The power of food is such that it can shape the surface of earth and reroute human history. The industrialization of the food system introduced the idea that food could be engineered, as well as grown. Through the addition of supplements and rapid genetic manipulation, what Carolan[i] calls the Green Revolution, we are beginning to see malnutrition brought about by a diet high in processed foods. What new evolution in our food history will develop, and how will it come to fruition?
The modern challenge has been to feed the world’s population, and overall health was not given high priority. The staggering rate of food output, which attempts to feed the still-growing human population, is an impressive, but unsustainable, tool. Most disturbingly, there is little support for biodiversity[ii] within developed nations. That the subsidies placed on cash crops have manifested in market manipulations is apparent, in the form of cheap highly processed products[iii] in the American diet. We will need to find alternatives to the current world food system that do not over-tax the soil, nor harm our health.
Disagreements over our future have been sedated with the premise that we are individually in control of, and responsible for, our consumption. But while working in solitude, what power do we really have to effect change? The concept of individualization of responsibility exhibits disturbing implications of agency, while discounting highly dependent factors. It offers no regard for varying education, socio-economic status, location, or proximity to food choices. This ineffective concept has yet to solve our consumption problem.
[Concerned citizens] would see that their individual consumption choices are environmentally important, but that their control over these choices is constrained, shaped, and framed by institutions and political forces that can be remade only through collective citizen action, as opposed to individual consumer behavior.” Michael Maniates
I find myself asking the same question posed by Mathieu Dubeau: who or what has the real agency in this relationship?
Both the earth, and our bodies, are manifestations of living systems. Our resilience as a species cannot provide us with complete control over our collective destiny, which is inextricably tied to the earth. The challenge of human systems is that they are self-organizing. It requires a great upset for any system to be reappraised. But change will become essential when the outcomes we have come to rely on begin to fail. We have the knowledge to reassess the food system and create a model of consumption which may not meet our individual wishes, but could serve the collective purpose of sustainability.
Great Post!
I love the analogy of using the human body to represent the environment. It makes me think of pollution in a new way. The same way that we do not want to pollute our bodies we should not want to pollute the environment. Unfortunately our current unsustainable food system has made it too easy to pollute! We have to change our ways so that consumption becomes sustainable and beneficial for the environment.