As the days grow longer and temperatures begin to rise, Detroiters are welcoming spring by dusting off shovels and preparing for a productive growing season. Over the coming months, hundreds of residents will break new ground by starting or expanding community or market gardens in the city; thousands will grow vegetables at home for the first time; and tens of thousands of the city’s existing urban gardener ...

Poverty and continued economic instability are threatening the success of a generation of our region’s children. In Michigan, child poverty has reached 23.2 percent, having trended upward over the past nine years. Hunger, a direct consequence of poverty, has also risen. One in four children in southeast Michigan are at risk of not having enough nutritious food on a regular basis. All signs indicate the situ ...

This is the final column in our series discussing the Environmental Justice Principles drafted and adopted by delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held Oct. 24-27, 1991. EJ principle 17 requires that we, as individuals, make personal and consumer choices to consume as little of Mother Earth’s resources and to produce as little waste as possible; and make the consci ...

In his Feb. 12 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama referred, almost in passing, to the potential in 3D printing to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. The following week, on Feb. 21, the Home section of the New York Times featured a fascinating article, “A Factory on your Kitchen Counter.” ...

In 1888, my great-grandfather Sandy Odom was forced to leave his farm in Marion, Ark., by an armed white mob. You may ask what this has to do with the current “good food” revolution. My answer? Plenty! One of the root causes of food insecurity throughout the world is dispossessing people of their lands and thus their ability to feed and otherwise provide for themselves. The story of my great-grandfather is ...

In my last column, I called attention to the solutionary/ revolutionary role women play when one society is coming to an end and a new one is emerging because women’s work of raising and caring for home and family is ongoing. It never stops and it doesn’t count the hours. ...

The last Environmental Justice principle, No. 17, states, “Environmental Justice requires that we, as individuals, make personal and consumer choices to consume as little of Mother Earth’s resources and to produce as little waste as possible; and make the conscious decision to challenge and re-prioritize our lifestyles to ensure the health of the natural world for present and future generations.” ...

The Detroit Food Policy Council is concerned about all aspects of food. We want to ensure people have access to enough healthy food for proper nutrition that sustains their minds, bodies and spirits. We are also concerned about the conditions of our grocery stores, restaurants and other places in our community where people buy food. ...

As we approach March 8 and Women’s International Day, I’ve been thinking about how my understanding of feminism has evolved over the years. I was born female to Chinese immigrant parents above my father’s Chinese American restaurant in Providence, R.I. My mother did not know how to read or write because there were no schools for females in her little Chinese village. When I cried, the Chinese waiters used t ...

There has been a lot of discussion around large-scale urban agriculture in a city that is world renown for the re-emergence of community based agricultural projects. It is my hope that the influx of organizations and corporations in the transition in the city will not be a hindrance to the sustainability of long-standing community gardening projects. The projects have helped feed many people around the city ...