Gottlieb Food Justice Analysis

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Food is a critical part to the environment that a community lives in, yet food is not always just. Food justice is an important part of environmental justice, and Robert Gottlieb studied how food impacts communities. Gottlieb explained how food justice has links to equity, empowerment, and social justice as well. This area of justice “addresses issues of health, globalization, worker rights and working conditions, disparities regarding access to environmental (or food) goods, land use and respect for the land, and ultimately, how our production, transportation, distribution and consumption systems are organized” (7). Food (in)justices and the other presented issues are all around in society today. Gottlieb explained about sustainable agriculture, …show more content…

Not only are these farms building blocks, but these local farms help with environmental contamination, rural economics, and exploited, immigrant work force. Local farms also bring a community together through local food as well as community health. Having fresh produce helps prevent diet-related diseases, which is a very important issue in America today. Through local food, people bond with their community as well as their food; for instance, knowing and understanding how the food is produced and accessed allows people to be more aware of their community and health. However, not all communities today have this way of thinking, many communities suffer from food deserts, when supermarkets and alike leave an area. This lack of food correlates to deindustrialization and employment loss, which creates brownfields and food deserts. Gottlieb showed his readers how food connects people and increases economy and sustainability, showing that food is more than just the nutrients for the human body but also the nutrients for society. Before this semester, I did not know the true power of food. I really enjoyed Gottlieb’s article because it suited as a nice introduction for someone who did not have a deep understanding of food justice. I found the connection between this article and Dr. Vandana Shiva’s lecture very powerful to how I view society currently. Even though I do not know how I can connect this area to my interests for my thesis yet, this article helped me direct the local food fair during the Environmental Justice Summit for Student Senate. I hope to use these aspects in this article towards my future