Our brains are expert at delivering exactly what we put our attention on. Ever told yourself to “not do” something and then bam – you do exactly what you tried to avoid?
Don’t bang your head on that ledge - whack – happens to me all the time. It’s like in that exact moment when you become consciously aware of NOT wanting to hit that ledge your body is already moving to make it happen. Thanks brain!
But the same can be true for our larger goals.
While I am absolutely all about breaking a large goal into smaller meaningful steps, if our goal is so much less than what is possible then we will never achieve our true potential. If we only color inside the lines we never learn what is possible.
This is true socially as well.
We need food security
The concept of food security is critical. No one should be left hungry. We want to prevent starvation and the slow painful decline of mental and physical health that goes along with being chronically malnourished. We want to create a baseline limit of what is tolerated in our society when it comes to access to food, especially for children.
But food security does not go far enough. It is the bare minimum of what is actually required. People need more than just enough food not to starve. So don't get me wrong, I am not arguing against food security, I am arguing for creating so much more.
Why wouldn’t we set our focus on creating food abundance?
Creating food abundance means that there is ample food for achieving the wellbeing of every person.
We are not simply preventing starvation or malnourishment. We would be focused on providing enough food for people to thrive every day, to achieve mental and physical health, to shift their attention onto living and contributing to society instead of trying not to die.
Imagine what becomes possible if people are not wasting time and energy worrying about where their next meal might come from. Imagine if everyone knew that they would eat today . . and tomorrow . . and the day after that.
Imagine all the physical and mental health problems that could be avoided if people were not forced to live on the cheapest calories available. Imagine the millions of health care dollars that could be re-directed into other important tasks.
This is not a fantasy exercise.
People before profits
This is what is possible when we take control of our food systems.
Profit-driven food systems may deliver food security if they are forced to by regulation and constant monitoring (hasn’t happened yet – just saying), but they will never deliver food abundance.
Making healthy food cheaper and more widely available is possible in our current system, but it will never happen. The profit comes from creating ultra-processed, sugar-fueled, addictive products at premium prices wrapped up in convenience.
Nobody is getting rich selling fruits and vegetables. The profit-driven system has failed us all.
Food abundance comes from community-driven mechanisms that put people above profits.
We are not re-inventing the wheel.
The mechanisms to create food abundance already exist.
We already have models for food co-operatives (use the Co-op Finder Apps), not-for-profit organizations that re-purpose systemic food waste, food sharing apps like Feed It Forward, food coupon programs, farmers markets, seed banks, and community gardens. Localized food sources create stability, reduce waste, reduce environmental damage and cost, and provide higher quality foods.
More importantly than any of these mechanisms, is the opportunity for every person to grow something for themselves. Every person. Everywhere.
In containers. In flats. In plots. Up the sides of buildings and across rooftops. In fields and forests.
Food can grow everywhere.
The basics of growing some food remain the same worldwide: a seed source, soil, water and sunlight.
This is not rocket science. This is basic life on earth as it has existed for millions of years.
What is missing currently is the BELIEF that we actually CAN grow food. We actually can feed ourselves if we choose to make this happen and work together.
We’ve been bombarded for decades by messages like:
- Growing food is hard work
- Growing food takes expertise
- Growing food takes a lot space
- Growing food takes money
- Growing food is complicated and required fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and machinery
- Growing food takes sooooo much time
Sound familiar?
None of these myths are inherently true.
They are exaggerations aimed at disempowering you and dissuading you from even trying. You are just not smart enough to grow food. Huh? I call bullshit.
If we collectively stopped worrying about whether the giant multi-national food corporations were going to post another $XX Billion in profit for the year, then we could actually address the systemic issues in our food system that are creating food insecurity in the first place.
The cost of food today is simultaneously held artificially too low (to turn farmers into the working poor) and artificially too high (to consume as much personal income as possible next to the cost of housing). Corporations have been squeezing both ends of the equation hard for decades and laughing all the way to the bank.
But the reality is food can actually be grown everywhere.
Some reality checks
The reality is that with a little care you can produce your own seeds which makes all the food you grow after that free.
The reality is that if you learn how to care for soil naturally you never need artificial fertilizers.
The reality is that if everyone grew SOMETHING to eat the amount of available food increases in mind-boggling proportions.
The simple act of converting space around us into food changes everything. Then the big acres of land can produce the grain and rice and staples needed to round out the equation. Then grazing (meat) livestock can be raised on pasture the way nature intended them to eat (not force-fed grains they are not evolved to eat), as they convert sunlight into high quality proteins that humans have consumed for thousands of years.
Because you can grow some microgreens in your kitchen.
Because you can put a potted dwarf pomegranate tree in your south window and have a steady supply of fresh fruit.
Because you can convert a section of your lawn into a garden and plant a fruit tree instead of an ornamental.
Because you can coordinate and swap with neighbors to create a variety of foods.
Because we can set building codes to REQUIRE all new buildings to be strong enough to support food production on, in and around them.
Because we can create food abundance. And we need to create food abundance in the face of severe climate change impacts happening around the world.
Corporations are only going to keep squeezing you harder. Food does not have to be an ever-increasing cost that threatens your very wellbeing and survival.
The steps are simple (but not easy):
- Change the conversation from food security to food abundance
- Normalize growing some of your own food, and sell or share what you don’t need
- Support other local growers first before buying from more distant sources
- Change food policies that are blocking the highest and best use of food and food waste
- Change food polices that block you from buying food from your neighbors
- Change building codes to enable the production of food in every development
Because food can grow nearly everywhere. And the greatest hoax of our time is that food is expensive. Let’s change the conversation from food security to food abundance. Let's put people before profits. Let's shoot for the stars. Let's shift our focus to abundance.
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