Around the world more and more people are doing their best to eat healthier, one of the ways they are doing this is with the locavore movement. The locavore movement is a way of eating where all of the food that one consumes is both produced and sold locally. Locavores choose to eat food that has come from their community rather than from across the nation. Eating food that is from one’s local community is incredibly beneficial to both the environment and the health of the citizens, to greatly important components of a functional community. If a community were to implement the locavore movement, it would better the economy and enhance the nutrition and health.
Bringing the locavore movement into a community can bring along with it a better economic situation. Instead of going to the nearest Walmart where your “money leaves the community at every transaction”, spending your money at local farmers markets will allow for the profits to be kept inside the of the community (Source A). Allowing more profits to be flooded into a community will benefit small farms, creating more local jobs which will enable the economy to grow and prosper. According to the
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Why wouldn 't a community want to better their economy and make its citizens healthier, creating an overall better environment? Creating a better economy and a healthier population are only a couple ways that the locavore movement would help a community thrive. Having a more affluent and healthy population causes the trend to spread to different surrounding areas and communities, which could cause the locavore movement to blossom in an entire state and over time could become prevalent in an entire nation. And wherever the locavore movement goes, the benefits and implications follow closely behind meaning that an entire nation could improve their economics and health, helping them surpass other
There are proposals for plans of action to address this pressing and complicated issue. Current initiatives being discussed in congress focus on creating programs that are economically feasible for larger-scale grocers to move to lesser economically desirable locations at federal level.3 These initiatives entail creating incentivized programs for large grocery companies as a possible solution to combat unequal access to healthy food options in urban and rural communities.3 However, instead the focus should instead shift to local businesses and convenience stores due to their ability to make changes without hurdling the complications of federal law. Providing incentives to local businesses and convenience stores to provide locally grown fruits and vegetables in their stores will yield greater access to fresh produce at an affordable cost to community members. These initiatives to support local food retailers would be achieved through subsidizing local grocers or providing tax relief to areas designated as food desert locations via GIS mapping software.1,3
The Future of Foods Projects Presented at LA City Hall on Food Day 2017 Promote a Good Food Economy for All Smart Stop: Plant-Based Convenience Store Could not find info online Hank’s Mini-Market: Convenience Store Transforming into a Community Arts Hub and Healthy Food Store in Partnership with Sweetgreen The healthy neighborhood market network has been working with corner stores in south LA and Boyle Heights to offer more fresh produce and healthy food options. Hanks's Mini Market located on 3301 W Florence Ave, LA CA and has been transforming the community by providing its food resources to Sweetgreen restaurants. http://goodfoodla.org/policymaking/healthy-neighborhood-market-network/ Create a Culture Shift
In Maryruth Belsey Priebe’s article “Benefits of Being a Locavore” she expresses the benefits to buying local produce. Priebe catches her readers in her opening statement discussing the benefits of becoming a locavore with “Supported by environmentalists and average households, locally grown food is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint while enjoying tastier, healthier food at a lower cost” (Priebe). A locavore is a word used to describe someone who purchases food locally in order to try to reduce their carbon footprint. Priebe’s makes sure that she shares some of the concerns with the long-distance food miles before delving in to the benefits of becoming a locavore like the experience involved in purchasing locally, having healthier
Although healthier options may be expensive or growing fruits and vegetables may seem like a burden, Berry suggests that it can make eating more enjoyable, an “extensive pleasure” according to Berry. As Americans, freedom and democracy plays a big role in our politics, yet we are ignorant to the fact that giving control of what we are eating and it's sources is not an example of freedom. (Berry) Americans are fooled by the lies advertisements give out about their foods, continuing to make Americans ignorant of the realities of food, and the only way to stop this is by realizing and “ reclaiming one's own part in the food economy” possibly by making food instead of buying fast food, deciding on better choices instead of settling with the unhealthy ones.
“Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat”, is a famous quote by the well known philosopher Socrates, who believed this is the perspective we should take when we are eating food. Unfortunately, the times have changed and so has the way we eat. We no longer have to go hunting for our food, or grow crops to receive all of our fruits and vegetables. Because we have become a society that has grown into the new world of technology, there would be no need to rely on ourselves for what we need-- we can simply gather our resources from other people. In the book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, written by Michael Pollan, takes us on a journey full of concerns of the “Food Industrial Complex”.
Locavores are misinformed idealist who believe in changing the world by eating locally. They believe by eating locally, they are improving their carbon footprint, help the local economy, and creating a more nutritional diet. However, locavores are ignorant of many situations such as many people’s lives depend on trade and that many places are not suitable for farming. Even though a locavore’s heart is heading in the right direction, but their efforts are misguided.
Marion Nestle, professor and former chair of nutrition at New York University, states that between locally and commercially sourced foods, there is a negligible difference in nutrition (Source B), even though the locavore movement has pushed the notion. However, despite its controversy, the locavore movement starts an educated discussion and piques the public’s interest about food. The social aspect of the movement then sustains itself through investment in the local
This is due to the fact that food deserts are located in these areas of low income and businesses do not choose to open in these neighborhoods because they are not likely to prosper in them. In order to try to fix this issue, cities have tried to place healthier options like Whole Foods in these neighborhoods but they are having an adverse effect. The individuals of the community cannot afford to pay more for better quality food and end up shutting down. One possible way to fix this issue is to open more cost friendly options like Aldi or Safeway. By adding a greater variety of options at a lower costs, citizens should be able to make the shift to more healthier options without breaking their
Quoting Wal-Mart, Mr. Holt-Gimenez explains, “If you’ve always lived near a grocery store, or fresh market, here’s something you’ve probably never considered: There are neighborhoods across the United States where it is nearly impossible to find fresh produce. These places are called ‘Food Deserts’ and Walmart is committed to removing them from our communities” (525). Access to fresh, high-quality food is a major factor in today’s obesity problem and the reason why lower income individuals suffer from higher obesity. Lower income residents, often with no access to transportation other than the public system, are at the mercy of the food offerings that are within a few blocks from their home. With no grocery stores or fresh markets around, their choices are limited to fast, low-quality take out or pre-packaged foods void of any nutritious value.
Due to McWilliams’ strong claim, evidence, warrant, backing, and rebuttal to counter arguments, his argument is therefore an effective one, according to the Toulmin method. The most important and key components, that are vital to an argument, are the argument’s claim, qualifiers, as well as the evidence the author uses to support their argument. If there were no claim, then the author has no firm stance or basis for their argument, because they would have nothing to defend or persuade their readers of. The claim James E. McWilliams makes in the article “The Locavore movement: Why Buying from Nearby Farmers Won’t Save the Planet” is that since there are so many factors that are attributed to the destruction of the earth and the waste of tons of energy ,that the locavore movement is not quite saving the planet simply by focusing
The rising health problems in the United States of America are caused by poor nutrition, people who are sedentary, the lack of healthcare prevention, and many more. As reported on the Tikkun website, “Of the many systems in our world today that need to be reimagined, none is more important for our future than our food system” (1). The lack of our food system is one of the many factors that has led the United States to its uprising dilemmas; one of the many factors are the food deserts across the U.S. Food deserts are geographic areas where access to affordable healthy and nutritious food are limited, or impossible to purchase, by residents in the area. Food deserts are prone to low-income areas that can’t afford transportation, and due to the lack of grocery stores and supermarkets that sells fresh produce and healthy food within convenient distance to resident’s homes, there is a difficulty in obtaining healthy food options which leads to countless health issues. According to the Diabetes Forecast website, “About 18.3 million Americans live in low-income areas and are far from a supermarket” (1).
The people in the community can change their views of themself and their community according to the quote, “But supermarkets can provide more than just improved food access and economic growth—new investments can change how residents see themselves and their communities (page 109). This quote proves benefits of improving food issues go far beyond food into people's
He argues that subsidized land grants and communal gardening are solutions that would lift some out of poverty while also assisting in curbing the trajectory of obesity rates among western children. More likely to be accepted by the western minded is Yanovski’s suggestion of diet journals being shared in public classes and worked upon as a group to develop better eating habits as children. Either or would inevitably save taxpayers money down the road and increase the overall quality of life for the average American at the same
Vegetarians consume less animal fats and cholesterol and replaces it with more antioxidants and fibers. If more people decided to become vegetarians it would not only improve people’s health but also the environment and the economy. Taking America as an example, the statistics show that nearly 70% of America 's adults are suffering from obesity and one of the consequences of this is getting a heart disease meaning that you most likely have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. This is usually because the typical american diet is not very healthy because of the amount of bad fats and fast food they are consuming. If an american were to change to a vegetarian diet, the majority of the bad fats will be eliminated and replaced by foods that are
It not only wastes money but also causes some environmental problems, such as pollution and rats. However, many people do not realize the problem now. Considering that food waste is troubling, it is important to initiate a movement to motivate residents to reduce food waste, and the movement can be carried out through reeducatice and facilitative strategies. Food waste is a significant food-related issue in my community as well as many other communities and cities.