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Call for Publications Theme: Food Justice, the Environment, and Climate Change Publication: Edited Volume Deadline: 3.7.2017 __________________________________________________ Although theoretical explorations of food have exploded in recent literature, sustained philosophical treatment of the environmental implications of food systems, especially regarding global climate change (GCC), is still absent. In contrast, there is considerable popular discussion of how agricultural practices, dietary choices, and the structure of globalized food systems affect the environment broadly and climate change more specifically (e.g., Bittman, Pollan, etc). This volume aims to bridge the gap between the academic discourse and the mainstream discourse by engaging a diverse array of scholars in analysis and reflection on the ethical and political implications of food and agricultural practices in relation to environmental concerns, with special attention to climate change. In particular, the goal of this collection of essays is to develop a discussion at the intersection of food justice, environmental justice, and climate justice, with an emphasis on identifying both the philosophical and practical relationships that exist between these problems/areas of study. We hope this volume will speak to a broad audience (ranging from undergraduate students to research scholars), and will address both activist and scholarly concerns by employing diverse methods and frameworks. Towards this end, we invite authors to submit abstracts that address one of the below questions and/or other relevant topics. Abstracts should be 750-1000 words in length, and should explicitly address how the essay will fit within the aims and ends of the volume as a whole. Interested authors should send abstracts to Erinn Cunniff Gilson ([email protected]) and Sarah Kenehan ([email protected]) no later than July 3rd, 2017. In the interest of anonymous review, please leave off identifying information. Potential Questions: What philosophical concepts, theories, and viewpoints best address the complex relationships between global food systems, environmental problems, and climate change? What connections can be made between food justice, environmental justice, and climate justice? For instance: - How do environmental justice perspectives and food justice perspectives contribute to under-standing the harms of global climate change (GCC), the sources of these harms, and the possibilities for activism and change? - When it comes to food systems, is GCC one environmental issue among many or the primary one? - How should we understand GCC in relation to other environmental problems stemming from agricultural and food production practices (such as soil degradation, desertification, clear-cutting, water and air pollution, loss of biodiversity)? - In light of the increased demand for food, how can and should the tension between conservation and agriculture be addressed? - How can the harms to oceans and riparian ecosystems stemming from GCC (rising water temperatures, loss of coral reefs, sea level rise) and intensive fishing and aquaculture (pollution, species loss, dead zones) be theorized? - How are the injustices related to food and agriculture best conceptualized? As food insecurity? An absence of food sovereignty? How does the way such injustices are conceptualized impact the kinds of normative conclusions that are drawn? - How do these injustices overlap with other forms of subordination and oppression such as racism, sexism, capitalism, xenophobia, and so on? What does an intersectional approach to food justice and/or climate justice look like? In relation to the nexus of problems concerning food, environment, and climate, what are the ethical and political responsibilities of various parties (e.g., individuals, communities, towns, cities, states, national governments, corporations, international organizations such as NGOs and governing bodies such as the UN)? More specifically: - In the context of global climate change, do individuals have an obligation to adopt diets that rely less on animal products, as animal agriculture is one of the leading contributors to green-house gas (GHG) emissions? To adopt diets that rely less on food that is not local in origin to reduce emissions from food transportation? What other kinds of individual actions are necessary (e.g., growing one’s own food, participating in a CSA or community garden, minimizing food waste, salvaging wasted food, etc.)? - Is individual action sufficient? Why/why not? Given the scale of environmental problems, do individualized responses distract and divert attention from the broad-scale political and structural remedies that are needed? Or are individual actions important for motivation, developing knowledge, fostering affective engagement, and community-building? - The activities of industrialized nations have contributed in significant ways to the ability of many peoples to maintain food and water security. What obligations do industrialized nations have to mitigate this harm and to help the affected peoples adapt? Do these obligations change given differing conditions and varying levels of food insecurity and/or instability (e.g., famine, drought, desertification)? - Given the inefficiencies and environmental harms of intensive animal agriculture (high levels of water use, air and water pollution, deforestation in developing nations, reductions in biodiversity, excessive use of antibiotics, and so on) and its role in GCC, do nations have a moral obligation to produce food that is more (resource) efficient? Should governments continue to subsidize intensive animal agriculture or do they, conversely, have an obligation to reorient food production? - What practices and technologies can and should be used to increase the efficiency of food production? E.g., geo-engineering to create more favorable conditions to grow food and genetic modification to make products that can grow in unfavorable conditions? How should “efficiency” be measured so as to take what are usually deemed externalities into account? - To what extent should food production and agricultural processes be taken into consideration in the calculation of carbon taxes and carbon compensation methods? Should nations that rely on food imports be treated differently than those whose economic stability depends on exporting food to the rest of the world? - Are food production and agriculture considered sufficiently in climate negotiations and policy decisions both intra- and inter- nationally? Should such concerns be offered a more substantive role? - What obligations do relatively affluent and/or privileged parties have to frontline communities (indigenous peoples, racially marginalized groups, impoverished communities) within their own nation who are and will be adversely effected by GCC and other environmental harms? - If migration is an effect of GCC and environmental degradation more broadly, what does global justice entail for climate refugees or environmental migrants? Do these effects create a new category of migration - agriculture/food migration? - How might ethical and political obligations be related when it comes to food, environmental, and climate justice? - Do shifting political atmospheres (such as the increase in support for far-right political parties) alter the political responsibilities of individuals, nations, and international organizations with regard to obligations of food, climate, and environmental justice? How do epistemic, cultural, political, and ethical claims intersect and overlap when it comes to food, environmental, and climate justice? For instance: - What role should scientists have in shaping global climate policy? - What role should indigenous peoples have in informing global climate, environmental, and food policy? - To what extent do claims of cultural sovereignty matter in discussions about sustainable food systems? - How can epistemic justice frameworks facilitate food, environmental, and climate justice, especially when significant power to make policy, mitigate harm, and intervene globally rests in the hands of the governments of Western, industrialized nations? - What forms of knowledge are marginalized (e.g., those of “subjugated,” “subaltern,” and/or indigenous people)? Why might such knowledge be crucial for achieving food, environmental, and climate justice? - Which kinds of standards should be employed to determine the merit of potential remedies for the effects of GCC and environmental degradation? Efficacy? Participation/democracy? Cultural and biological diversity? - What are the obstacles to remedying environmental and food injustice, and ameliorating the effects of GCC? How can those obstacles be understood better and addressed? Editors: Erinn Cunniff Gilson Email: [email protected] Sarah Kenehan Email: [email protected] __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: https://interphil.polylog.org InterPhil List Archive: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ __________________________________________________
