Thoughts on how green living and eating shouldn't be a luxury, but a right for anyone concerned about health and sustainability.
Living green shouldn't be a choice of luxury, available only to those with the income and access allowing them to buy fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, whole grains, natural fiber clothing and environmentally friendly furnishings. Ideally, every person should be able to eat healthful, nutritious foods and live sustainably. Unfortunately, that's not the case, and options for the have-nots appear to be growing worse rather than better.
Just as economic disparities between the world's richest and poorest are growing, so too are dietary ones. The well-off live in neighborhoods with overflowing grocery stores and bustling farmer's markets, while low-income and rural citizens are left with the worst sources for healthful foods: convenience stores, fast-food restaurants and dollar shops.
Fortunately, there are people and groups out there working to improve the situation, creating community gardens in low-income urban areas without nearby grocery stores or promoting community supported agriculture in which subscribers can buy fresher, more nutritious foods cheaper than they could find anywhere else in their neighborhoods. But much more needs to be done.
Just think of all those wasted acres of potential local gardens -- abandoned, trash-filled lots in cities, overtreated and resource-hungry lawns in the suburbs, empty properties in small towns decimated by depopulation and big-box competition. There's hope for the future, but it's going to take a revolution in how we think about food and how we live. The results, though, could be a much fairer, healthier future for us all.
