Nurturing Roots of Justice: Integrating Equity and Environmental Stewardship into Michigan's Food System Education

Abstract

The global agricultural sector currently contributes to up to 23% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions (Ritchie, 2021), characterizing it as a major contributor to climate change. As climate change presents increasingly negative impacts on Earth’s social and ecological systems, there is considerable urgency to find and implement strategies to mitigate and rapidly adapt. Agriculture, and food systems more generally, are an important place to intervene and take action. Food systems operate at the intersection of social, environmental, and economic systems and conditions. Therefore, it is essential to critically examine the associated inequities that the food system creates and maintains, followed by meaningful interventions to better sustain the planet and its people. In this context, everyone eats and therefore everyone participates in the food system. Individuals engage in a food system by purchasing at local farmers’ markets or at retail grocery stores, stewarding a garden or operating a farm, or cooking for a household or as a chef in a restaurant, and more. Despite the inherent engagement with food systems, there is no requirement for food systems or agricultural education in Michigan (Scalera et al., 2022, p. 40). Instead, the existing food-related curriculum is largely limited to health and nutrition education. While health, diet, and nutritional education is important, it does not allow for students to meaningfully engage in or understand the social, economic, or environmental conditions that define the food system. This is rather ironic considering that the state of Michigan ranks second in agricultural biodiversity by U.S. state (Boylan-Pett et al., 2024), with its position in the Great Lakes region creating a unique microclimate conducive to an abundance of crop commodities and a robust food system landscape (Anderson, 2023). This knowledge gap can be addressed by meaningful pedagogical approaches and strategies in public schools across the state. To best engage students and their communities to address the issues that food systems highlight, approaches must be grounded in place, where there can be an embodied stake in individual social and environmental conditions. Place-based education has been shown to engage students and educators more meaningfully in their respective communities, promoting stewardship among rising generations who will inherit this changing world. K-12 education is a site for which there are many opportunities for students to not only examine how food systems operate and their influence in everyday lives, but also imagine and create alternate systems that mitigate and adapt to climate change and its associated injustices. Therefore, this project posits a need to promote place-based, food systems education that is oriented toward climate change, underpinned by social equity and racial justice. In a transformative, 16-month partnership, students at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (UM-SEAS) partnered with the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI) and Michigan State University Extension's (MSUE) Community Food Systems Team, forming the Nurturing Roots of Justice project. The goal of the Nurturing Roots of Justice project is to advance Michigan place-based K-12 food systems education underscored by climate change and environmental justice, guided by the objectives to 1) identify and mitigate the barriers to implementing food systems education in Michigan K-12 classrooms and 2) develop a public Nurturing Roots of Justice (NRJ) Website offering a Resource Hub (containing over 400 lesson plans, activities, and other resources) and facilitator guide to equip educators with the tools and confidence to lead food systems education in their classrooms. The methods to achieve objective 1 (identify and mitigate the barriers to implementing food systems education in Michigan K-12 classrooms) are described in the following chapters: ● Chapter 1: Background Context ○ Place-based Education ○ Critical Food Literacy ○ Environmental Justice ○ Michigan Food Systems ● Chapter 2: Michigan Educator Training ● Chapter 3: Conferences ● Chapter 4: Focus Group The deliverables to achieve objective 2 (develop a public website offering a Resource Hub and facilitator guide to equip educators with the tools and confidence to lead food systems education in their classrooms) are described in the following chapters: ● Chapter 5: MI Food Stories Facilitator Guide ● Chapter 6: Nurturing Roots of Justice (NRJ) Website and Resource Hub After describing the methods and deliverables of the Nurturing Roots of Justice project, Chapter 7 shares the Discussion, Recommendations, Limitations, and Conclusion.