Food sovereignty: Difference between revisions

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== Food sovereignty is a climate justice issue ==
== Food sovereignty is a climate justice issue ==


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| style="width: 21.7495%; background-color: #c51f84; border-color: #000000; height: 28px;" | '''<span style="color: #ffffff;">1. Natural disasters disproportionately harm disabled people</span>'''
| style="width: 21.7495%; background-color: #c51f84; border-color: #000000; height: 28px;" | '''<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" >Global agriculture is shaped by “neoliberalism”</span>'''
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*'''Structural barriers become a matter of life or death during disaster.'''&nbsp;
 
*[Paraphrased] <span style="background-color: rgb(209, 241, 238);">'''People with disabilities are 2-4x more likely to die during disasters.'''  <ref>https://www.forbes.com/sites/sfrost/2020/07/06/deadly-discrimination/?sh=39051e92b93b</ref>  Why is that? One of the things you learn is we are forgotten. We aren't part of planning conversations, disaster preparedness. We aren't talking about what happens when the best laid plans go wrong. We aren't part of the conversation in planning for disasters. So when we talk about climate, we see again that we're forgotten.''' People with disabilities aren't mentioned in plans at all.''' Countries are neglecting their obligations to fulfill the rights of disabled folks in response to the climate crisis. When we look at smaller conversations about planning for disaster, plus the larger conversations about climate justice, we aren't included.</span>
*Current agricultural practices contribute to 1/3 of global greenhouse emissions. Monoculture-farming models result in a loss of biodiversity. <ref>Climate False Solutions. (2021). Hoodwinked in the hothouse: Resist false solutions to climate change. https://moodle.ubishops.ca/pluginfile.php/285048/mod_resource/content/1/HOODWINKED_ThirdEdition_On-Screen_version.pdf</ref>  
*[Paraphrased] <span style="background-color: rgb(209, 241, 238);">As a multiply marginalized person, we don't get invitations to join conversations. The fact that the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies exists says a lot, that things are changing, but we have to keep pushing.</span>
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<br>
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Specific examples include:
<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" >'''Abuse of workers and the land'''</span>
*"Some members of the disability community are especially '''vulnerable to extreme heat''' events due to increased sensitivity to keeping our body temperatures cool enough." -[https://rootedinrights.org/its-time-to-recognize-climate-change-as-a-disability-rights-issue/ Tiffany Yu]
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*'''Natural disaster can cut electricity''', "which is especially problematic because so many disabled people need electricity-powered medical equipment to survive." -[https://rootedinrights.org/its-time-to-recognize-climate-change-as-a-disability-rights-issue/ Tiffany Yu]
 
*'''Droughts and flooding cause food and water insecurity'''. "Because of other social factors like the [https://disablepoverty.org/what-is-disable-poverty/ disproportionate number of disabled people who are caught in an endless poverty cycle], the disability community is especially vulnerable during these shortages." -[https://rootedinrights.org/its-time-to-recognize-climate-change-as-a-disability-rights-issue/ Tiffany Yu]
*Farm workers are working in difficult conditions, and the land they are using has been exhausted by monoculture growing methods. <ref>Eliason, A. (2021, December 21). Building local food pathways: Fodd sovereignty and climate justice Law &amp; Political Economy. https://lpeproject.org/</ref>  
*'''Disabled people may be unable to evacuate''' from disaster and/or '''may lose "critical mobility and accessibility devices''' (wheelchairs, scooters, walkers, canes, hearing aids, communication devices)." -[https://rootedinrights.org/its-time-to-recognize-climate-change-as-a-disability-rights-issue/ Tiffany Yu]
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*Post-disaster, "the prospect of '''rebuilding a home that had been built around an individual disabilit'''y can also be daunting and expensive ― particularly considering disabled workers typically [http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/07/27/7-facts-about-americans-with-disabilities/ earn significantly less] than their able-bodied counterparts." -[https://www.huffpost.com/entry/in-natural-disasters-a-disability-can-be-a-death-sentence_n_5c1ba22ee4b0407e9077eb58?guccounter=1 Jenavieve Hatch for Huffington Post]
| style="width: 21.7495%; background-color: rgb(197, 31, 132); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); height: 46px;" | <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" >'''Erasure of Indigenous food systems'''</span>
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*Indigenous traditional food systems have been almost erased through government policies. <ref>LaDuke, W. Hoover, E. (2019).&nbsp;Indigenous food sovereignty in the united states : restoring cultural knowledge, protecting environments, and regaining health. (D. A. Mihesuah &amp; E. Hoover, Eds.) (Ser. New directions in native american studies, volume 18). University of Oklahoma Press.</ref>
<span style="color: #ffffff;">'''2. Disabled people are marginalized and are equally deserving of liberation'''</span>
*Climate change also impacts Indigenous food systems.&nbsp;
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*'''80% of disabled people live in the Global South''', regions most impacted by the climate crisis and exploitation.  <ref>https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/resources/factsheet-on-persons-with-disabilities.html</ref>  
*"From homeless encampments to local jail cells, the social, political, and economic disparities among disabled queer and trans people of colour put our communities at the '''frontlines of ecological disaster'''.” -[https://truthout.org/articles/disabled-people-cannot-be-expected-losses-in-the-climate-crisis/ Patty Berne]
*Disabled people are not 'hoarding resources' or 'draining the system', two phrases often used to demonize disabled people for collecting disability benefits. The ultra-rich benefit from blaming disabled bodies, while they continue to benefit from the system.
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| style="width: 21.7495%; background-color: rgb(197, 31, 132); border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; height: 178px;" | <p>'''<span style="color: #ffffff;">3. Systems of oppression are intersectional and best addressed by leadership of the most impacted</span>'''</p>
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*[Paraphrased] <span style="background-color: #d1f1ee;">You can't separate identities from a person. We can't separate these systems of oppression. We recognize none of us are free unless we're all free. '''Disability justice provides a framework for creating inclusive resistance movements that support other movements by resisting these intersecting systems of oppression.''' It's not like we can say 'I'm only going to fight ableism' and ignore white supremacy. They're all connected. It's not going to be climate justice if we don't prioritize the needs of the most impacted.''' '''Some of the most marginalized folks are multiply marginalized disabled folks. We know we have to prioritize their leadership. This is one key way to effectively resist. '''Disabled folks know what it's like to resist these systems, and our solutions are pretty bad-ass. We are some of the best problem solvers because we have to go through it day in and day out.'''</span>
*'''Disability justice is migrant justice.''' "[https://wid.org/2018/09/26/climate-related-migration/ Climate change is accelerating forced migration] at a time when disabled people find it increasingly difficult to cross borders — not simply because of the physical demands, but also because of political opposition." -[https://truthout.org/articles/disabled-people-cannot-be-expected-losses-in-the-climate-crisis/ Julia Watts Belser]
*** Disabled people may be unable to enter countries because their diagnosis or condition is considered 'burdensome'. -[https://truthout.org/articles/disabled-people-cannot-be-expected-losses-in-the-climate-crisis/ Julia Watts Belser]
*** Migrants may struggle to access the services they need (health services and long-term medical, financial, and social support). -[https://rootedinrights.org/its-time-to-recognize-climate-change-as-a-disability-rights-issue/ Tiffany Yu]<span style="background-color: #d1f1ee;"></span>
*'''The oppressive conditions we’re living in can be disabling''' themselves. For example...
***'''Chronic stress can be disabling'''. Neurodivergent people (ADHD, dyslexia, autism, anxiety) are [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13575279.2022.2149471 more likely than neurotypical people] to experience physical health problems.&nbsp;
***'''Racism can be disabling''' (e.g. [https://twitter.com/Imani_Barbarin/status/1648781887781912579?t=gxCK45M3QQOiWgEjjHpUHg&s=19 Ralph Yarl], a 16-year-old black child, experienced a brain injury after being shot by a racist white man).<br>
***'''Colonialism can be disabling''' (e.g. Aamijiwnaang First Nation has been impacted by settler colonialism, capitalism and environmental racism. Over 60 petrochemical facilities can be found within a 25 km<sup>2</sup> area. Community members face high rates of cancer, respiratory illness and reproductive health issues). <ref>https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/environmental-racism-in-canada#</ref>
***'''Living in poverty can be disabling.''' It significantly increases the likelihood of developing chronic or acute health problems (e.g. limited access to healthy foods, shelter, clean air and water, chronic stress etc). <ref>https://www.aafp.org/about/policies/all/poverty-health.html#:~:text=Poverty%20affects%20health%20by%20limiting,an%20individual's%20standard%20of%20living.</ref>  
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'''<span style="color: #ffffff;">4. Environmental racism and natural disasters cause disabilities</span>'''
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*"If we ask ourselves why Black and brown communities have higher rates of asthma, we also must look at where they live." -[https://ssir.org/articles/entry/climate_change_environmental_activism_and_disability Daphne Frias] for Stanford Social Innovation Review.
*Injuries obtained living through a natural disaster (e.g. earthquakes, hurricanes etc) or from being exposed to toxic chemicals (e.g. Mercury, see [[environmental racism]]) may cause acute or chronic disability.
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<span style="color: #ffffff;">'''5. Eco-ableism reinforces oppression'''</span>
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*"Prioritizing personal ownership of environmental impacts over corporate responsibility fuels [[ableism]] and discrimination toward people with disabilities."-[https://ssir.org/articles/entry/climate_change_environmental_activism_and_disability Daphne Frias]
**See our eco-ableism section of [[ableism]] for examples.<br>
**Disability is one of the first forgotten or first attacked experiences when discussing climate accountability or solutions. It's important to recognize disabled people caring for their needs are not to blame for the climate crisis. '''True accountability lies in those hoarding resources and wealth (the ultra rich).'''<br>
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'''<span style="color: #ffffff;">6. There can be no climate justice without addressing immediate survival needs</span>'''
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*"'''Disabled people are so busy just surviving.''' We have to self advocate all the time for access to employment, education, benefits or healthcare. It means unless there is a flood at my door I’m not thinking about the climate so much. We need to get people out of poverty because you can’t do anything about the climate if you are completely ostracised from participating in regular life.” -[https://twitter.com/PaulineCastres Pauline Castres]<br>
*"When issues like discrimination, access to adequate healthcare, unemployment, and poverty are among our top concerns, climate change tends to be an afterthought. When we are fighting for basic human rights and equality, how do we have time to think about climate change? '''Being concerned about and fighting for climate justice is a privilege.'''" -[https://rootedinrights.org/its-time-to-recognize-climate-change-as-a-disability-rights-issue/ Tiffany Yu]
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| style="width: 21.7495%; background-color: #c51f84; border-color: #000000; height: 51px;" | '''<span style="color: #ffffff;">7. 'Survival of the fittest' is an oppressive mindset</span>'''
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*'''Accepting the loss of some lives to the climate crisis as 'inevitable' is oppressive.''' "We aren't just talking about physical vulnerability; [[ableism]], racism, class inequality and other forms of oppression work together to compound and intensify risk." -[https://truthout.org/articles/disabled-people-cannot-be-expected-losses-in-the-climate-crisis/ Julia Watts Belser]<br>
*'''Access to wealth makes it easier to evacuate, and white supremacy translates "into the political clout and communal resources that make climate disruptions more survivable in the first place''' — better infrastructure, [https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/toxic-wastes-and-race-at-twenty-1987-2007.pdf less exposure to environmental hazards] and more robust public assistance during and after crisis." -[https://truthout.org/articles/disabled-people-cannot-be-expected-losses-in-the-climate-crisis/ Julia Watts Belser]
*'''We all deserve to have our needs met on a planet that has enough resources, but that are hoarded by a minority. '''Capitalism describes disabled individuals as a drain on our resources. In contrast, it is capitalism that drains us, and drains the earth's resources.&nbsp;
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<p>Global agriculture is shaped by “neoliberalism”. The economic system of neoliberalism refers to low governmental control on industries (like agriculture), tax cuts, reduction of public spending and inclusion in the international system. A consequence of this is that farmers and consumers have fewer options over what is produced, how it produced.  <ref>Andrée Peter, Ayres, J. M. K., Bosia, M. J., &amp; Mássicotte Marie-Josée (Eds.). (2014). Globalization and food sovereignty : global and local change in the new politics of food (Ser. Studies in comparative political economy and public policy, 42). University of Toronto Press.</ref>  &nbsp;</p>
<p><br></p>
<p>Current agriculture under neoliberalism damages the environment and creates about 1/3 of global greenhouse emissions. It pushes for a monoculture-farming model that results in a loss of biodiversity. In other words, the current food system only centers around a few crops instead of using all of the food diversity on this planet. The negative impacts of the global food system tend to impact more directly countries hit the hardest by injustices and the climate crisis.  <ref>Climate False Solutions. (2021). Hoodwinked in the hothouse: Resist false solutions to climate change. https://moodle.ubishops.ca/pluginfile.php/285048/mod_resource/content/1/HOODWINKED_ThirdEdition_On-Screen_version.pdf</ref> </p>
<p>Also, current agriculture adds to the already-existing exploitation. A lot of farm workers are working in difficult conditions, and the land they are using is tired. It is this mix of bad working conditions and abuse of lands that drives the food sovereignty movement.  <ref>Eliason, A. (2021, December 21). Building local food pathways: Fodd sovereignty and climate justice Law &amp; Political Economy. https://lpeproject.org/</ref> </p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Over the past centuries, Indigenous traditional food systems have been almost erased through government policies. An example of this is how the Canadian and American governments put in place projects to assimilate and disrupt their traditional ways of life.  <ref>LaDuke, W. Hoover, E. (2019).&nbsp;Indigenous food sovereignty in the united states : restoring cultural knowledge, protecting environments, and regaining health. (D. A. Mihesuah &amp; E. Hoover, Eds.) (Ser. New directions in native american studies, volume 18). University of Oklahoma Press.</ref>  On top of this, climate change impacts Indigenous food systems. The decline of sea ice in the Arctic and the change in plant and animal populations are part of these impacts.&nbsp;</p>


== Further resources ==
== Further resources ==

Revision as of 17:52, 28 March 2024

A Growing Culture describes food sovereignty in their organization's vision, as the following: "Healthy, accessible, and culturally appropriate food is a human right. Living wages, living environments, living traditions are human rights. Dignity. Diversity. Culture. All human rights. These are the bedrock of the food sovereignty movement."


La Via Campesina definition of food sovereignty focuses on the rights of farmers/consumers and local communities to determine their food systems and control the resources needed to produce (like land, water and seeds). [1] The definition is based on 6 pillars: valuing food providers; localizing food systems; making decisions locally; building knowledge and skills; working with nature. Indigenous peoples added a seventh pillar, which is that food is sacred. [2]


Within food sovereignty are the concepts of “agroecology” and “food democracy”. Agroecology means practicing agriculture in harmony with the environment and the community. Food democracy refers to the inclusion of public and local participation in food sovereignty projects. [3]


The knowledge included in the next sections comes from:

  • A webinar on Indigenous food sovereignty and community led research hosted by Research for the Frontlines, featuring Tiffany Traverse and Waba Moko.
  • An instagram post on abolition and food justice by Rania El Mugammar, artist, abolitionist, social justice educator and consultant.
  • A summary of a literature review on food sovereignty by Marie-Camille Théorêt. You can read their full literature review HERE.
  • Food sovereignty is a climate justice issue

    Global agriculture is shaped by “neoliberalism”
    • Current agricultural practices contribute to 1/3 of global greenhouse emissions. Monoculture-farming models result in a loss of biodiversity. [4]

    Abuse of workers and the land

    • Farm workers are working in difficult conditions, and the land they are using has been exhausted by monoculture growing methods. [5]
    Erasure of Indigenous food systems
    • Indigenous traditional food systems have been almost erased through government policies. [6]
    • Climate change also impacts Indigenous food systems. 


    Further resources


    If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.


    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.


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    1. Desmarais, A. A., Claeys, P., & Trauger, A. (Eds.). (2017). Public policies for food sovereignty : social movements and the state (Ser. Routledge studies in food, society and the environment). Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group.
    2. Desmarais, A. A., Claeys, P., & Trauger, A. (Eds.). (2017). Public policies for food sovereignty : social movements and the state (Ser. Routledge studies in food, society and the environment). Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group.
    3. https://www.nfu.ca/campaigns/agroecology/
    4. Climate False Solutions. (2021). Hoodwinked in the hothouse: Resist false solutions to climate change. https://moodle.ubishops.ca/pluginfile.php/285048/mod_resource/content/1/HOODWINKED_ThirdEdition_On-Screen_version.pdf
    5. Eliason, A. (2021, December 21). Building local food pathways: Fodd sovereignty and climate justice Law & Political Economy. https://lpeproject.org/
    6. LaDuke, W. Hoover, E. (2019). Indigenous food sovereignty in the united states : restoring cultural knowledge, protecting environments, and regaining health. (D. A. Mihesuah & E. Hoover, Eds.) (Ser. New directions in native american studies, volume 18). University of Oklahoma Press.