Green Justice

Food Justice is Environmental Justice is Social Justice

A Family's Story shows how Food Justice and Food Security relate to Social Justice and Environmental Justice

Jan 06, 2011 - Most people don't understand how Food Justice and Food Security relate to Social Justice and Environmental Justice. I'd like to tell you a story to about a family from my community which I hope will shed some light on these critical issues and their interconnections.

"Kimmy is a single mom living in extreme poverty with her three small children on the west side of Buffalo. She works two jobs just to pay for the basics and to keep her family afloat.

Everyday after school her three children play outside until she gets home; she quickly cooks dinner for them and the next door neighbor's two kids in exchange for her kids' evening care while she goes to her night job. Each week she tries to go to the grocery store but must take two buses and her small children with her as well as a small cart for her groceries. The trip usually takes about four hours and she can only get what she can carry in her cart.

Most weeks, because of her busy work schedule, she must get food from the corner store, which is mainly Mac-n-Cheese, microwave dinners, packaged noodles or canned foods. Otherwise her choices are one of the five fast food restaurants in her neighborhood. She knows the options aren't good but they allow her to get by, given her hectic schedule. Her kids usually come home from school hungry and go to the corner store for chips and soda since they are cheap and readily available."

This is the story of millions of people in low-income neighborhoods across the nation. Food security, or the availability of fresh, healthy and culturally appropriate food, is commonly perceived only as an issue in countries overrun with civil war or facing extreme poverty. {continued}