Introduction Environmental justice focuses on the fair treatment of people across all demographics, as it relates to environmental laws, regulations, and policies (Hilmers et al., 2012). An example of environmental justice is food deserts. Food deserts are areas concentrated in low-income neighborhoods, where residents do not have access to healthy food options such as fresh fruit, vegetables, and other whole foods (USDA, 2011). Similarly, low-income areas tend to lack supermarkets and other healthy food retailers (Office of Community Services, 2017). In California, food deserts are prevalent due to the unaffordability, limited access, and an overabundance of unhealthy food choices. Approximately one million Californians live in food deserts (California Budget & Policy Center, 2012). In food desert areas, residents tend to pay higher prices for healthier foods because of the lack of supermarkets in their neighborhoods (White, 2015). …show more content…
A lack of money affects access to food in many ways. First, as these areas are remote, it’s difficult to deliver food with a short shelf life such as fresh produce, meat, or dairy products before their expiration date (W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2004). With delivery to remote areas taking longer, the shelf life for products is even shorter, which causes buyers to purchase these products more often to make up for the loss (W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2004). Poverty can also lead to people making unhealthy food choices, since it is the cheaper choice in the short run (Templeton, 2017). Moreover, it is likely that there is not a reliable mode of transportation to go to a grocery store in the impoverished and rural area (White, 2015). In addition, lack of education also negatively influences food choices; it is difficult for residents to make healthy food choices if they do not know the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods (Templeton,
Many in the U.S., today, try to eat well,balanced, meals to order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. They do so by purchasing their food at farmers markets or making their own meals, so their food isn’t processed or genetically modified. Even though people are trying to maintain health in order to live long lives, without medical complications, many don’t have the opportunity to pursue life like this. In “Research shows food deserts more abundant in minority neighborhoods,” the author, Kelly Brooks, portrays an anecdote and logical reasoning, from Kelly Bower’s research, to thoroughly describe the food deserts in poor minority neighborhoods and how this issue needs to be repaired.
Cities are becoming more proactive about dealing with food deserts, mainly by giving tax breaks, as in Baltimore, to grocers that are willing to come to low-income, desertous areas. Pushes from environmental groups are also taking an impact on the cause, as the fight for healthy food has become a hot topic in that arena as well. Communities themselves are also taking a stand against food deserts, by doing their own growing of food and creating urban farms, starting up community markets, and starting programs to bring fresh food to deserts (Block, Chavez, Allen, & Ramirez,
A major issue that is occurring in America is a phenomena known as “food deserts”, most are located in urban areas and it's difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food. Whereas in the past, food deserts were thought to be solved with just placing a grocery store in the area, but with times it has become an issue that people are not picking the best nutritional option. This issue is not only making grocery store in food deserts are practically useless and not really eliminating the issue of food deserts because even when they are given a better nutritional option, and people are not taking it. In my perspective, it takes more than a grocery store to eliminate ‘food deserts’. It's more about demonstrating the good of picking the nutritional option and how it can help them and their families. For example, “Those who live in these areas are often subject to poor diets as a result and are at a greater risk of becoming obese or developing chronic diseases.”(Corapi, 2014).
A food desert is a location in which a wide variety of nutrition food is not generally available (Wrigley et al. 261). Food deserts exist in places such as inner cities and isolated rural areas (Morton and Blanchard 1). The purpose of the paper supported by this annotated bibliography is to argue that food deserts do not exist because of discrimination against the poor, but because of forces related to supply and demand. This hypothesis ought to be kept in mind when considering each of the sources (Just and Wansink; Wrigley, Warm and Margetts; Jetter and Cassady; Epstein et al.; Schafft, Jensen and Hinrichs; Bitler and Haider) described in the annotated bibliography.
Holzman, D. C. (2010, April 1). Food deserts and how to tackle them: a study of one city's approach:
Although the two authors do not refer to each other directly in their works, both their perspectives share a common ground that no enough income make people eating less healthy. Pinsker argues that the actual barrier that stops people from eating healthy is the lack of income (129-130). He uses studies to show that poor families choose processed food because children like those tasty processed food (Pinsker 129-134). Whereas poor families cannot afford the waste if children refused to eat healthier but less tasty food parents provided (Pinsker 129-134). Cortright also suggests that income matters the most to why people do not eat healthy. He even further discusses income as the most influential limiting factor by addressing that other factors such as physical proximity to local food sources do not cause people to eat less healthy (Cortright 135-138). The two authors, in general, reach a consensus and mutually prove that income plays as the biggest limiting factor for people to have healthy
Food deserts are places where healthy foods are not produced nor sold. Unfortunately, Chicago is filled with food deserts. Approximately 600,000 people reside in areas that consist of food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Nearly 200,000 of those people are children. These children do not have the opportunity for healthier options, which shows an increase in obesity rates (News One Staff, 2011). There are 77 Chicago communities and out of that 77, 23 are food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Chicagoans-particularly the black communities- are forced to live off the accessible food that is near them. The food deserts are in Austin, North Lawndale, Armour Square, Near South Side, Fuller Park, Grand Boulevard, Washington Park, Woodlawn, West Lawn, Chicago Lawn, Englewood, Ashburn, Auburn Gresham, Beverly, Washington Heights, Morgan Park, Roseland, Pullman, South Deering, Riverdale, South Chicago, and West Pullman (Grossinger, 2007). The communities are usually served by junk food- filled corner stores, which do not offer an abundance of healthy foods. The communities are in desperate need of change.
“Food Deserts” are arears where people have a hard time finding affordable, healthy food. These places are usually low-income neighborhoods that do not have any supermarkets nearby but have convenience stores that sell junk food and fast food places around them. Ron Finley, a guerrilla gardener, lives in a “food desert” in South Central Los Angeles. He plants fruit and vegetable gardens to help nourish his community with healthy eating. In the article “Giving the Poor Easy Access to Healthy Food Doesn’t Mean They’ll Buy It,” Margot Sanger-Katz states that “merely adding a grocery store to a poor neighborhood doesn’t make a very big difference” because the diets of the residents living in those neighborhoods did not change. I think “food deserts” are only a part of the bigger problem in America because obesity is everywhere, not just in low-income
“Food Deserts” as defined by the CDC, are “areas that lack access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk, and other foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). In simpler terms, a food desert is a community with little to no grocery stores. Many reports show that neighborhoods with less access to neighborhood grocery stores have a higher risk for obesity and unhealthy diets unlike neighborhoods where residents have better access to neighborhood grocery stores. The “USDA estimates that 23.5 million people, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income areas that are than one mile from a supermarket. Of the 23.5 million, 11.5 million are low-income individuals in households with incomes at or below 200 percent of the poverty line. Of the 2.3 million people living in low-income rural areas that ...
Alviola IV, Rodolfo M. Nayga Jr., and Michael Thomsen to learn more about what food deserts and how they impact the society around them. I believed that this was a good source because it went into what food deserts are and how they might be connected to the increase of obesity. I learned that a food desert is an “area where access to healthy foods is limited or constrained” (Alviola 106). I also learned that studies have shown people who live in food deserts “are likely to pay higher prices for food and have limited options in terms of purchasing healthy foods” (Alviola 106). After reading this article I have realized that Xavier may also be in a food desert because the closest grocery store is Kroger whose produce is almost always non-fresh and does not look edible to eat which encourages people to leave and resort to eating fast food for every meal. Needing more information about the effects of Food Deserts I started to look at an article called, “The Effects of Food Deserts on the Weight Status of South Dakota Children”, written by Emily Niswanger, Elizabeth Droke, Suzanne Stluka, and Kuo-Liang Chang. I believed that this was a great next source to look into because the name of the article was exactly what I wanted to get more information about. The source was about one study that was made in the state of South Dakota to discover if food deserts do have an effect on
Holzman, D. C. (2010, April 1). Food deserts and how to tackle them: a study of one city's approach:
American citizens economic standing plays a role in the what foods they buy, where they buy, and their accessibility to buy. According to the United States Department of Agriculture an estimated twenty-three and a half million people live in a “food desert”. which is an urban or rural community that has little to no access to fresh food distributors such as a supermarket or farmers market. A lot of times these communities only food options are convenience stores and fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds and 7-Eleven, that...
America is a capitalist society. It should come to a surprise when we live like this daily. We work for profit. We’ll buy either for pleasure or to sell later for profit. It should come to no surprise that our food is made the same way because we are what we eat. We are capitalist that eat a capitalist meal. So we must question our politics. Is our government system to blame for accepting and encouraging monopolies?
Foods from Africa, which have impacted North American cuisine are numerous, and common in the everyday eating habits of Americans. In the 21st century, Americans take for granted the history of the food they eat, and the origins of the foods that are eaten today. In the early part of the history of the United States, people of European descent brought recipes from home and adapted their recipes to the ingredients which were available. The slave trade was directly responsible for what many Americans think of as American food, and those foods are traceable to Africa. Because slaves incorporated their own foods into the everyday lives of their masters, some of the unique foods from Africa and their history are not well known today. American
Food insecurity and poor nutrition is an alarmingly large problem for low income families, especially in developing countries. Many strategies exist to fight this problem, although not many of these address all the factors contributing to it along with all the possible solutions to solve it. In many cases, multiple strategies must correlate and work together so that all the determinants of this issue are addressed and can fight food insecurity from different angles. This essay will discuss the significance of the problem, a range of possible strategies to solve the problem, and go into detail on a select few that will correlate and work together to solve different factors of food insecurity and poor nutrition.