Date of Award

Spring 5-8-2026

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Environmental Studies

Advisor(s)

John Van Buren

Abstract

This thesis examines the realities of food insecurity in the United States. Through comparing rural and urban hotspots of insecurity, it aims to address the frameworks that create the inability for certain regions to access safe, nutritious food. Chapter 1 details the current status of food insecurity in the United States and reveals the relevance these issues hold in regard to ecosystem services. Chapter 2 summarizes the environmental history of both rural and urban areas now described as food insecure or considered food deserts. This chapter uses small case studies, rural Appalachia and urban Detroit, MI, to assist in describing rural and urban hotspots of food inequality. Chapter 3 depicts food insecurity as a form of environmental justice that needs to be addressed using forms of justice-building strategies, which consist of both legislative change and grassroots activism. Chapter 4 looks at food insecurity through a legal lens, comparing international precedents to the policies and strategies currently in place in the United States. This chapter grapples with the question of whether or not food should be secured as a guaranteed right in the United States. Chapter 5 delves further into the concept of food sovereignty being more than food security. It outlines possible steps and recommendations to rebuild the current frameworks in place in the United States that leave many regions food insecure.

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