Food Sovereignty & Climate Change
(from http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/wordpress/category/foodsov/)
What is Food Sovereignty?
Food sovereignty is the right of individuals, communities and countries to define their own food, agriculture, fishing, labor and land policies. These food and land policies are socially, ecologically, economically and culturally appropriate to the people who define them. Food sovereignty also guarantees people the right to produce their own food and to have access to necessary food-producing resources like seeds, land and water.
Food security is different than food sovereignty in that it is not culturally specific, and it does not guarantee people the right to produce their own food under ecologically, socially, culturally and economically appropriate circumstances. (RAN factsheet)
What does Food Sovereignty have to do with Climate Change?
Before we let the energy companies colonize our agricultural land touting questionably climate friendly solutions like agrofuels, lets look a little at some of the deep seeded issues within our current food system that are not only perpetuating climate change but will be impacted and taxed greatly as the climate changes.
Our current food system relies heavily on fossil fuel derived fertilizers and pesticides, gas guzzling farm machinery, and transporting farm inputs and products over long distances. The average food item bought at a supermarket has traveled on average over 1,500 miles. The modern agricultural system is completely unsustainable as the climate continues to change due to the excessive burning of fossil fuels by humans.
No one knows exactly what will happen as climate change takes shape, but we can predict that climate change will have an affect on how, what, and where we grow food. Many areas will be plagued by drought or floods or both and the acreage of the earth suitable for agriculture will shift, perhaps dramatically.
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