Raising Awareness with Social Media

This semester in my Community Nutrition (NUTR 377) class, a representative from the organization Growing Food Security Alberta (GFSA) came and talked about food security and eating locally. GFSA is an organization that promotes strategies to ensure adequate, safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate foods for all Albertans. They help rural communities in Alberta and their community members to identify determinants of health and address these issues by helping communities become self-sufficient through things like community gardens and farmers’ markets. Their goal is to address food security by developing a model for a sustainable, local food system in rural communities throughout Alberta. They partner with local farmers, greenhouses, schools and social services throughout the province.

Retreived April 11, 2012, from: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2280

This lecture showed me how the food I buy, and where I buy it, effects so many people and communities. When you buy food that is grown in an unsustainable, environmentally harmful manner, you are supporting that system of growing. When you buy food that is picked and processed by people who work in unacceptable conditions, and earn a less than adequate wages, you are supporting the unfair treatment of those workers. Eating locally not only supports your community, local farmers and business owners, but also supports global sustainability.


GFSA uses social media to spread its message and reach people all over the world. Without the use of Twitter, Facebook, blogs and websites, GFSA would not be able to grow as fast as it has or reach as many people as it has. To learn more about this organization, and what you can do to help, check out their Facebook page, website, and blog, or follow them on Twitter @FoodSecurityAB. In her blog post, “Kony 2012: Make Him Famous,” Steph Nash also shows how social media can be used to raise awareness and support a worthy cause.