Food justice and the environmental question

Abstract

Food justice denotes both a social movement and an academic discourse of theorizing what constitutes a fair food system where the benefits and harms of food production and consumption are distributed equally and where every human being has a right to food. In the general discourse of food justice, a just food system is also assumed to promote the sustainability of food systems. In this article, I point out the problems of this assumption by revealing the tensions between the social and environmental aspects of justice in food systems. They relate largely to the fact that local food is not synonymous for environmentally sustainable and low-carbon food, yet the food justice discourse has assumed that re-localization of food systems guarantees its environmental soundness. Another, related tension concerns the democratization of the food system that may aggravate the environmental burdens of the food system in certain conditions when not paired with education and scientific knowledge. I illustrate how the conflicts between various claims for justice emerge, how they could be avoided, and I also discuss how the society could foster the emergence of food citizenship that would promote justice and sustainability in food systems.

Keywords: food justice, environmental sustainability, local food, food democracy