As hills burn in California, I’ve been thinking a lot about how the individual sacrifices we’ve all had to make this year. I think about my nail artist, my hair unnie, my favorite local restaurants, and of course, all my friends who were looking forward to finishing school, moving on from a toxic work place, or travel.
And then, doing my field research for the sustainability almanac brings me even more perspective. Farm stands serving their communities with masks on, community produce bins encouraging anyone who depends on food stamps to help themselves, and volunteers dripping sweat in valley heat to rotate crops as summer winds down. I start thinking about the migrant workers who are literally bending over backwards to feed all of us while getting paid just a few dollars a day with no benefits and no workers’ rights.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing some qualitative thoughts on site visits I made to three urban farms and gardens: SOW‘s community garden, The Ecology Center, and Ave 33 Urban Farm. My biggest takeaway so far is every community deserves access to fresh produce, but we still have a ways to go to make this accessible to low-income families. It’s easy for me to drive up to LA to pick up my $30 produce box and enjoy the fresh herbs and tomatoes within a week- but how is that a viable option for a mom trying to feed a family?
I want to wrap up this season’s recap with a brief story. Recently, I observed an online thread about using cloth diapers. The OP was urging all moms to abandon disposable diapers for cloth diapers because they are better for the environment- and then OP broke down how many diapers you would need for one baby, how many you would need to wash on an average week, and so on. While I think people should definitely consider incorporating sustainable lifestyle changes, I do not think it’s realistic or fair to expect people to try to live zero-waste. This cloth diaper conversation made me realize that people who are unaware of sustainability may also be turned off by this type of attitude. Many people out there assume that sustainable lifestyle= expensive, unrealistic changes that demand zero-waste results.
I want to write my almanac for anyone who wants to learn about sustainability- what the word means, how it applies to individuals, and what one can do to make long term, affordable, and healthy changes to do their part in fighting climate change. And you don’t need to figure these things out alone- I’m finding out already that there is a huge community out here in LA ready to help.
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