The concept of just sustainability is to be able to preserve the environment in an equal way in which everyone is represented and can contribute. The more people that are educated and can contribute to achieving a just, sustainable society, the quicker we may reach it. Yet what keeps us tied down is the convenience of consumerism, noted by Arundhati Roy, “The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling—their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.” (“From Banks And Tanks To Cooperation And Caring” 26). Consumerism is seen as safe because we can always rely on things being there to consume. When we are on our own, providing for ourselves can be scary because it is up to ourselves, which can explain why people get trapped in this cycle of consumerism. To fuel the collapse of corporate consumerism, there needs to be more self-provision within communities. This makes community gardens a great example of becoming your own provider, in a way that’s less scary since you’re not doing it alone.
Society is moving towards a future where health disparities are becoming more common, due to simple factors like lack of access to healthy and nutritious foods due to the built environment. Ross writes, “Nowadays advertisements give the impression that everyone should have these things, and progress is measured in terms of how much more we have than we used to or how much farther and faster we can go” (14). In society we go though business as usual, not questioning how we do things, how they affect the environment, or our own health. We as humans have been more prioritized with how much we have and base our success and failure off what we own, what we can do, and how we do it. This has led to a loss of significance on health, including what eat, where it comes from, and how the earth is being treated throughout the whole process. By re-integrating nutritional education though urban farming, the importance of nutrition can be reintroduced while also strengthening the bond of communities.