Food Politics Action Team

Food is a matter of democracy, says Julie Kessel of the Food Politics Action Team. Food choice relates to healthcare, sustainability, climate, and more. While personal food choices matter, it’s government and agribusiness who determine many of the choices we have and contribute to what Julie describes as a disaster of a food system. The food politics team is raising awareness around these issues and helping individuals move toward a more plant-based diet, which can have a greater impact in helping the environment than even powering your home with solar energy, says Julie. (To find out your own biggest contributors to your ecological footprint, check out footprintcalculator.org.)

The food politics team supported urban gardening ordinances, which passed in St. Pete, allowing people to grow produce and sell it in their front yards to increase availability of food, especially healthy food, in areas with less access. The team also contributed to the passing of a Meatless Monday proclamation by Mayor Kriseman, with the intention of launching a campaign early in the next year. Everyone is on their own journey of plant-based eating, says Julie, and not everyone wants to be vegan, but the goal of the action team is to help everyone be cognizant of the impact their food choices have on the environment and democracy. Big money in politics, especially from agribusiness, which contributes as much as, if not more, greenhouse gas as the transportation industry, gets Julie fired up. Our options, or lack thereof, are strangling us and the environment, she says. The food politics team is here to help everyone become more aware of the important role food plays in democracy. “Get more educated about the impact of your choices,” Julie says. And, she adds, try Meatless Monday or Dairy-Free Sunday. Or both. And then call your legislators and tell them, when it comes to our current food systems, “I’m not buying it.”