Today we heard from a group called "Roots of Change" that is working to make the state of California more food secure. They were very interesting to me because their approach seemed different from any I've ever heard of before. They began by creating round tables for dialogue to occur between seemingly disparate entities - policy makers, environmentalists, businesses, and farmers.
They spoke to each of the participants individually to understand what each saw as the ideal new food system. They created "maps" (diagrams really) of each individual's description and then combined the visions to create a holistic system that incorporated everyone's ideas. In this way they could see what the final product was that all the participants wanted and find a holistic way to achieve this goal. They similarly made a map of the problems that needed to be addressed before this system was achieved. I was very drawn to this approach because I often find myself frustrated when people are so focused on their own goals that the whole gets lost.
Additionally many people throughout this course have expressed their opinions that we need a complete revolution, a total redesign of the food system. I agree with this on many levels, however I think that in addition to this, or rather in the meantime, we need to work within the system. It's a strange dichotomy for me. I am an optimist in the short term. I always try to see the glass half full, to see small steps as big victories along the way to a better future. I firmly believe in action, and that we cannot be apathetic, that we should always strive for a better future. However, in the long term, I am cynical, I am a pessimist. I believe in people, but I do not believe in our systems of change, our governments, our politics to take definitive action in time to make a difference. They are too tied to the corporations.
Because of this I was very incredibly drawn to Roots of Change. One of we people we heard from said that he believes that ROC is there to facilitate these conversations and bring people together to start working on this enormous task of redesigning the food system. He says that he believes the current system will collapse at some point in he not-too-distant future, and that when it does the ROC Network will be there to provide an educated, eauitable food systems solution, not a reactionary one as happened with current food safety standards. (Did you know that you get points off a food safety evaluation if you allow children on your farm? I mean that's just ridiculous.)
Another interesting result of their conversations with people was to shift away from the word "sustainable". Instead of "sustainable agriculture" they came up with "restorative" and "depletive" agriculture based on people's actual definitions of susatinability but also their aversion, or built-in bias against the word "sustainable" which has come to incorporate so Manu different ideas. It was interesting how new language was crucial and integral to bringing people together and eliminating contention.
Some unrelated pictures from around campus:
Through the woods to the bookstore.
Footbridge from the library.
Monterey Bay from the sports complex.
Radio beside the road.
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