it would also cause severe economic disruptions. He concludes that it’d be difficult to change our consumption behavior because it’s such a central and necessary part of our culture. 

Although this didn’t leave me with any concrete answers, it did get me to think about the problem and all of the interdependent systems involved. And that is what contemplative practices are all about.

Exotic… and I’m not talking about Joe.

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This is the first class I’ve ever taken where the professor implements “Contemplative Practices”. At first, I didn’t particularly care for them. And then I was… confused. A raisin? A piece of chocolate? I was expecting to be reflecting on something much more controversial like meat or dairy. How were these little things that literally take me a couple of seconds to consume, thought-provoking? And then I got it. I wasn’t looking at the whole picture.

The exercise that really got to me was the exotic foods practice. 

I do my grocery shopping every few weeks and I always make sure to stock up on my favorite items. I breeze through the aisles and by the time I make it to the cash register, my cart is filled with a wide variety of foods… from coffee beans to mangoes. 

This has always been my norm so I never considered anything different. These contemplative practices have allowed me to slow down and see a whole different side of food. A side that makes me experience a medley of emotions.

It is because of things like international trade that I get to enjoy my mangoes and other foods that are not native to this land. It’s also because of this that I was able to grow up eating the Mexican recipes that my grandmother had passed down to my mother- without even having to leave Washington! This helped me stay connected to a culture that would have otherwise been very foreign to me.

I am grateful. But on the other hand, I feel uncomfortable knowing about the injustices and oppressions that many have had to suffer for me to be able to obtain these products.

I may not have the power to change a whole system that has been here way before I was, but I think that through these contemplative practices I’ve become more aware- and that’s where the real change begins.

Will COVID-19 lead to a food crisis?

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COVID-19 has brought light to many things that we might have taken for granted before. Toilet paper definitely falls high on that list.

Many prepared for this quarantine by (excessively) stocking up on goods that would allow them to live comfortably at home for months to come. Most businesses are on lockdown and restrictions have been placed on what feels like everything. Yet, even with all of these limitations, a lot of us may not notice any drastic changes in our diet since our pre-COVID-19 days.

I know that I haven’t. 

This could be attributed to the fact that I live in a developed country. Because although there is no global answer to the “will COVID-19 lead to a food crisis?” question- I will most likely fall on the “no” side of the spectrum, according to the predictions of economic models . 

And who is most vulnerable to experience a crisis like this? 

Developing countries. 

COVID-19’s impact could be more conspicuous in these countries due to their lack of economic capacity. 

The surging global recession is due to the lockdown of businesses and has had negative effects on the poor and their food consumption. Incomes have been affected due to restrictions. This has forced families to readjust their diets in order to make ends meet. They’ve shifted away from buying goods like meat/produce and are instead buying other bulked goods like grains which come at lower prices. 

It is not only the market conditions that could potentially raise food prices, but the hoarding and excessive buying as well. 

Richer countries have been able to respond to the economic fallout by initiating monetary policies to help alleviate the negative impact of COVID-19. Developing countries don’t have the funds to act in the same manner which creates a pressure for them to use their resources accordingly.

I am aware that I live in a place where it can be easy to take things for granted, but it’s moments like these that remind me of why I shouldn’t.

Article: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/will-covid-19-cause-another-food-crisis-early-review