- L. Jillian

I'm doing the most stereotypical Millennial thing right now - posting a pic of my food (but let's face it, all of y'all older folks do that a lot too). I would like to share with you a lil bit of my food journey. This year I decided to explore the food industry, and the impacts that our eating habits have on the earth. Yeah, yeah, I know, "hippy crap"! Just bear with me!

I learned some time ago that agriculture is one of THE MOST destructive industries on earth. And after finding out recently what people in Mexico are going through trying to protect natural lands and butterfly sanctuary from avocado farms (most recently with the murders of Homero Gómez González and Raul Hernandez Romero), I decided to avoid any foods grown in Mexico. There's simply no way of knowing who is being murdered for my meals, or what lands are being destroyed.

Unfortunately, organic kale (a staple in my "hippy crap" life) sold in our town, comes from Mexico. So I haven't bought any in about a month. Recently, I discovered that I can purchase some from the Eat Local Grey Bruce website instead!!!

It's true that, while many products on that site are from Ontario, this kale IS still from the USA (I.e. probably not the most trustworthy industry either), but it's a start. Ultimately, there's no real way of knowing what impacts our food has on the land, animals, people, etc without actually being able to meet with the farmer and spend some time viewing their farm. But it's a slow journey, and a start for me in this mid-winter, Canadian climate.

Why does any of this matter? Well, if you care about anything at all - land and climate matters; human rights; animal rights; indigenous rights; physical health and well-being; mental health and well-being; even the arts, sciences, entertainment, athletics, etc etc etc; food ties into all of this. There is no life without food. And often, the rights of people, animals, and climate matters are caught in the midst of food production.

You don't have to be a foodie to care - I still view several spoonfuls of peanut butter and some potato chips as a meal... So if someone like me can start paying attention and putting in just a little bit of effort, I think most people probably can too!