Food Systems Literacy Series, May installment - Sustainability

Since Sustainability is our jam, it’s no surprise that a lot of our workshop learnings belong in this area of Food Systems Literacy!

Our programs cover the climate change links to food systems, like methane from cattle being a strong Greenhouse Gas (GHG) and soil and forests acting as carbon sinks. We highlight that switching to more plant-based foods reduces GHG emissions! We also teach about how much land and water different foods need to grow – plant-based foods are the big winner here too. 

We respect that foods and diets come with cultural knowledge and importance, so our workshops always embrace the diversity of ways we can respect the Earth and take care of nature with our food choices. We are thoughtful about the need to balance a message of individual action with understanding the systems change that is necessary for our society to become truly sustainable.

The Food Systems Literacy framework includes the understanding that biodiversity is key to resilient ecosystems and forms the foundation for growing food! When we think about whether our food systems can become sustainable for the planet, then, we are also asking how our food systems can support biodiversity, rather than continuing to degrade it.

How can food systems become part of our way of caring for biodiversity? We can find ways to nurture the Earth at the same time as growing food. 

In our programs, we already talk to children and youth about these kinds of solutions! Ideas like cultivating food forests and planting pollinator-friendly plants around a farm, increasing biodiversity and promoting beneficial insects on farms. Hey… that ties back to the regenerative agriculture ideas from last month!

Stay tuned for the next blog in the series! Have you ever thought about Food Systems Governance?