Hunger for Change: The Food Economy and Climate Change

Dennis Cunningham -- International Institute for Sustainable Development


Dennis first talked about industrialized agriculture and its effects on local farming communities, economies, and environments. The second half of the presentation was focused on global, industrialized agriculture and its effect on the people in the developing world. In summary, Dennis linked the business of agriculture with climate change and development, both locally and globally.
Discussion included questions on supporting local farmers vs. supporting farmers in developing countries (fair trade). The term "fair miles" was introduced as consciously thinking about where your food comes from in terms of the environmental (ecological footprint) and social impacts. There was also a discussion about organic foods, their benefits and costs; is organics a healthy alternative or just another form of industrialized farming. The 100 mile diet was also brought up during the discussion. Much of the audience wanted to make it known that they are doing their best to produce their own food by gardening, and how they hope to instill the value and importance of growing what you can, preserving what you can, and composting what you can into the youth of the community.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• food economy
• climate change
• dennis cunningham
• food miles
• marquis project
• marquis
• fair trade
• globalization
• industrialization
• local food
• community
• development
• poverty
• global
• hunger
• factory
• farming
• processed
• food
• 100
• mile
• diet
• brandon
• manitoba
• canada
• prairies
• great
• plains