It’s September, the nights are getting cooler, the fields in the Western Mass are overflowing with ripening food… and… who’s going to eat it? Will you? Will it be served in your college cafeteria? Why not? Who in the local community will have access to the food grown around them? Why not everyone? And before anyone eats it, who’s been cultivating it all season, and who will harvest it? How much were they paid to harvest this food? And did the cultivation of this food regenerate the ecosystems around it (including the people), or has it disrupted the cycles of soil health and climate stability?
Whoa! So many connections… our food connects us with people and with living systems around us so intimately… and we see that so much needs to change in our communities, our bodies, this earth… let’s organize ourselves to change our food system, to create a food system that benefits all people, now and for generations to come! This is the rallying call of the Real Food Challenge: our food system is broken, government and big business have failed to step up to the challenge, and students on college campuses across the US are joining in the global tide of people acting together to change the world by changing our food. This fall, from September 22 to October 22, the Real Food Challenge launches on campuses across the US…
The Real Food Challenge serves as both a campaign and a network. The campaign is to increase the procurement of real food on college and university campuses. By leveraging their purchasing power we can catalyze the transformation of the larger food system. The network offers a chance for students and their allies—those working on the campaign along with those who’ve yet to sign on—to make connections, learn from one another, and grow the movement.
And who am I writing this? My name is Patrick Gibbs, and I’m an area organizer for the Real Food Challenge for Western MA. I grew up in Texas, went to Hampshire College for two years, transferred to Gaia University, and stuck around in Amherst. Get in touch with me if you want to connect with the Real Food Challenge in Western MA — email pag05 -at- hampshire -dot- edu.
