| Summary: | Thesis advisor: Charles Derber === This paper examines the capacity of post-secondary institutions, namely colleges and universities, to assist in the development of more sustainable, socially just food systems. The global, industrial paradigm of food production and distribution creates innumerable problems related to human health and ecological degradation. Due to its reliance on cheap energy and government subsidies, in conjunction with the social and environmental costs associated with it, the industrial food system is not sustainable in the long-term. The opening chapters of this thesis analyzes the dominant trends of food production and distribution, and explores the alternative movements that have propagated in response to the devastating failures of the industrial food system. For various reasons, the education sector has demonstrated vast potential to incubate and advance these alternatives. This thesis explores the main initiatives gaining momentum throughout the education system, and attempts to discern the potential for educational institutions—in particular, institutions of higher education—to support local, sustainable agriculture and to empower the next generation of producers and consumers to take back control of their food system. Since the unique role of higher education in reforming the industrial food system remains in the realm of speculation for the time being, this paper also provides a concrete case study of sustainable food initiatives at Boston College, in hopes that further studies of this kind will continue to encourage the transition from speculation to reality. === Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010. === Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. === Discipline: College Honors Program. === Discipline: Sociology.
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