My essential question is, how can learning about food sustainability inform the sustainable practices I use in my own life? I’ve found podcasts have been super helpful in answering this question because It’s a great way to learn about the experiences of a diverse range of people who all have this shared goal of wanting to live a more sustainable life. Recently, I’ve been listening to the Green Dreamer Podcasts which features many interviews with people who practice “intersectional sustainability” and “ecological regeneration” for a living or just in their everyday lives. In my first CR, I wrote about a podcast I had been listening to that focused on the idea of food citizenship. The Green Dreamer podcasts have complimented the information I learned earlier on in the project and in other podcasts. These podcasts have also helped me as I’ve begun to make changes in my own routines. Many of the people who are featured on the podcast are farmers, organization leaders, etc. These people highlight the problems in their industries (whether its food processing, farming, worker and animal rights, or health) and share the ways they are addressing these issues. In one episode, focusing on “deepening our connections with people and nature through food”, a man shared his experience of opening a vegan/ environmentally friendly restaurant with goals of helping eliminate food waste and inspiring people to make more sustainable food choices. This episode was easy to relate to because he highlighted ways that anyone can be sustainable. Everyone who buys food is a consumer and has the power to impact the food system with the choices they make. He emphasized that both small acts, like being a “smart shopper” and buying only what you need (to eliminate food waste) and big acts like going vegan or contacting big companies to demand that they use more sustainable practices are both important in changing our food system. I think these ideas of food citizenship and taking responsibility for our actions as a consumer can challenge everyone’s food habits. Especially in our culture, there always seems to be ways to be more sustainable. I made the choice to change my food habits, but now I’m thinking about how else I can be more sustainable.

In other episodes of the podcast, farmers share their experiences and insight on sustainability. These stories are often less “relatable” as a city person. However, I’ve found that these episodes have challenged the narratives that I’ve been getting used to when learning about food sustainability. I think that making animal farming “the enemy” to food sustainability is an easy narrative that is not always true. I’ve found it super interesting to listen to stories from people who rely on animal farming to make a living. The practices that are used, which are unsustainable and often cruel, are most often not the choice of the farmer. Most farmers rely on big companies or the government to make a living producing their livestock. These companies set the standards of how they want their livestock grown. Livestock production has become a huge problem because of the way the animals are raised (in mass quantities and in small spaces). However, farmers who practice restoration/regenerative agriculture highlight that animals are actually essential to a natural ecosystem. The way our farming system is set up today is not natural and has destroyed our ecosystems. This builds the need for chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, etc. to temporarily fix the problems that we have caused, which only created a more unhealthy system. More farmers need to focus on this regenerative style of farming, which would eliminate most of the problems that the agriculture industry faces and the destruction of our environment. Instead of pushing back and destroying the environment, farmers need to work with our natural ecosystems, in which animals would be an essential factor. This knowledge challenges my own view of the impact I can make in the food system. Changing one’s diet is an important step but is it enough if the same destructive farming practices are still being used? All of these different stories and information has really made me question my own impact. I can change my diet, try to eliminate my own food waste, etc. but can I really make an impact? Farming practices and big industries seem to be the root of our unhealthy culture around food but it seems so far away from my own life. How do I make an impact at the root of the cause? I wish there were ways I could make bigger, more noticeable changes but I think changing my own habits is a good start for now.