Building food sovereignty, sustainability and better health in environmentally-impacted Native Americans

Ramapough海龟部落酋长说：“我们农场的健康土壤的回归将使健康的植物 生产出健康的食品，以最佳的效果滋养我们的身心。”土著部落有 作为几十年来的产物，我们一直并将继续接触到不成比例的有毒废物。 环境不公正。从这种灾难性的情况中出现的是美洲原住民（NA），他们面临着一个甚至 种植受污染的传统食物来源的受污染土壤产生不利健康后果的风险更大， 退化的娱乐水源导致孤立和主权的丧失，社区力量和 恢复力新泽西州北方的拉马波卢那普龟族成员就是这种情况， 500-十多年来，数千加仑油漆的工业倾倒产生了一英亩的有毒废物 污泥中的重金属和溶剂含量很高。因为没有文化上有意义的解决方案 为Ramapough社区实施，可以促进公共卫生和福祉，我们将 建立在我们与这个部落国家长达8年的平等部落学术伙伴关系的基础上，以推进传统- 以证据为基础的可持续环境食品系统最佳实践战略， 该社区的粮食不安全、营养缺乏和慢性病健康结果 受到环境污染的严重影响。三个具体目标和几个次级目标是 提出测试的假设，一个复杂的一系列因素，包括土壤，水和植物污染， 社会心理压力、流离失所和环境对土地的破坏导致粮食损失 主权和可持续性;粮食安全和文化粮食做法可以通过 社区工程农业系统和教育战略，以：1）评估环境的程度 Ramapough部落的污染、个人有毒物质负担和微量营养素水平以及健康问题 2）在蒙塞河上调整和实施以社区为中心的农业计划 三个姐妹篇药用农场土地通知设计工作室的方法;和3）评估发展 过程和早期成果的农场计划使用实施科学框架，并完善 传播公共卫生行动计划，以减少粮食不安全，恢复粮食主权， 社区健康。该项目将确定和实施安全和营养的耕作方法， 在一个受环境影响和边缘化的半城市部落民族中， 由龟族创立的孟西姐妹篇支持的农业系统计划的发展 药用农场这项创新的研究将整合一个以文化为中心的环境路线图， 社区对粮食主权和可持续性的投入，可以分享和传播给其他 根据我们的研究，制定环境公共卫生行动计划 调查结果。

The Ramapough Turtle Clan Chief states that, “Return of healthy soil on our farm will allow healthy plant production, resulting in healthy foods to nurture our bodies and mind with optimum results.” Native Tribes have been, and continue to be, exposed to disproportionate amounts of toxic waste as a product of decades of environmental injustice. Emerging from this disastrous situation are Native Americans (NA) who face an even greater risk of adverse health outcomes from contaminated soil that grows tainted traditional food sources, degraded recreational water sources leading to isolation and a loss of sovereignty, community strength and resiliency. Such is the case for the Ramapough Lunaape Turtle Clan members in northern NJ who live on a 500-acre toxic waste site generated by over a decade of industrial dumping of thousands of gallons of paint sludge with high levels of heavy metals and solvents. As no culturally-meaningful solutions have been implemented for the Ramapough community that could promote public health and well-being to date, we will build on our equitable 8-year-long Tribal-academic partnerships with this Tribal Nation to advance tradition- centered, evidence-based best practice strategies for sustainable environmental food systems that address food insecurity, nutritional deficiency, and chronic disease health outcomes among this community disproportionately affected by environmental contamination. Three Specific Aims and several sub-aims are proposed to test the hypothesis that a complex array of factors including soil, water and plant contamination, psychosocial stressors, displacement and environmental assaults to the land have led to a loss of food sovereignty and sustainability; and, that food security and cultural food practices can be renewed through a community-engineered farming system and educational strategies to: 1) Assess the extent of environmental contamination, individual toxicant burdens and micronutrient levels and health disorders in Ramapough Tribal members of both sexes; 2) Adapt and implement a community-centered farming program on the Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm land informed by a design studio approach; and 3) Assess the development process and early outcomes of the farm program using an implementation science framework and refine the public health action plan for dissemination to reduce food insecurity, regain food sovereignty, and improve community health. This project will identify and implement safe and nutritious farming practices and restore food sovereignty among an environmentally-impacted and marginalized semi-urban Tribal Nation through development of a farming system program supported by the Turtle Clan-founded Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm. This innovative study will integrate a culturally-centered, environmental road map created from community input for food sovereignty and sustainability that can be shared and disseminated to other environmentally-impacted Nations leading to an environmental public health action plan based on our research findings.