Movements & Scales of Change

There are many ways to make a difference in our food system and you may choose one or the other depending on your own inclinations, skills, etc. Remember that NOT everyone needs to lead. Movements need all kinds of folks to support them, sustain them, and move them forward. Take a look below and see if you can find yourself in any of these diagrams:

Helpers: offer food, shelter, and caring to those in need. In the process they make face-to-face and heart-to-heart connections with people. They try to offer services to every single person they can. Helpers are immensely important to those getting services , and it can be very rewarding to the Helpers as well. To be effective, Helpers must support people to see how the system places stumbling blocks in their lives. If Helpers are unaware of the need for structural change their work may be solely about feel-food bandaids.

Advocates: help individuals survive and navigate the rules and regulations of the current system. With their inside knowledge of policies and protocols, visionary advocates can offer meaningful changes to the current system or even comprehensive alternatives. Unintentionally, Advocates can dampen people's desire for radical change by by urging that they accept the system as it is. Advocates can get stuck in an attitude that they should be able to solve all their clients' problems, without promoting their clients' agency and vision.

Organizers: identify root causes and bring people together to solve problems, with a belief that they can build power to make change. Organizers, however, can be ineffective when they get bogged down in the inner life of their groups. They might get stuck in a stifling non profit or the belief they should only go after goals that are "winnable". Organizers who are not directly impacted by an issue may fall into assuming a leadership role rather than empowering the people most impacted to take leadership on for themselves.

Rebels: bring fire and energy and are willing to take risks that other may never even consider. They can be unyielding in pursuit of justice and willing to go through great personal sacrifice to make their point. However, Rebels can become ineffective when they self-righteously view everyone else as less radical or less moral. They can focus too much on tearing ideas down rather than being constructive. They do their best work when they are well connected to people in other roles who can give context to Rebels' unique, bold, and essential contributions

Here are two opinions on bringing change to our food system...what do you think?

OPINION #1 - innovation through entrepreneurship

“The bulk of the market will always buy on price and taste. No amount of political or ethical behavior will change that. People eat to live. So they do what is needed to have affordable food, and then focus on their life.

I might suggest we ask, “What needs to be true to have good food cost less than bad?”.

The answer to that question includes 100s of little steps. Each step is an innovation. Each innovation is an entrepreneur’s opportunity. The more entrepreneurs, the more the system keeps self correcting. Some will behave badly and some won’t.

In the end, we need to innovate our way so that nutritious and Healthy is cheaper than bad and unhealthy. No one person or government agency really knows the “architecture” to achieve that lower cost. The market does, and it’s the entrepreneur's job to reveal it for the rest of us.”

OPINION #2 - identify leverage points to nudge the system

“...I’ve come to think of individual action a little differently—it’s not about eating/shopping your way to purity, or changing the system in its entirety, but rather identifying key leverage points and focusing on those.

Plant-based eating is a case in point—vegans have been trying for years to convince everyone else to be vegan. And it hasn’t happened. But a combination of hardcore vegans, vegetarians and flexitarians do appear to be reaching a critical mass that is resulting in more plant-based options on the menu, and more meat eaters eating less meat as a result.

So what I’ve been telling people is not exactly “stop voting with your fork” but rather pick your battles, and focus your efforts where you think you might get leverage to bring about broader systemic change. Get to know your farmer, learn from them, and then engage systemically.”

You often hear about a whole range of movement types and how you can participate to create change...here are a few that are relevant to food systems:

• Individual Action....Vote with Your Fork -- though some folks disagree!

• Individual Action....Appeal to Ethics/Morality/Spirituality/Philosophy -- Vegetarianism, Veganism, Halal, Kosher, Creation Care, Hinduism (Hare Krishna)

• Bottom-Up collective action....Grassroots -- let's start a movement! - Slow Food, Coalition of Immokalee Workers

• Top Down collective action....Policy and Regulation -- often influenced by other earlier movements - French conversion to Agroecology

• Education....Food Literacy -- influences all other sectors -- EMLSF!

• Commerce & Innovation....For-Profit Companies & Entrepreneurs lead the way! -- may need help of legislation & education etc. to unlock potential - General Mills and Regenerative Agriculture, HARVIE, Crossroads Kombucha