Since our current food system gives us the freedom to go to the grocery store and buy any type of food packaged up on a shelf, the connection between the consumer and where food comes from is often lost and taken for granted. But all of our nourishment comes from the earth and that connection needs to be rekindled. We need to connect ourselves to our food to appreciate how important the Earth is to human existence, just like all other life, and to remember that we are a part of nature. Growing food in our own backyards is one way to foster this connection. People have been gardening for thousands of years, so through growing our own food from the land, we can learn skills that our ancestors have passed down to our generations and connect with history as well.

Cherry tomatoes from my best friend’s garden // Source: Siobhan Mullally

Growing our own food has so many benefits. The health benefits alone are plenty: gardening provides fresh produce, an opportunity to get fresh air and physical activity, and for many individuals, a way to de-stress. Many people have expressed their stress relief through gardening since the act of growing something in the soil takes you to the present moment where you can focus on your own hands planting seeds, weeding, and watering. In our current world, we can get so caught up in our work, our to-do lists, our future worries. With long hours on our computers and our phones always by our sides, it feels like there is no rest from the notifications and all the thoughts that come associated with them. I just finished my undergraduate degree and on my first day of “freedom”, I sat in my room and didn’t know what to do. I had to make a list of “things to do when you don’t know what to do” because my brain was so untrained to accept rest and free time. This is a product of the fast-paced, capitalist world we live in. But last summer, I visited my best friend’s house and helped her garden. When we were digging in the soil, spreading mulch, and watering flowers, there was no space to worry about other things. It was just me and the earth and the present moment. I think gardening can help us reduce our eco-anxiety and whatever other anxieties we feel by giving us this sense of peace.

In addition to growing food, planting native wildflowers is another way to garden that can improve native biodiversity, support pollinator and wildlife communities, and create beautiful, low-maintenance spaces of your yard to enjoy. Planting native vegetation is key to helping create and restore ecosystems for native wildlife.

“By planting vegetables or flowers, we can take those small steps towards sustainability in our own little corner of the world.”

Throughout history, people have planted non-native plants from different areas of the world usually for aesthetic reasons. Many of those non-native plants have since spread, dominated ecosystems, outcompeted important native species, and changed natural areas for the worse. Native plants are so important to support biodiversity and restore natural habitats for other wildlife. In the first article I wrote for A\J, I talked about ecological restoration and how individuals can help restore nature in their own backyard spaces. We all have an impact and we can all make those impacts positive. By planting vegetables or flowers, we can take those small steps towards sustainability in our own little corner of the world.

A mulberry from my mom’s backyard // Source: Siobhan Mullally

Gardening is such a wonderful way to connect to the earth, but it becomes a problem for those of us who do not have any space to do so. If you’re like me and you don’t have your own land to create a garden, there are other ways to plant and create mobile gardens. You can plant vegetables, herbs, or flowers in small pots in your house or apartment, on a balcony or porch, or in window boxes. You can also seek out local community gardens in your neighbourhood and look into renting or sharing a garden space there. There are options to be sustainable for nearly everyone and there continue to be more inclusive options as our communities move in the right direction.

If gardening just isn’t your thing or you can’t make it work for you, that’s okay. We’re all connected to nature and you can feel that just by going outside and appreciating what is around you. It starts with mindfulness. If you go outside, whether you are in your backyard, on a city street, or in a park, you can be intentional about what you focus on. Mindfulness teaches us to be present and aware of our surroundings. Being mindful in nature is paying attention to all the little details of nature around us. A mosaic of pinecones and leaves on your lawn, a fuzzy caterpillar crossing the sidewalk, birds singing to each other, the soft sound of wind blowing through trees, the feel of grass beneath your shoe soles. These details can ground you in nature and allow you to zoom in closer and feel like you are a part of it, not separate from it. It really comes down to establishing and fostering a relationship with nature whether you are planting a wildflower garden, growing tomatoes on your balcony, or taking a walk around your block and paying attention to the world around you.

Observing pollinators on my walk home from school // Source: Siobhan Mullally

“By stepping outside, not only are you getting a good dose of fresh oxygen, serotonin, vitamin D, and maybe a pretty sunset out of it – you’re reconnecting with the earth. The ground you’re walking on. The plants and animals that you coexist with. The little delights that live and thrive and breathe and walk and live all around you. And if we keep connecting with these things, I hope we will feel a little bit more grounded in our own backyards, realizing that we’re part of nature and we can take care of it in the footsteps of people who have done so for many generations. We can get to know the names of the species around us, the bird calls, the texture of the grass outside, the smell of the soil in our gardens. These details are important – they are vital to upholding the connection we have to the Earth. And we will be able to fight for this planet and remedy our eco-anxiety if we keep tending to the relationship we have with nature.” -Siobhan Mullally, “A Being in Nature: How the Mourning Dove’s Call of Inspiration Quieted My Busy Mind”

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Human activities have thrusted our planet into a climate emergency. This calls for an urgent need for adaptation—adjusting our natural and human systems to minimize climate hazards, exploit climate opportunities, and mitigate—the conscious actions to minimize the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and to remove existing GHGs through improving carbon sinks. Climate change is real, and the consequences are vivid. From the melting polar caps of Alaska all the way to Kiribati’s dissipating beaches, climate change stymies our livelihoods and heightens vulnerability to environmental hazards. So, why is there even the existence of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? According to their official website, “the IPCC was created to provide policymakers on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options,” (IPCC, 2020). Some of the solutions often floated around by this and other giant institutions include constructing greenhouses to support agricultural food systems in drylands, building reservoirs to collect excess runoff, and providing crop insurance to tackle crop failure. In their “infinite” wisdom, these bureaucrats placed a caveat that we should adopt these strategies in ways that support the national, regional, and local contexts. Interesting, huh? But with the lenses of reality on, how can Kiribati people, who have almost nothing, adapt to their rising sea levels and dissipating coastline, build reservoirs to tackle flooding, and provide farmland insurance for farmers whose farmlands turned into water bodies overnight?

Even though there is a lot of attention to tackle climate change, Nature-based Solutions (NBS)—using traditional and naturally producing resources to mitigate environmental hazards—have been side-lined for technocratic solutions, and sometimes retrogressive—climate wise—technological innovations. Moreover, much of these current approaches are usually bogged down in faulty rhetoric. For instance, everyone wants a better environment, at the same time, also wanting the comfort of owning a luxury and eco-unfriendly car.  Who takes the buses then? It cannot work that way; you must pick your poison! In retrospect, Greta Thunberg was precisely correct when she called economic growth ‘a fairytale.’ The questions that remain unanswered are: why are we so ever focused on the use of artificial methodologies in reverting the world to a more natural state? Would it not help to use a nature-based approach instead? For instance, in the illustration of Megan Leslie—President, and CEO of World Wildlife Fund Canada, the need for NBS could not be more apparent:

“If you think about the increasing floods we are seeing, for example, concrete culverts and breakwaters can only handle so much water. Silver maple can absorb 220 liters of water [an hour]! If we replace all this concrete with natural infrastructure, with green infrastructure, firstly, it can handle the floods. Secondly, it’s resilient… it bounces back.” –Megan Leslie

NBS have emerged as cost-effective mitigation and adaptation strategies that simultaneously provide socio-ecological and economic benefits while boosting resilience among people. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), NBS involves the intentional use of nature for sustainably managing ecosystems and tackling socio-environmental challenges. The nature-based solutions are rooted in the oxymoronic ideals of going back to move forward, looking into naturally occurring solutions that can be humanly instigated and controlled to increase resiliency and fight climate change. These suggestions are topical as they are relevant and include reimagining green housing, utilizing natural resources for construction and plant growth to fight climate change. NBS to climate change emphasizes harnessing the myriad potentiality of nature to reduce GHGs while also adapting to climate-related stresses such as human health, food and water insecurity. NBS to climate change is considered a win-win approach. We get to protect, restore, and sustain our ecosystem while efficiently addressing an existential threat. Further, NBS can be adopted in both rural and urban settings—an attribute which makes NBS more practical and comprehensive.

Rural areas

Although climate change is omnipresent, there are differences in the intensity of these impacts because of two factors: (1) your location in the world and (2), the level of disposable resources with wealth at its core. Sadly, folks in the Global South or the developing worlds, are particularly more affected by climate change due to their heavy dependence on natural resources from which they derive their livelihoods, and their limited availability to adapt to the changing environmental conditions. As dire as these conditions may be, they are also being exacerbated by prevailing adaptation strategies. For example, to stimulate agriculture, the current use of high-nitrogen-fertilizers over time makes the land progressively barren while leaching nitrous oxide into the drainage system and polluting vital drinking water sources for millions of people. With NBS, however, simple practices like mulching (yes, good old mulching), could prove essential for revitalizing smallholder farmlands through soil moisture conservation and sustainably improving soil fertility. Typically, mulching involves collecting and applying decomposing organic matter (e.g. sawdust, wood, grass, food scraps) over arable lands’ topsoil. The best part is that mulching materials are free and readily available. This process could solve the triple problem of utilizing food waste, soil infertility, and improving biodiversity.

A smallholder farming household practicing mulching // Source: Bryan Waters

Another NBS that could be employed in these areas is the utilization of bamboo grass. Bamboo (Subfamily: Bambusoideae) is a fast-growing, drought-resistant grass. It can be the best crop that can grow in some environments. This ancient grass serves many purposes. In fact, there is evidence of its utility in building construction, making furniture, serving as windbreaks, and where native, could even be planted around your luxurious million-dollar home as a living privacy screen (you know, against those shady neighbors). In other words, bamboo is the gift that keeps on giving and there is something in it for everyone. As climate change continues to wreak havoc globally, substituting bamboo in place of plastic in privacy screens or in place of destroying mature Mahogany trees from the rainforest (which take 25 years to grow) are great strides toward reductions in carbon footprint. The bamboo plant thus serves as a stylish, classy, and sustainable alternative. As we begin to care for and incorporate bamboo use in our daily lives, we will also be indirectly preserving biodiversity since it serves as the main diet and habitat for some of the world’s cutest animals.

Locals putting bamboo to use // Source: Panos Pictures/Felix Features

Urban areas

Urban centers or cities are characteristic of high-density infrastructure—roads, bridges, airports, residential and commercial buildings, etc. Many cities like New York and Toronto, struggle with creating and developing spaces for nature. But with a switch to NBS, vegetation can be used to cover the walls or roofs of buildings in urban centers. Green roofs and walls have numerous benefits to the ecosystem and human health. Some of these benefits include insulation provision (thus reducing energy consumption), absorbing rainwater (potential to reduce floods), minimizing the urban heat island effects, and serving as carbon sinks. Green roofs and walls make urban settings aesthetically pleasing as well, which could reduce the stress associated with these busy, noisy, and chaotic systems. Roofs absorb rainwater and can cool the tops of buildings, thereby creating milder microclimatic conditions. The concept of green roofs has taken shape in some cities including Toronto, which in 2009 was the first city to promulgate a bylaw that regulates and governs the construction of green roofs.

 Green walling in urban structures // Source: WikiCommons

Green roofing in urban settings // Source: Urbanscape

Overall, NBS provide sustainable toolkits for adapting and mitigating climate change; they are available and accessible to people in all socio-economic classes. NBS is part of existing ways of life and requires minimal special initiatives to implement. They are cheaper to implement, good for the environment, utilize indigenous knowledge, and are often community based. This also leads to empowerment, which makes implementation and sustainability more feasible. Combating climate change is imperative in every dimension—politically, economically, and morally, because it embodies our collective attempt at saving the lives and livelihoods of billions of people.

This article is part of our March 2021 Western Student Editorial Series – a series that showcases the works of students in the Collaborative Specialization in Environment and Sustainability program. Read more articles from this series here!

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The traditional purpose of gardens was to grow and cultivate plants for food and medicine. For centuries, it has provided individuals with the opportunity to learn more about the environment and better appreciate nature. Gardens have become a widespread practice in schools across the globe. Implementing garden-based teaching incorporates concrete experiences that contribute to the understanding of many topics in the classroom curriculum. It is interesting to see how school gardens can differ between regions and how a global pandemic has impacted school gardens. Families have turned to gardening to ease the mental and emotional strain that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on residents when the need for education surrounding nutrition and health is more critical than ever. Overall, this article aims to analyze the impact school gardens have on an individual’s wellbeing and environmental awareness.

Benefits and Challenges

School gardens can have a positive impact on an individual’s mental health providing students with a sense of autonomy as well as a feeling of belonging. The advantages of school gardens are numerous. For instance, a study done by UNICEF reported that the average happiness for children is the highest for children who play outdoors. Moreover, the memorable learning experiences provided by a school garden helps students link their learning to their feelings. Such engaging experiences like these stay with the students as they grow up and affect their behavior and lifestyle. They also influence the students’ values and decision-making skills. When students are given opportunities to take care of and maintain a school garden, they develop an increased sense of responsibility towards the environment and improve their social interaction skills by working in groups and communicating their experiences. They also experience enjoyment from watching their products grow and sharing their produce with their community. Additionally, school gardens can instill healthy eating habits in students by exposing them to fruits and vegetables, which makes them favor natural produce. However, the benefits of school gardens are still not enough to overcome the challenges that are facing these gardens. For example, school gardens suffer from a lack of funding from the school districts and those gardens rely on contributions from the community members. In addition, school gardens are constrained by the national curriculum guidelines that do not allow teachers to try different approaches with their students.

Source: Unsplash

School Gardens Across the World

School gardens supply outdoor learning and access to healthy food for students and local communities. As the global food supply chains have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, access to healthy food options and nutrition is more important than ever. Outdoor learning and school gardens help fill nutritional gaps in places where access to healthy food may be limited, while also supplying recreation, stress reduction opportunities and supply a safe outdoor learning environment, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the international level, the World Food Programme has supported Home Grown School Feeding initiatives at the community level. These initiatives work to promote nutrition education and better eating habits, and encourage the diversification of production with a special emphasis on local crops. Community involvement, in turn, enhances the sustainability of programs.

Many countries decided to tackle the challenges of food security by educating the younger members of society on how to grow their own crops. Indeed, across many countries, we have seen an increase in school community gardens due to the current spread of the COVID- 19 pandemic. For example, children in El Salvador have grown vegetable gardens in the communities and inspired young people and adults in seeking to replicate their initiative to secure their food and avoid the high market prices affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, at least 700 children from across India are now bound together in a microgreens project initiated by Chennai-based E-zone India, a company that does environment projects with and for school children. Founder Hafiz Khan says that the lockdown helped to convert the program into live WhatsApp video sessions with students from anywhere in the world learning how to nurture their school gardens and home gardens. Another example is happening in Papua New Guinea, in the city of Lae, where the launch of a new garden program for secondary schools represents an approach to reduce outside dependence on the external food supply and building community hubs that can help the health and economic recovery from the pandemic.

Since multiple countries are undertaking similar projects, we are left asking how the meaning of school gardens has changed during these challenging times? Children used to be involved in gardening projects at school to be close to nature and enjoy outdoor activities. Now though, learning how to grow your own food is essential for your survival, not just a mere hobby. Children are understanding the importance of learning how to nurture a garden and grow their own food. Indeed, their experience is leading them to be the protagonist of food security and sovereignty in their community, and they are proving to be engaged and successful in such endeavors.

Conclusion

It is imperative to acknowledge the influence school gardens have on students and their understanding of the environment. Schools across the nation have been implementing outdoor learning into their curriculum. This hands-on teaching style has displayed several benefits for the individuals involved. It has created a sense of community during this global pandemic. There are several challenges that could arise when trying to implement a new school garden. Funding and government policies are some of the leading problems preventing schools from executing this learning technique. However, around the world, schools are trying to overcome these obstacles and standardize the use of school gardens. As previously mentioned, gardening has become much more than just a hobby. Not only does it result in the production of food, but it has also become a new teaching method for the younger generations.

This article is part of our March 2021 Western Student Editorial Series – a series that showcases the works of students in the Collaborative Specialization in Environment and Sustainability program. Read more articles from this series here!

References

Basu, S. (2020). Budding kitchen farmers. Retrieved from https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/the-covid-19-lockdown-has-encouraged-children-across-the-country-to-create-their-own-microgreen-farms-at-home/article32041705.ece

Berezowitz, C. K., Bontrager Yoder, A. B., & Schoeller, D. A. (2015). School gardens enhance academic performance and dietary outcomes in children. Journal of School Health, 85(8), 508-518.  https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12278

Borbon, C. (2020). Children grow vegetable gardens in El Salvador to survive COVID-19 pandemic, The Gulf News. Retrieved from: https://gulfnews.com/photos/lifestyle/children-grow-vegetable-gardens-in-el-salvador-to-survive-covid-19-pandemic-1.1598003097530

Cornish, L. (2020). Can school gardens help alleviate the economic impact of COVID-19 in the Pacific. Devex. Retrieved from https://www.devex.com/news/can-school-gardens-help-alleviate-the-economic-impact-of-covid-19-in-the-pacific-98161

DeMarco, L. W., Relf, D., & McDaniel, A. (1999). Integrating gardening into the elementary school curriculum. HortTechnology, 9(2), 276-281. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH.9.2.276

Evans, D. & Davies, J. (2020). 4 reasons why the world needs more urban farming post-pandemic. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/urban-farming-flourish-post-pandemic/

Food Corps. (July 22, 2020). Growing Healthy Communities in School Gardens during COVID-19. Retrieved from https://foodcorps.org/growing-healthy-communities-in-school-gardens-during-covid-19/

Gromada, A., Rees, G., & Chzhen, Y. (2020). Worlds of Influence: Understanding What Shapes Child Well-being in Rich Countries. Retrieved from https://www.unicefirc.org/publications/pdf/Report-Card-16-Worlds-of-Influence-child-wellbeing.pdf

Ozer, E. J. (2007). The effects of school gardens on students and schools: Conceptualization and considerations for maximizing healthy development. Health Education & Behavior, 34(6), 846-863. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198106289002

Passy, R. (2014). School gardens: Teaching and learning outside the front door. Education 3-13, 42(1), 23-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2011.636371

Waite, S. (2007). Memories are made of this: Some reflections on outdoor learning and recall. Education 3-13, 35(4), 333-347. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004270701602459

World Food Programme WFP (2020). Home Grown School Feeding. Retrieved from  https://www.wfp.org/home-grown-school-feeding

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Over the past week or so, my world has been very high-energy, productive, and busy, busy, busy! I have been maximizing my time at A\J by writing, thinking, creating, editing, and giving as much of myself to my work as I can – not only because I have obligations, but because I love it! I am someone who thrives on busyness. I want to have my foot in every door and I want to check off every box on the to-do list – these things energize me and move me forward. But recently, I came to a point, after a lot of constant creative output, where I was left with a mental block. I sat down to write this article, which was going to be about how nature relieves eco-anxiety (we’ll get to that later), and I could not think of anything to write. I had zero ideas, and when I dipped into my creative pool, it was dry. 

My brain felt like an internet browser with 25 tabs open, tons of information whizzing around, and all the softwares working at once – and it was starting to get slower and slower, lagging and loading… loading… loading … I actually did have tons of tabs open on my computer and its functionality was diminishing. My screen was exhausted and my eyes were sore from staring at it; I literally felt connected to my computer. So, when I finished work the other day, I closed all the tabs, shut down my computer, and walked away from it. And funny enough, I was unintentionally doing the same thing to my brain – disconnecting and unplugging.

After finishing up my work for the day, I decided to go for a walk around the block. It was around 6pm, so the sun was no longer in the sky, but the light of day remained and blanketed the world in a golden hue. I stepped outside, took a deep breath of fresh air, and the first thing I heard was the call of a mourning dove. It instantly calmed me. I heard its familiar call and it had a very real, very immediate effect on me. For a moment, the only thing occupying my brain was the sound of another living being. It was as if all the other thoughts that usually have intense bumper car competitions in my mind were temporarily wiped away – the bumper car ride at the amusement park was closed for maintenance and it was finally quiet. 

I walked a little farther down the street, then stopped for a moment by a giant pine tree. A little identification trick that I learned in school popped into my mind, so I picked up a fallen needle and tried bending it between my fingers – snap! It broke in half, indicating that it was a red pine. Then, I heard tiny chitter-chatter noises coming from squirrels in the trees as they sat exchanging their latest news to one another. I also heard another unknown bird – chip! chip! chip! And then I heard the whirr of bikes as a few people sped past me, and I decided to keep walking before I looked weirder than I already did, standing alone on the sidewalk, looking at squirrels. 

I turned around a corner onto another street and was boldly met with the sky – bright, royal blue fading into deep, golden orange on the horizon. No clouds were in the sky, which made the colours even more striking. All of the sudden, after stepping outside and noticing a few mere suburban elements of nature, I realized I felt inspired again. I had been giving so much of myself in my life and work that there was not enough left for me to draw inspiration from. It was time for me to refill myself, so I could once again have the capacity to give and share again, and being in nature was what allowed me to do so. 

I have often turned to nature for inspiration and healing when I feel empty or distant from my own self. I stop looking at the screens that so often dictate my every move. I get away from the obligations, the voices, the lists. And I go outside. I listen and look closely, paying attention to minute details. I clear my brain of the constant reel of information and thoughts that run through each day, and start making room for new thoughts that are meaningful, that spark inspiration, and that allow me to reconnect with my physical surroundings. These types of thoughts can come in when I stop thinking about all the how’s, why’s, when’s, and where’s of my day. I had been pondering how I was going to write this article for a couple of weeks, then in one moment, it all came to me – just from going for a walk and intentionally NOT thinking about it. 

Tiny fungi rainbows // Credit: Siobhan Mullally

Nature as a Remedy for Eco-anxiety 

I have found that there are a great many things to befriend in nature that can heal, inspire, and give us peace in our lives. It’s quite known these days that nature greatly benefits mental health. There have been many studies that show how interacting with nature can be therapeutic and calming, and help relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. Even bringing nature indoors by listening to recorded nature sounds or having images of natural spaces in our homes can help improve our moods. So, we know that nature is beneficial for a healthy mind, but what if the state of nature is the core reason for mental negativity?

As a young person today, a main source of anxiety for me is the state of the world. I’m sure many others are with me on this who experience this eco-anxiety on the daily. The world is on fire, species are dying, our natural world is becoming trashed and artificial, but greed seems to win the fight every time. The people fighting for a better world are exhausted and the young people inheriting it are terrified (and most of the time these two groups consist of the same people). This isn’t the kind of stress or anxiety that goes away after finishing a project at work, submitting a final assignment, or giving a major presentation. It’s a constant, looming anxiety that will never go away because it is about holding the world together. 

The people fighting for a better world are exhausted and the young people inheriting it are terrified (and most of the time these two groups consist of the same people).

Imagine the world is a giant broken vase. Some people are actively contributing to the breaking, and some people have no active role in either the breaking or fixing, but the rest of us are all working together to hold the pieces in place and fill in the cracks where we can. Older generations are starting to let go of the pieces, passing them onto younger generations, but the pieces are breaking more than ever, so young people are having to use both hands. They can’t let go or it will fall apart. But wait! My nose is itchy and I can’t scratch it; I can’t take my hands off because I have a duty to hold this world together. I must ignore my own natural, normal needs (i.e. my hopes and dreams of pursuing my life goals, having a full career, starting a family, having a functional planet to live in, etc) to keep it from falling apart. Eco-anxiety is fully real.

Climate Strike at the University of Waterloo // Credit: Siobhan Mullally

As young people who deal with eco-anxiety, we need to be taking breaks from work and screens to be in nature to help sustain our mental health. By being in nature, we can reconnect with it, feel like we are a part of it, rediscover our innate thirst for the beauty of the natural world and our dependence on it, feel it in our own hands, and be grounded in it. Nature’s great peril is what drives eco-anxiety, so it makes sense that nurturing our relationship with the Earth by physically being with it can help aid this.

Connecting with nature can look like a lot of different things: growing plants in your garden, digging your hands into the soil, going to a local forest and feeling the bark of the trees, learning the names of the birds in your backyard, laying on the grass and watching the clouds, or even simply noticing living things that you might not have noticed before, like lichens, fungi, and moss. I think all of these small actions can help alleviate greater anxieties about the world. It’s about bringing your mind from the global picture and scaling it down to the hyper-local microclimate where you physically stand, honing in on the small details. I believe that we may be more able to continue advocating for a better world in a global sense if we devote time and energy to connecting with the natural world around us on a more intimate level.

A closer look at a Citrus Flatid Planthopper (Metcalfa pruinosa) // Credit: Siobhan Mullally

By stepping outside, not only are you getting a good dose of fresh oxygen, serotonin, vitamin D, and maybe a pretty sunset out of it – you’re reconnecting with the earth. The ground you’re walking on. The plants and animals that you coexist with. The little delights that live and thrive and breathe and walk and live all around you. And if we keep connecting with these things, I hope we will feel a little bit more grounded in our own backyards, realizing that we’re part of nature and we can take care of it in the footsteps of people who have done so for many generations. We can get to know the names of the species around us, the bird calls, the texture of the grass outside, the smell of the soil in our gardens. These details are important – they are vital to upholding the connection we have to the Earth. And we will be able to fight for this planet and remedy our eco-anxiety if we keep tending to the relationship we have with nature.

All you have to do is shut down your internet browser brain, close all the tabs, and let it rest. Shut down the cranial bumper cars for maintenance. Embrace the quiet in your mind to feel inspired and rejuvenated. Go outside and find treasures in nature that calm you, reconnect you, ground you, and inspire you. Listen for your mourning dove call.

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There’s nothing funny in the above paragraph. Which is ironic given that no one here at Alternatives Journal (A\J) who had the pleasure of working with (or even just meeting with) Wayne went away without smiling. The subject matters that interested Wayne most were also important and very serious matters, yet our team members first recall the witty headline suggestions and the self-deprecating asides. Don’t get us wrong; the deep ponderings and unique perspectives that Wayne shared with our readers in A\J issues throughout the years were always a feast of food-for-thoughts. You don’t become an ’eminence gris’ without earning the accolades, which Wayne did as individual Canadians, government officials, leading corporations and impactful charitable organizations came to appreciate Wayne’s persistent advocacy for more secure food systems to benefit all Canadians.

We all – all Canadians – have benefited from Wayne’s insights and ideas as they’ve shaped policy and planted the seeds for more meaningful actions to ensure that access to affordable and healthy food choices are available to each and everyone of us.

“When someone in Toronto goes to a farmers’ market or they harvest from a community garden or they see that their local grocery store has more local food in it — Wayne played a vital role in making that happen,” Mike Schreiner, Guelph MPP and Green Party of Ontario leader said.

“He is the godfather of good food policy for Canada for the things that he contributed to food policy in Toronto and Canada at large,” mentioned Anan Lololi, executive director of Afri-Can FoodBasket.

And, as mentioned, we were fortunate to have Wayne share his wisdom and witticisms with our readers on a frequent basis, starting in the mid-00s. His frequent collaborator on our side is long-timer A\Jer and our Publisher Emerita, Marcia Ruby. Marcia shared her thoughts with as as she reflected on Wayne’s involvment and impact our our own work – and the legendary legacy he leaves for others to follow.

In early 2000s, Wayne reached out to A/J to ensconce the idea of food sovereignty in food conversation and policy (29:4, 2003). Food issues have been one of the most popular issue themes here at Alternatives, performing the best on newsstands, and referred to by researchers and activists.

Three years later, for the same reason, Wayne led the editorial charge to scale up on Canada’s food security measures. (32:3)

had many conversations with Wayne apart from his issues and articles. He was generous in contributing advice and strategy for Alternatives, quite separate from editorial. He was a connector– sometimes he’d refer writers working on cutting edge research to me and I’d often refer budding food activist students to Wayne. Not many months would pass without an email exchange or two.

Wayne would always add a special splash to any line of copy, including this, the last line in the editorial for Food Securtiy:

Welcome to food sovereignty: crisp and eager, with a note of the commons, an undertone of nature, a good nose and a sharp finish.

We were very fortunate in 2007 when Wayne agreed to join the A\J’s editorial board, the roundtable of luminaries who help shape issue themes and story ideas. Not a Food issue went by that Wayne did not contribute to. One of the memorable articles was “Eat This Recession” (35:6, 2009) where Wayne crunched a bunch of numbers to show the virtuous results of several approaches including green roofs and a four-day work week. It was so thick with numbers that our editor, Nicola Ross, was compelled to send it to several referees. She had so many opposing views that she wrote a little intro, shared these views and invited others to offer theirs. And I summarized these scenarios by working with an artist to create diagrams of each. One of the higher maintenance but rewarding things I’ve done at A\J. It was a lot to chew and pretty popular.

I sent him this note this past Sunday.

Hi Wayne

You are one inspiring man, Mr. Roberts! Thank you for the years of guidance and for all of your contributions to the food movement – in Alternatives and the ocean of other initiatives and thinking that you have created over the years. So much of your generous and sage advice came my way (always delivered in good humor and your infectious giggle, hence, whenever I think of you, I see your face and your great big grin).

Wayne, I’ve got to say, you get the prize for most innovative and entertaining writing on food in Alternatives! “Digest This!” “Eat This Recession” and “Eating Insects: Waiter, There’s no Fly in My Soup” to name but a few.

Love you lots Wayne.

Marcia

Wayne’s contribution, Eat This Recession, in a 2009 issue of Alternatives Journal (A\J)

Nicola Ross, A\J editor from the mid-00s to 2011, also remembers Wayne fondly:

Wayne had the best laugh and the most positive outlook. So smart and he came up with what I think was the best article title during my tenure. On his article about eating insects, the title was “Waiter, there’s no Fly in my Soup.”

Wayne most recently wrote for us in 2017, contributing Radical Food Resistance to our, you guessed it, FOOD issue that year. You can read it yourself – actually, you really should – as he started the article as follows:

I feel totally torn about what I’m going to write here. I’ve been working mostly from the right side of my brain since I became a food enthusiast 20 years ago, but now I feel my left brain calling me to pay more attention to logic and analysis. My right brain tells me we have chalked up a string of successes over the past two decades, and should continue building on that momentum.

Indeed, few social movements can claim as impressive a list of accomplishments as food movements, advances made almost entirely through the efforts of young volunteers, poorly paid employees of grassroots groups and mindful shoppers.

As an organization dedicated to crafting and delivering entertaining and enlightening environmental storytelling, we always knew we could count on Wayne to lift our spirits and expand our mental horizons. We were so very fortunate to have shared those stories with you, our readers, as it gave us an opportunity to meet the man himself. And, as you can read from the above anecdotes and special notes, we are so profoundly grateful for that opportunity.

Please enjoy Wayne Robert’s writing in A\J.

The post Reflections on Wayne Roberts appeared first on A\J.

…including ways we can right our environmental wrongs and help nature thrive…”

I do not believe that humans are inherently bad for nature. In history, humans lived harmoniously with nature for generations, living as an intertwined part of nature rather than separate from or in control of it. In fact, even today, in many places in the world, healthy ecosystems actually depend on human intervention and stewardship to thrive.

Does that mean the problem is that humans aren’t living in harmony with nature anymore, as we should be? Well, that may be a piece of it; however, in addition to being better environmental stewards by taking measures to protect the environment, I also believe that we should be taking reactive measures to fix the problems we have already caused. This is where ecological restoration comes into play. There are plenty of things individuals can do to help the environment, including ways we can right our environmental wrongs and help nature thrive in places it used to. Ecological restoration is just that – righting the wrongs, repairing the relationship.

WHAT? – Defining Ecological Restoration

The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is the leading organization in ecological restoration across the globe. SER defines ecological restoration as “the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed”^[1]. In other words, ecological restoration involves looking at spaces that used to be natural areas that have been ruined in some way as a result of human activities and disturbances, and then taking measures to turn those areas back into functional ecosystems.

The process of ecosystem restoration // SOURCE: Medium

An example of this process in a community could be transforming a damaged, unused parking lot space into a city park where native vegetation can be planted. A larger scale project might look like reverting a decommissioned, highly polluted mine site back into a thriving natural ecosystem. But, wait. Isn’t this supposed to be about how individuals can practice ecological restoration? Absolutely! Ecological restoration does include large scale projects, research, and experiments, since restoration ecology is an academic field of study. But the concept of restoring natural spaces can also be scaled down to the local, household level. So let’s get into what ecological restoration has to do with YOU.

WHY? – The Benefits

Before we discuss the how, we should discuss the why. Why should you care about ecological restoration? Because it benefits you!

Restoring natural areas can do wonders for human health and wellbeing by making our communities healthier and more desirable places to live. For example, transforming degraded areas into functional, natural spaces may improve air and water quality. Ecological restoration projects could also combat climate change, since plant life takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and cools our environment.

Natural areas also directly benefit human mental health and wellbeing by providing recreational outdoor space, and making urban and suburban areas more aesthetically pleasing. Several studies, including one conducted by the NASA Earth Observatory, have shown the link between positive mental health and both the accessibility and proximity to green spaces. Green spaces are valued by many for enjoyment, boosting their mood, and inspiring deeper connections with nature. To break it down: Ecological restoration = more parks and gardens = more outdoor fun and good-looking cities = happier people.

Ecological restoration projects also usually provide increased and improved habitat spaces for wildlife. Now, I know this article is focused on why ecological restoration is relevant to people, and you are probably not a butterfly or toad looking for habitat, but hear me out. Some very important species are at risk of extinction since their habitat needs are becoming harder to meet in this era of urbanization and climate change. Many natural areas have been reduced or destroyed, and the animals who need to live in those spaces are struggling to survive in many cases. The karner blue butterfly is just one of many examples of a pollinator species that has gone locally extinct in Ontario.

The Karner Blue Butterfly // SOURCE: Nature Canada

Pollinators are especially valuable species for the health of the entire planet, so we really can’t afford to lose any more of them. It is estimated that up to 95% of flowering plants depend on pollination^[2]. In terms of plants that humans eat, that means roughly one out of every three bites of food that you take exists because of pollinators. So if pollinators can’t find habitats and continue to decline, our entire global food system could be at stake. Now that is a scary thought. Allow me to bring back the optimism. It is truly amazing that we have the capability to stop those environmental dooms from happening, and a key method to do so is ecological restoration!

HOW? – The Actions

The individual’s role in ecological restoration is simple: transform your areas with little to no diversity into biodiverse paradises, and take part in local community projects.

One great starting point for figuring out where you should do ecological restoration is identifying areas outdoors that have little to nothing growing there. The average North American lawn is a great example of this. What comes to mind when you think of a lawn? Probably an expanse of short, uniform grass. Let me explain why lawns are one of the areas with the most potential for ecological restoration at the household level.

Lawns are very common green spaces in urban and suburban areas, yet they have no ecological value. Many lawns actually do more harm than good for the environment because they require lots of water and can even release more greenhouse gases than they absorb. It is nonsensical that these precious areas of green space are being wasted on lawn grass!

The key to remember here is simply – restore your green spaces so they are welcoming to a diversity of species in order to create functional ecosystems and promote sustainability.

nstead of having a boring, homogenous lawn, you can transform that space into something more beautiful and ecologically-beneficial! Alternative lawns may look different depending on where you live and what kind of space you have available, but planting a diversity of native plants is a good start. Using a diversity of plants, meaning plants of different species, is important to create habitats. The more diverse your space is, the more types of pollinators and other species it will accommodate, and the more functional the ecosystem will be! If you take pride in the beauty of your yard, then now is the time to let your creativity shine! Check out Credit Valley Conservation’s tips and resources on how to “ecologically landscape” your lawn.

SOURCE: Hamilton Pollinator Paradise

If you don’t have the resources to completely change your lawn right away, don’t worry. You can also just let your grass grow longer instead of regularly cutting it, which can lower the lawn’s water requirements and still foster a space for pollinators. Even simply taking a break from raking leaves in the fall is a strategy to make your spaces more ecologically beneficial because leaf piles are actually super important spaces for small critters to live and hide, like butterfly larvae, salamanders, and shrews!

The key to remember here is simply – restore your green spaces so they are welcoming to a diversity of species in order to create functional ecosystems and promote sustainability.

 For those who don’t have a lawn and don’t have any areas where you can create habitats and gardens, there are still things you can do – just get involved. There are so many local ecological restoration community projects, practically across the whole globe. Finding a project near you that you can help with is just a few clicks away! Just research ecological restoration projects near you. You can also go to the project database on SER’s website to find some larger scale projects in your area if you’re interested in learning more! Many ecological restoration projects welcome volunteers with open arms. You could spend a day in nature by joining a team pulling invasive species in a natural area, or donate to a local initiative trying to turn an old landfill site into a park in your city, or even take a field trip to a conservation area! For example, the Ontario branch of SER hosts several field trips each year in order to introduce the public to restoration efforts near them. Even during the pandemic, they are hosting virtual field trips and webinars.

I study at the University of Waterloo and I like to go for walks on my study breaks. Recently, I took a walk in Filsinger Park, in Kitchener, and I found out that the Filsinger Park stream had been a restoration project. The city replaced the concrete stream channels with native vegetation to create a naturalized, functional stream ecosystem, and it is now a beautiful place to take a walk and appreciate nature! My point is, simply going for a walk and discovering ecological restoration in your city could be the first step in making your mark on the environment a positive one. Ecological restoration is relevant to you. We can all contribute to restoring natural spaces in our own backyards and communities. And by making these contributions, we can restore our relationship with nature, one step at a time.

^[1] Society for Ecological Restoration, “International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration: Second Edition” (accessed January 7, 2021) <https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ser.org/resource/resmgr/docs/ser_international_standards_.pdf>^[2] Ollerton J, Winfree R, and Tarrant S, “How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals?” (accessed January 7, 2021) <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x>

^[2] Ollerton J, Winfree R, and Tarrant S, “How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals?” (accessed January 7, 2021) <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x>

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I took a sip of the beer that was nested in my hand and looked around the room. When they said the event was called “Green Drinks”, I was under the impression the beer would be green. To my disappointment, it was not.

The event* was being held by a non-profit called LEN, or London Environmental Network, in celebration of the London Brewing Co-op receiving organic certification. LEN has been connecting like-minded, local, environmental businesses together since 2015. At first, I was reluctant to go to this event. Over the past few years of my professional career, networking has always been a pain in my side that I pretended didn’t exist. But one cannot say NO to organic beer.

Now making my way through my Masters in Sustainability (Western University’s Centre for Environment & Sustainability is part of LEN), I have really come to understand the importance of networking and fully appreciate the work LEN does. By lifting smaller environmental organizations up who might have struggled to make it on their own, these businesses can share resources and network beyond their inner circles at workshops and conferences.

I took another sip of my beer. At the podium was LEN’s Executive Director, Skylar Franke. She was speaking about the latest news on LEN’s Environmental Incubator Project. “The project,” she mentioned, “allows local businesses to pitch environmental ideas and, in return, LEN will support them with coaching and financing needs to make this idea come to life”.

“One of the recent Environmental Incubator Programs is the Pollinator Pathways project…” she went on. I recognized the creator of this project, my prof, Dr. Gabor Sass. From what I knew, the purpose of the project was to encourage citizens and businesses along the Dundas corridor in London to plant pollinator gardens to support local bee populations. The idea of mowing natural spaces to fit in with a concrete jungle aesthetic has always irked me, I made a mental note to check out the gardens next time I jog downtown.

Another program run through the Environmental Incubator is the Community Composting Program. Since the municipality doesn’t collect compost through curbside pickup, Urban Roots, the leader of the project, has offered to take organic waste which would normally end up in a landfill. In my experience working as an environmental consultant specializing in organic waste, I know people want to compost in London but don’t know how or don’t see it as simple. And while London still has a long way to go in terms of composting, this program is a great first step.

Programs like these wouldn’t be able to run without the support of LEN.

After her speech, Skylar Franke came to speak to the crowd. We spoke briefly about her path and how she became the Executive Director for LEN. After her speech, I listened to Jeff Pastorius talk about an organic delivery service called On the Move Organics, as well as Becca Minielly from the Organic Council of Ontario. Not knowing much about the organic movement, the event allowed me to peer into a new social circle I would have not met otherwise.

I was glad I went.

*BC (Before Covid-19)

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Born into a farming family in a small town where corn stalks reign supreme, I saw firsthand the physical effort and mental stamina it takes to be a farmer. I watched my father work 12+-hour days, oftentimes for weeks on end.

While completing my bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, I began to learn about the environmental problems resulting from modern farming techniques used across the world: algal blooms in lakes from nitrogen and phosphorus run off; synthetic hormones and pharmaceuticals in factory farming; or the massive amounts of methane entering our atmosphere from raising livestock. I witnessed handfuls of protests and rallies, a few of which my close friends participated in, all sharing the same message: modern, technology-driven agriculture is ruining the world.

It was during this time I faced an internal conflict. How could my father participate in such a system? Are farmers like my father really turning a blind eye and simply disregarding the environmental degradation that comes with modern farming?

Here is what I’ve always understood: a healthy natural environment is the very thing farmers depend on for their income – an unbalanced natural ecosystem means a poor farmer. In other words, why would a singer want to purposely damage their vocal cords?  Perhaps the burden lies in the tools and procedures farmers must use to feed our growing population.  And our population keeps on growing.

In 1900, the average Canadian farmer grew enough food to feed about 10 people; by 2014, that same farmer now had to feed 120 people in the same timeframe. Today, that number is likely even higher. Yes, we have been increasing our ability produce more food per acre by modernizing farm equipment, improving irrigation methods, and using crop ration. But we cannot forget this success was also by the means of pesticides, hormones, genetic modification, and other developments which sit at the core of an environmentalist’s angst.

Our food productivity rates are now beginning to slow down, while population growth is not. Farmers must use the tools they have at their disposal to keep up with population demand. Unless we provide farmers with more environmentally friendly options proven to be equally, if not more, efficient than current methods like pesticides and insecticides, we cannot condemn the farmer. At least not if we want to keep eating.

Farms are changing. Canadian farmers represent an aging population, with the average farmer in their mid-fifties. As Michael Pollan said in the New York Times, “as a society, we devalued farming as an occupation and encouraged the best students to leave the farm for better jobs in the city”. Moreover, smaller farms are becoming obsolete – and, as a result, we are witnessing further consolidation of mega-farms, which will continue to leverage their economies of scale to operate as efficiently at possible, filling a demand that will only intensify as more farmers retire.  

We need to find better solutions which pose less strain on the environment, without sacrificing farmer yields. 

A possible solution lies in harnessing population growth and rethinking our food consumption. Project Drawdown listed family planning as one of the most effective solutions to solving our climate crisis, partially because it may relieve the strain on our current food systems. However, as the authors mentioned, linking family planning with the health of the natural environment remains controversial and, after all, farmers are more interested in planting more seeds!

Regardless of the controversy, should our planet reach 9.8 billion people by 2050 as current predictions show, we will need to feed all these people and feed them efficiently. 

SOURCE: Pexels

To add to the problem, a third of all food produced by farmers worldwide goes to waste. In the global north, we overfill our plates, then toss our leftovers in the trash. We throw out a bruised apple or tomato if we think it looks ugly or undesirable. All while farmers work overtime to grow this food. Simultaneously, the global south lacks the proper infrastructure for the food to reach them at all, and once it does, they struggle to store it properly. Rather than challenge the status quo of our food systems, we often protest the small farmer relying on genetically modified seeds or insecticides to make a living.

I recognize global food systems are inherently complicated, and larger economic powers and political influences direct this system. However, one thing can be sure; while populations rise and we continue to demand an aesthetically pleasing, never ending supply of food, farmers will need to use modern, more intensive farming techniques. We need to find better solutions which pose less strain on the environment, without sacrificing farmer yields. 

I am proud to come from a farming family. I am also proud to consider myself an environmentalist. I have learned many lessons so far and I know there are things I still do not understand. But one thing that I am certain about is that I recognize we are fighting for the same team, not against each other.

The post Farm Beefs appeared first on A\J.

Photo credit: Hilary Boucher, 2020

My neighbourhood 7-Eleven convenience first supplied me with hot fried foods to snack on during the movie, and then I made the 1-kilometer walk, on un-shovelled sidewalk, sprayed by icy slush while the snow found its way underneath my scarf onto my neck, to the bus stop. The bus was understandably 25 minutes late and brought me to the theatre at warp speed with no regard for human life. I arrived just in time to order a quality genmaicha tea and get my ticket to Fantastic Fungi, the only movie playing on the one screen in the quaint, independent Hyland Cinema.

In 2009, the BBC released their Jungles episode of Planet Earth in which parasitic cordyceps infiltrate insects’ bodies and brains, causing them to exhibit strange behaviours. Suddenly, cordycep fruiting bodies erupt from their heads, releasing deadly spores into the air capable of infecting and killing insects in the vicinity! “How cool”, I thought–invisible spores able to bring down a colony of millions of ants in a matter of weeks. So began my amateur mycophilia, or love of mushrooms.

Photo credit: Hilary Boucher, 2019

If anything, hundreds of millions of ants living in organized, hierarchal underground colonies deserve a worthy predator. Like ants, fungi also live underground; extending their mycelia networks trillions of miles all over the planet. But they also live within us, in the deepest oceanic trenches, within Antarctic rocks, and maybe on Mars. Fantastic Fungi presents the magical, mysterious, and sometimes mystical world of mushrooms through stunning visuals. Using CGI, time-lapse, and mesmerizing fractal animation, Brie Larson occasionally narrates from the point of view of the collective Fungi kingdom.

As you may recall, according to botanist Carl Linnaeus’s hierarchy of biological classification, the fungi kingdom is the most populous and diverse. With an estimated 2.2 million to 3.8 million species, ranging from unicellular organisms to bioluminescent mushrooms, Fantastic Fungi illuminates how little is actually known about this beautiful kingdom.

Photo credit: Hilary Boucher, 2019

The mysterious nature of fungi leads to fear in some cases. Fungi are primarily associated with death and decay; imagine a decomposing mouse or moldy cheese. But different species of fungi return that mouse slime to the soil in the form of beneficial nutrients, and others work together with bacteria to produce the veiny, intentional mold in blue cheese. Fantastic Fungi seeks to shift the fungi narrative from one of death and decay to one where fungi represent rebirth, rejuvenation, and regeneration. While plants and animals die every day, fungi, working as the digestive tract of the planet, feast on this death and enable rebirth. Without fungi, there wouldn’t have been space on the Earth for humans to evolve alongside the epic piles of dead plant and animal matter.

No discussion on mushrooms is complete without mention of the psychedelic variety. This is another quality of mushrooms that has been largely ignored by the scientific community due to government controlled substance acts. However, certain advocates hypothesize that early human’s contact with psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound in ‘magic mushrooms’, caused the rapid evolution of cognitive abilities. This so-called ‘Stoned Ape Hypothesis’ may offer an explanation for the unusually rapid doubling of the human brain somewhere between 2 million and 100,000 years ago. Certainly any modern human with experience with psilocybin can attest to its consciousness-altering effects. In fact, Fantastic Fungi’s human hero, passionate mycologist and mushroom entrepreneur Paul Stamets, unlearned his childhood stutter after a somewhat misguided (read: dangerously high) dose of psilocybin.

Fantastic Fungi is a mesmerizing, brief foray into the fungi kingdom of unrealized potential. Considering humans would be much more vulnerable to disease without the various antibiotics derived from fungi, one might be curious to learn more about them.

Photo credit: Hilary Boucher, 2019

***

Sources

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/thames-river-floods-after-nearly-70-mm-of-rain-1.5424630

https://globalnews.ca/news/6433339/snow-storm-squall-london/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0038s7y

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/fungi-in-space/

https://www.inverse.com/article/34186-stoned-ape-hypothesis

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Dr. Andrew Judge is an Anishinaabe-Irish Scholar and founded the ongoing Indigenous knowledge project, Minjimendan, at rare Charitable Research Reserve. Minjimendan is an Ojibway word meaning “in a state of remembering.” It is a reference to the state of mind in which the ancestors lived in order to thrive. They would remember where the places of sustenance were and nurture those places for the betterment of future generations. Minjimendan was designed as a sustainable Indigenous foods garden. The project grounds Indigenous knowledge and philosophy rooted in land-based sustainability practices. In the words of Dr. Judge, “The Indigenous Food Garden seeks to foster a welcoming, safe and inclusive environment for all — a sanctuary where threads of ancient wisdom can be woven into the tapestry of consciousness.”

Indigenous Food Security

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, food security exists “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Unfortunately, however, rates of food insecurity are disproportionately higher for Indigenous people, in what is present day Canada. This can directly be attributed to racially motivated legislation like the Indian Act that forced Indigenous peoples to live on isolated reserve communities, sometimes far from their traditional land base. Further exacerbating the challenges posed by food insecurity are the negative health outcomes resulting from a working knowledge of food security developed in a non-Indigenous context – meaning today’s colonial views of food security do not reflect nor account for the traditional food practices of Indigenous people (Power, 2008).

The four pillars of food security identified by the UN are access, availability, supply and utilization. Each holds unique implications for Indigenous peoples and their wellbeing, which customarily depended on the region of the world where they originated. Access includes both physical and economic, which are influenced by income, purchasing power, ecosystem health, transportation, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Availability requires adequate supplies, which are also influenced by ecosystem health, TEK, domestic productions, and trade.  Supply is highly dependant on the ability of a community to respond to the demands of their ecosystem. Utilization consists of knowledge of food safety, sanitation conditions, access to clean water, again ecosystem health, TEK, and knowledge of what makes up an adequate diet.

Climate change, which can directly be attributed to human colonial exploits, has severely impacted all four pillars of food security for Indigenous people – not to mention the theft of their lands. Any remaining potential for Indigenous people and all people to utilize their ecosystems in ways that support food security has been muted by environmental contaminants. This is all despite knowing that a traditional local diet tends to be more nutrient-dense than an imported or manufactured one. All of this is impacts quality of life for Indigenous people. Furthermore, the planting, nurturing, harvesting, and sharing of traditional foods is part of Indigenous peoples’ relationships to land, acting as a method for the transmission of values, skills and spirituality (Power, 2008). Food plays an important social and economic role and forms the basis of social activity, cohesion, and integration through the strong symbolic and spiritual values formed when the community comes together. For some, the ability to access traditional food is vital to cultural and physical well-being.

Indigenous identity has been marked as a key characteristic of vulnerability to food insecurity. Research indicates that Indigenous groups have a higher prevalence of sociodemographic risk factors that can leave an individual vulnerable to food insecurity. The lasting impact of colonialism has affected food security through issues including residential schooling, loss of culture, marginalization and relocation to remote locations, and a failure to settle land claims (Subnath, 2017).

While older individuals tend to consume more traditional foods when access permits, younger Indigenous people have become more reliant on store-bought foods, and often were not taught the skills or TEK to live with the land as their predecessors once did (Subnath, 2017). All the parts of an Indigenous food system are inseparable and are meant to function through interdependent and interconnected relationships that includes all parts of the ecosystem as relations, and transfer energy through the ecosystems to the social networks and eventually the economy.

Indigenous Farm Practices

Many modern agricultural system are unsustainable. From monocultures and excessive tillage of the land that harms the soil and attracts pests and diseases to artificial fertilizers polluting soil and water. Soil health becomes an issue when its ability to hold water is reduced, and farmers are forced to strain their reservoirs. Preserving traditional forms of farming knowledge and land-based sustainability practices can enhance food security, maintain biodiversity, and protect natural resources, but we must all work together to recover from the monophasic thinking – the thought that a single reproduced organism is the way to produce food, i.e. a multi hectare soybean field. Indigenous “farming,” and I use quotes here because the practices are about as far from farming as one can get, results when people connect deeply to the land and remember their role as human beings. The goal is to develop food systems that accent biodiversity and restore, revitalize and protect nature instead of destroying it. It’s actually a very simple concept, but due to colonial and media influences that have projected Indigenous peoples as primitive, there are few people today with even basic knowledge of this type of relational connection to our mother earth.

There are several practices that reflect Indigenous land-based knowledge. Agroforestry, the intentional planting of trees to develop microclimates that control temperature and protect against harmful weather related event. Crop rotation is a practice by which growing different crops on the same land can preserve the productive ability of the soil. Intercropping is when farmers sow more than two crops at the same time in the same field, which can maximize land use and create biodiversity. Polyculture involves growing many plants of different species in the same area in a way that imitates nature and result in better soil quality and more stable yields. Finally, water harvesting is the redirection and use of rainfall, which helps to create a storage of water in the event of drought or minimal rainfall. Each of these techniques were practiced in varying ways widely by Indigenous peoples and by looking to the Elders and people who still remember or still practice these techniques and others, we can begin to revitalize our destroyed ecosystems together.

There is some evidence suggesting that Indigenous communities grew the “three sisters”: a method of companion planting beans, squash and corn to create a polyculture that protects the soil, prevents pests, and maximizes yields. In wet regions this practice was used on elevated surfaces to help drainage, while in drier climates it was used to border gardens to contain rainfall. There is a lot more, however, to the three sisters than what meets the eyes, but to learn this knowledge, one must be committed to this work and actually start practicing it. It’s one thing to talk about something and another to do it! Soon you’ll realize the immense complexity and rewards of producing food for your community. Indigenous farmers combined intercropping and agroforestry to yield significant amounts of produce in small spaces. They exemplify sustainable practices and as we all attempt to decolonize, we can potentially get there again. Indigenous production methods were largely shunned by settler societies once they started to realize their profits from monoculture systems. But they were not thinking long term, as Indigenous people always did. Now those profits mean nothing, as the entire ecosystem of earth is in decline and the future ecosystem health we have left our grandchildren is bleak at best. With increasing awareness of the unsustainability of modern farming techniques, there’s a growing desire to look back at traditional methods, to look back to Indigenous peoples and ask how can we remember what it is to be a human being and how can we together create a more sustainable future for all.

Follow-Up

Find out more about RARE charitable research reserve.

If you would like to learn about how to incorporate Indigenous foods into your landscape, or contribute to the Indigenous Foods Garden, you can get in touch with Dr. Andrew Judge at mkomose19@gmail.com

Here are some resources to learn more about Indigenous food sovereignty:

• Coté, C. (2016). “Indigenizing” Food Sovereignty. Revitalizing Indigenous Food Practices and Ecological Knowledges in Canada and the United States. Humanities,5(3), 57. doi:10.3390/h5030057
• https://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/foodsecurecanada.org/files/DP1_Indigenous_Food_Sovereignty.pdf
• Subnath, Melissa, “Indigenous Food Insecurity in Canada: An Analysis Using the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey” (2017). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 4459.
• https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4459
• Power, Elaine. “Conceptualizing Food Security for Aboriginal People in Canada.” (2008). Canadian Journal of Public Health. 95-97.
• https://www.resilience.org/stories/2017-08-14/five-indigenous-farming-practices-enhancing-food-security/
• https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/AHRC2250Add.1_English.PDF

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