When I first decided on the topic for my pollution blog, I struggled to come up with a title which could encapsulate the complex relationship between food and pollution. It took me a couple of hours before I picked “Sitopian Pollution”, with the first word derived from sitopia, a term coined by Carolyn Steel.
According to Steel (2020), sitopia comes from the Greek terms sitos (“food”) and topos (“place”), and refers to the idea that our lives are shaped by food. Not only does food keep us alive and well, it also serves a multitude of socio-economic functions. However, I also believe it is exactly this omnipresence of food in our lives that makes pollution in our food system such a critical issue.
When we think about the pollution which exists in the food system, most of us may tend to focus on agricultural pollution, where farming practices introduce pollutants into the natural environment. While these practices have significant impacts on the biosphere, it is important for us to not overlook the other forms of pollution present in the rest of our global food system. In fact, pollution exists in almost every stage of the conventional food system:
- growing
- harvesting
- processing
- packaging
- transporting
- marketing
- consumption
- disposal of food waste
(adapted from Cornell University (2008, p. 1))
Given that every one of these aforementioned stages involves a countless number of individuals, one cannot help but wonder how many lives may be affected by even a single incident of pollution, particularly those which are hard to detect with the basic senses. At the same time, we need to be aware that food is not merely a victim – in some cases, it can even be classified as a culprit responsible for pollution! (Hint: consider the disposal of food waste…)
For the subsequent posts, I will be sharing detailed examples of the types of pollution which can be found in our global food system, and evaluating their impacts. In addition, please look forward to many more article/journal reviews coming your way in the next few weeks!
Best wishes,
Jialing
Reference List
Cornell University (2008) A Primer On Community Food Systems: Linking Food, Nutrition And Agriculture. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.
Steel, C. (2020) Sitopia. London: Chatto & Windus.
I love how you play with the word “sitopia” to come up with your blog name! At the later part of the semester, we will be watching a documentary called “The True Cost”. While it is related to the fast fashion industry, it draws parallels to the food industry as well… The documentary might be of interest to you (:
Thank you Weiting for sharing this! Looking forward to it 🙂 -Jialing