1. Why all the concern about sustainability?  Modern industrial agriculture is having unanticipated consequences.  Family farmers, rural communities, the quality of our water, the safety of our food, and true food buying choices all are being harmed.  Since the 1970s, organizations have formed at the state and local level – public, private, and non-profit – to create and support a more ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially just system of agriculture.  Sustainability affects us all.

 

2. What is sustainability?  Sustainability is related to the quality of life in a community – whether the economic, social, and environmental systems that make up the community are providing a healthy, productive, meaningful life for all community residents, present and future.  There are many definitions of sustainability and sustainable development; however, all the definitions have to do with living within the limits, understanding the interconnections among economy, society, and environment, and equitable distribution of resources and opportunities.

 

3. Why is “equity” (or “inequity”) a key term in the context of sustainability?  The term equity has to do with fairness – whether all people have similar rights, opportunities, and access to all forms of community capital.  Inter-generational equity has to do with fairness between current and future members of a community.  It doesn't mean that we neglect our current needs, but that we try to achieve a reasonable balance between satisfying our needs now and setting aside enough to provide for needs of the future.

 

4. Why buy organic food?  Buying organic food and other supplies is increasing in popularity, both in the United States and abroad.  Organic food is grown using production practices that feed the soil, protect natural biodiversity, and don’t use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, which degrade the surrounding environment, poison workers, and harm people and wildlife.

 

5. Why buy locally grown food?  Locally grown food is harvested at the peak of flavor and sold to you within a day or two so it is the freshest food you can buy.  When you buy food grown locally, you also support local farmers and the economic health of your own community.

 

6. Until the 1970’s, the trend for farming was either to get bigger or to get out of the farming business.  Along with increasing interest in organic and locally grown food, census data on North Carolina show that there is a trend toward smaller farming and an increase in the number of small farms.

 

7. What’s an example of sustainable agriculture?  For thousands of years American Indian farmers have planted the “three sisters” – corn, beans and squash.  This form of companion planting forms a unique ecosystem in which each plant helps the others grow.  The corn provides support for the beans, and the squash shades out weeds.

 

8. At the Paris Conference for Global Ecological Governance in February 2007, top United Nations officials called for clear objectives and strong ecological governance at the global level to reverse environmental damage across the planet, noting that environmental degradation “is undercutting our fight against poverty” and “could even come to jeopardize international peace and security.”

 

 

SOURCES

1. U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Sustainable Agriculture: Definitions and Terms,” http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/terms/srb9902.shtml.

2. Sustainable Measures, “Definitions of Sustainability,” www.sustainablemeasures.com/Sustainability/Definitions.html and http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/Sustainability/index.html

3. Sustainable Measures, “Key Term: Equity,” www.sustainablemeasures.com/Sustainability/KeyTermEquity.html

4. The Washington Post, “A Growing Trend: Small, Local, and Organic,” www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/05/AR2006110500887.html; Toxic Free NC, www.toxicfreenc.org.

5. FoodRoutes, “Buy Local,” http://www.foodroutes.org/buylocal.jsp.

6. The Washington Post, “A Growing Trend: Small, Local, and Organic,” www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/05/AR2006110500887.html; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service: Data Sets, www.ers.usda.gov/StateFacts/NC.HTM.

7. American Indian Mothers, Inc. Handout at the North Carolina Council of Churches’ “Come to the Table Conference,” 4/10/07.

8. United Nations, www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21440&Cr=climate&Cr1=change.