If you watched the debates this year you may have noticed that environmentalism has become a very quiet issue in the United States. What seems to have been lost is that environmentalism is a humanist issue. Humans cannot live without a habitat nor can humans live without a way to provide their own substance, i.e. grow their own food.
Our current agricultural practices in this country are unsustainable. We are mining our topsoil, excessively using oil and petroleum resources, and we are not planting a diversity of crops to insure that there will be a population of the plants we eat and depend on strong enough to survive the rigors of life on earth (disease, catastrophe, etc.). In addition, despite the amount of food we grow, or could grow in this country, we still have many people who go hungry every day. In the United States we have the largest homeless population and the largest uninsured population of any developed country. We also have a very high rate of hunger. This is especially so in the cities and small communities, where farmers have been put out of business by the pressures of multinational corporations who are gaining more and more control of our food supply.
Here at Wesleyan we have created Long Lane farm to engage these and other issues. In addition to finding the work of small farming fulfilling, we believe: 1. that small farming is more productive than conventional farming; that total yields exceed those of agribusiness farms; 2. that small farming is less chemically intensive, thus less of a polluting industry, and therefore less of a danger to humans and the environment; 3. that small organic minded agriculture looks to build soil and create resources instead of minding them; 4. that small local agriculture supports the idea of recycling on many levels from compost to scrap wood; and 5. that small local agriculture reduces transportation costs, whether those costs are measured in oil or in dollars.
Opening the refrigerator door and taking something out is a political act. What you buy at the supermarket makes a statement about what kind of world you want to live in. This week, starting Thursday Nov. 4, has been declared Food Politics Week here at Wesleyan. There are a variety of talks and other activities to involve the campus in discussion and action. Let’s use this week to start an ongoing discussion of food politics here at Wesleyan.
Food Politics Week
* indicates activities that happen on a weekly basis
Friday 5
-Cook it yourself: learn how to make bread and more @ Earth House 3pm
Sunday 7
-*Food Not Bombs @ Well-Being house 11am
-work at Long Lane Farm 12-4pm
Monday 8
-Edible Foods Walk w/ Prof. Mike Singer 3pm
Tuesday 9
-dumpster diving workshop starts @ Earth House 10:30pm
Wednesday 10
-Short movie on sustainable farming in Cuba @ Earth House 7pm
Thursday 11
-*Vegout @ Earth House 6:15pm w/ talk on Agricultural Politics
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