I was just offered an internship of a lifetime in which I'll travel to, live in, and work in Salem, Oregon at a Youth Farm led by a local food share. At this Youth Farm, young people are taught about food justice issues through garden-based, hands-on, experiential learning. Because they work directly with the food share, they are given the opportunity to really view cause and effect in action - they grow food, a customer at the food share obtains it, hunger is mitigated, and the cycle persists.
This internship opportunity is really putting all I've learned in the Environmental Studies program to the test. The Youth Farm directly tackles pressing issues through directly engaging diverse youth and putting them in the forefront of positive social change.
In questioning the current food system, the Youth Farm assesses the status quo and cultivates new approaches to how we obtain our food. Because the current food system isn't working, the Youth Farm diverged out of that structure to create a new system. Eventually, an appropriate and sustainable solution was created in the form of a youth farm that encourages youth to become active, engaged citizens in their communities, thus helping to mitigate future environmental issues.
The Youth Farm's processes in and of itself aid in the longevity of transdisciplinary thought.
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