Whose Justice is it Anyway?

    Before reading this article, I thought of the terms "food security" and "food justice" to be interchangeable for the most part.  While both of these concepts are proposed solutions to world hunger, they use different methods when trying to achieve this goal.  Making sure that communities are food secure and have access to affordable and nutritious food options is undoubtedly a necessity.  However, this article explores the various other factors like culture, community, and the environment that are just as, if not more, important.  

    The aspect of food justice discussed in the article that I found most pressing is the environmental aspect.  Urban communities focused on equal food distribution and preserving a sense of culture within their community all while dealing with non-food related issues that come with living in a low-income community have neither the time nor the means of dealing with the issues of modern agricultural methods of food production.  This is where one of the problems of self-governance in low-income communities lie.  However, people fortunate enough to not have to deal with these problems on a daily basis and have easier access to educational opportunities can study the issues with current food production, thus working towards the improvement of both environmental conditions and food quality for communities.  Last semester in my Introduction to Regenerative Agriculture class, we learned about the issues of modern agriculture (decreasing soil quality, lack of crop diversity, fossil fuel inputs, etc.) and how detrimental it is to the surrounding ecosystem.  So, my question is, how do we expect food justice organizations to succeed in bringing high quality foods to communities and maintaining the community's cultural integrity if we continue to degrade our ecosystems, and one day, can't even grow enough food to support the world population?

    That's why I believe that environmental justice is one of, if not the most important aspect of food justice.  If we continue to farm in a manner that goes against the grain of the surrounding ecosystem, then our farmland will continue to degrade until it reaches a point of no return.  To fully address the issue of food injustice, we must transition to an ecosystem-oriented method of farming that maximizes the growing potential of a farm plot.  If the environment where we grow our food continues down the path of unsustainability, eventually, the other issues discussed in the article will become obsolete.