Food Sovereignty in the Industrialized World

Food sovereignty isn’t a term that most people associate with the first world. After all, if we want a cheese doodle or an organic apple, one only need to travel to their closest grocery store and purchase said item, right? Sovereignty is about freedom, and being able to purchase any food we desire at any time we want is freedom at its finest, no? Not so fast.

What is food sovereignty? In the simplest context, food sovereignty is indeed about food freedom, control over one’s food, and establishing access to nutritious food as a basic human right.

The term “food sovereignty” was coined by members of Via Campesina in 1996. Following is a statement on Peoples’ Food Sovereignty by Via Campesina, et al.

Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to define their own food and agriculture; to protect and regulate domestic agricultural production and trade in order to achieve sustainable development objectives; to determine the extent to which they want to be self reliant; to restrict the dumping of products in their markets; and to provide local fisheries-based communities the priority in managing the use of and the rights to aquatic resources. Food sovereignty does not negate trade, but rather, it promotes the formulation of trade policies and practices that serve the rights of peoples to safe, healthy and ecologically sustainable production.

 

Questioning A Life With Industrial Civilization

Late in 2010, I came to the stark realization – no, let me rephrase that – I finally tore the facade off my neat little world view of how if we all just alter personal habits; hold hands and pray, hope, and love; and write our representatives enough, we can change the madness in the world that is destroying the oceans, the soil, the forests, and the world’s inhabitants including ourselves. I had to look at my life, the life I’m consciously carving out to serve as inspiration to others who are also seeking some solution or salve to the pain that comes with witnessing the destruction of our ecosystems, and admit that I’m not closing the loop – I’m not living sustainably. I’m not even coming close. That wasn’t a surprise, really. I knew this all along and am continually reminded by those who wish to point out – as if to expose for a sham – the flaws inherent in attempting to reduce one’s environmental footprint while living in Industrial Civilization. You know what I’m talking about. They say things like, “If you really cared about the environment, you’d give up your car and live naked, in the woods. Oh, and stop breathing while you’re at it.” The surprise was that I suddenly awoke from the belief that I could somehow continue to live in Industrial Civilization and bend the rules to make my life the exception and if I could do it, everyone could do it. Right?

 

Echoes of the Past Sprout New Beginnings

What could I possibly be referring to with that post title?

Our over-consumptive, blissful foray into BAU-American dream-living is over. It’s been dead for quite some time and although we have been severely affected economically, I’m quietly content inside. I see the direct positive environmental impact locally in the succession of flora that are re-establishing themselves in long ago abandoned developments. On the other hand, I’m also aware that there is a sinister side to the economic downturn: we’ll stop at nothing to make it go again. To paraphrase the garden-tender in Colin Beavan’s movie, No Impact Man,  “Things are getting worse and better at the same time.”