Engaging Urban Learners Through Focus on Food Justice

Over 80% of people in the United States and half of the world's population live in urban areas, yet current teaching methods in environmental education (EE) are often not focused on learners in urban settings. This paper addresses the ways in which EE is lacking in an urban context and how the food justice movement might help EE become more inclusive and effective for urban learners.

The author elaborates on three ways in which EE is not meeting the needs of learners in urban areas. The first is by largely ignoring urban areas. The author suggests that EE's lack of attention toward urban places traces to its roots in notions of “nature-as-truth” and “wilderness-as-pristine” and that the current form of EE often reinforces this dichotomy between wild, untouched nature and industrialized urban areas; these dichotomies may exclude youth with urban experiences.

The second shortcoming of urban EE, the author asserts, lies in its common form of classroom science education. This format tends to limit EE to scientific ways of knowing, lecture-based pedagogies, and content that focuses on objective facts. By contrast, EE's philosophy and pedagogy more often call for place-based, outdoor, and experiential learning that do not fit within the rigid formal school system. The author also points out that conventional classroom teaching techniques frequently marginalize learners from more diverse backgrounds.

Finally, the author suggests EE's third challenge in urban contexts is its lack of engagement with issues of race, culture, politics, and economics. This partially relates to EE's lack of involvement with urbanity. The author cites EE's location within an American public education system that is designed to serve the majority and reinforces dominant social structures rather than questioning them as problematic in this regard.

By contrast, the author suggests that the food justice movement may provide tools to combat EE's shortcomings through its singular focus, emphasis on justice, and attention to different scales—from local to global. The author works with this definition of food justice: “Food justice seeks to ensure that the benefits and risks of where, what, and how food is grown, produced, transported, distributed, accessed, and eaten are shared fairly.” Food justice considers the community level as well as the global level, questioning and examining the disparities that occur at each. The local focus allows food justice to correlate with place-based study, while the global aspect keeps the movement holistic and enables it to critique systematic injustice and disparities.

The author suggests that the singular subject of the movement—food—is also significant. Food is universal, relatable, and, of course, necessary for survival. Its study is inherently contextualized and relevant, especially on the local level. Another important aspect of food is its relation to nature without being necessarily tied to wilderness. Urban agriculture and community gardens challenge socioeconomic disparities while simultaneously fostering ecological sustainability in urban areas. They can provide nourishment, promote cultural traditions, protect heritage crop diversity, and empower the economically disadvantaged by resisting the market economy.

The food justice movement is also motivated, at its core, by the notion of justice. Importantly, the movement's deep engagement with issues of race, culture, politics, and economics can help start bringing those much-needed discussions into EE.