The Peter E Haas Public Service Leaders are a group of students at UC Berkeley that are actively engaged in off campus public service projects. Through a generous grant from the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund, we are awarded a stipend and receive leadership training and advising throughout the academic year. There is a total of 18 scholars and each one of us is working diligently to foster social justice in the community. I highly recommend checking out the following website not only to read more about this program, but to see all the other awesome public service that is happening at Cal. *ahem* www.publicservice.berkeley.edu
So, whats with the blog might you ask? Aren't we busy making the world a better place? Well, yes, that might be true, but we also wanted to share it with you! The purpose of this blog is to give each student an opportunity to explain and share their project more in depth. Or to explain a concept related to social justice that they find very important. Or to give an update on how their project is going. We want to connect with the community beyond UC Berkeley, and since we cant all get on a place and fly around the world, a blog was the next best thing.
I am Omri and I am a senior at Cal majoring in Sociology. I got involved in public service through the Alternative Breaks Program, which is a weeklong service learning trip over spring break supplemented by a 2 unit student run class during spring semester. I had always been interested in food and food system issues, so I went on the "Food Justice and Sustainability" trip. And now, I am moving up and stepping into a Break Leader position, which means its my job to put together an awesome Alternative Break by contacting community partners, recruiting participants, fundraising, finding housing, facilitating a class, doing service and reflection, and networking with others in the field of Food Justice.
Food Justice? What does that even mean?!?!?! Very briefly, the industrial food system in the US is inequitable and tends to favor some more than others. Organic produce is expensive, and many communities are "food deserts" and lack grocery stores nearby. Furthermore, subsidies favor large scale monoculture farms which threaten the genetic gene pool and biodiversity of many crops. The production of produce and meat is very environmentally taxing, and the industrial system does not take this into account, as production is rationalized to increase efficiency and thus profit for a very select few. My goal this year is to educate other students through my trip so they can make informed decisions in the supermarket and create their own "ethics of eating"
At this point, my co-leader and I are drafting up our trip proposal. We have begun contacting community partners and have already received confirmation from Petaluma Bounty where we will be serving! We are also networking with other organizations in Berkeley to find potential guest speakers for our trip and attending training sessions throughout the year. Finally, lots of time is involved staying up to date on happenings in the world of food.
Thank you so much for paying our blog a visit, and stay tuned for more information from other Haas Public Service Leaders!!!
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