Some of the big problems that the United States is facing right now are obesity and diet-related chronic disease, chemicals and pathogens contaminating our food, air, soil and water, depletion of natural resources, and climate change. As said by the American Public Health Association, “These threats have enormous human, social, and economic costs that are growing, cumulative, and unequally distributed. These issues are all related to food—what we eat and how it is produced. The US industrial food system provides plentiful, relatively inexpensive food, but much of it is unhealthy, and the system is not sustainable. Although most US food consumption occurs within this industrial system, healthier and more sustainable alternatives are increasingly available.”
A way to describe the ideal sustainable food system would be to successfully provide healthy food to the people, while still providing the least amount possible of damage to the environment and ecosystems. Its intention is to make eco-friendly food accessible to everyone, including local production and distribution infrastructures.
As a Finance major, it is my job to keep up with the economy and the numbers that go on around all the different types of businesses. Without having to get into too much detail about the rates of the food system, I can safely say that the food system is currently unequally distributed; My goal for this blog is to critically evaluate what these businesses are doing that is and isn’t effective for sustainability. “Moving toward a healthier and more sustainable food system will involve tackling longstanding challenges and addressing new and evolving demands.”
A little bit of the background information for the food system includes a systems approach that takes the consideration of the factors that are included in the food, starting straight from the farm all the way to the final consumer. The technical side of this system is the process that the food goes through, which includes production, processing, distribution, acquisition, preparation, consumption, and metabolism; these are the inputs, mechanisms, and structures of the food system. Along with these technical processes, different types of people are involved in the system. These people are farmers, fishers, industries, workers, governments, institutional purchasers, communities, and consumers that may all be working on local, regional, national, and global levels.
“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. The four pillars of food security are availability, stability of supply, access and utilization.” A lot of factors come into play in order for this right to be obtained; some of these are food safety which should be free from adverse substances, make sure the quality of our nutrition is high, and not to take away the rights from workers such as farmers.
In the United States, 8% of greenhouse gas emissions are produced by agriculture, and greenhouse gas emissions take up about one third of global warming, which is made up of worldwide agriculture and land-use change. The reason why agriculture has such a big effect on climate change, is because of emissions and reduced storage of gasses in soils and other media. It is estimated that roughly 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide would be caused by meat production. “One study compared greenhouse gases from the average American diet and a same-calorie vegetarian diet and found that the difference, summed across the population, would account for 6% of all US greenhouse gas emissions.” Even though all of these factors affect climate change, meat consumption and the food system are rarely talked about when discussing global climate change.
With this information, we can now move on to what we can personally do to make an efficient transition to have sustainable food. We can start off by finding healthy food from local sustainable farms, consume less meat overall, when it actually comes to choosing the meat buy from sustainable farms that protect animal welfare, and even growing fruits and vegetables in one’s own property. “A red fruit is a promiscuous lure, offering sweet, nutritious rewards to a broad spectrum of hungry creatures.” As said by tropical nature.
A great example of a business that supports sustainability is Whole Foods Market. They have received the first “Green Building” award in Austin, Texas in 1998 for the expansion and renovation of their corporate headquarters. Sustainable material specifications combined with conscientious construction methods resulted in a healthy, durable facility. “We encourage the use of less toxic cleaning products, educating our customers about the positive impact that can be made in air and water quality by using these alternative products. We promote the purchase of bulk food and other products utilizing reduced or reusable packaging, as well as encouraging shoppers to reduce waste through our “nickel per bag” rebate program.”
A big part of health and wellbeing of people (and our food) is simply the earth’s natural systems. It would really make a difference if legislators implemented policies promoting soil conservation, safeguard water resources, protect biodiversity, and reduce dependence on fossil-fuel-driven industrial agricultural techniques.
Bill McKibben, a scholar-in-residence in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College says “I’d build a local food-processing center in every county in the U.S. […] A local infrastructure uses less energy, rebuilds rural communities—and food grown nearby actually tastes like food. […] This vital infrastructure can be restored at low cost to help underwrite the future for every farmer and every eater.”
Alice Lichtenstein, D.Sc., professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University, says that “There should be mandatory calorie labeling at point of purchase, coupled with a campaign to ‘Know Your Number.’ People should have some idea of their caloric requirements. Then if they see that that piece of coffee cake, sugary coffee drink or extra-large fries is a certain number of calories, they can figure out how that fits into their diet. I think that [calculating calorie needs] should be incorporated into the math education for kids in elementary school. Body weight is the major problem in the United States; it’s still much too high in at least two-thirds of individuals.”
Brian Wansink, executive director of the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, states “I’d like to re-empower nutritional gatekeepers—the people who purchase and prepare the food in the household—and make sure they have information about how to eat better. Not just in a website or brochure or what a dietitian says, but in kitchens. There’d be a tip on how to eat better for dinner in flat-screen technology they’re talking about for refrigerators— [or in a] text message—every day. [Nutritional gatekeepers] can have a tremendous role in the way their family eats, a lot more than they might think, and it’s a role that they can start tonight.”
Works Cited
Edelbaum, Michelle. “Fixing America’s Food System.” Eating Well. Meredith Corporation, 2016. Web. 2016.
Forsyth, Adrian. Miyata, Ken. Tropical Nature. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1984. Print.
“Sustainability and Our Future.” Whole Foods Market. Whole Foods Market IP. L.P., 2016. Web. 2016.
“Take Action: Food.” Sustainable Table. GRACE Communications Foundation, 2016. Web. 2016.
“Toward a Healthy Sustainable Food System.” APHA. America Public Health Association, 2016. Web. 2016.