Farmers are a large community that is affected by environmental degradation and irresponsibility. These actions increase climate change, which leads to extreme weather conditions such as floods and droughts that greatly damage crops and their form of livelihood.

Food sovereignty ensures the appropriate ecological, social, economical, and cultural framework is met. However, food sovereignty is often overlooked in modern global food systems, as mass farming of both animals and crops overlooks many of these framework aspects in pursuit of capital growth.

Thrifting clothing is a great way to express your personality while keeping sustainable values in mind! These stores have such a diversity in styles and clothing, so each person can use what they find for a unique look, while keeping clothing out of landfills.

A strong sense of community stems from a willingness from each member to connect with, respect, and help each other.  Social inequalities not only impact the ability to connect with one another, but the differences can foster ill feelings towards others both ways- those of privilege may have a lack of respect for those underprivileged, causing not only social and emotional discrepancies but also decreasing the willingness to help others, while those underprivileged may also grow to resent those unwilling to help, in turn making connections and respect toward those maintaining more privilege less- not to mention systemic issues such as housing, education, and employment that quite literally divide people.  Also, those with similar mindsets and situations tend to connect with each other, lessening the desire to put forth the effort to connect with other groups.

Direct factors such as air quality or food consumption impact my health through whether or not they provide me with the beneficial components important to my biological health- i.e. nutrition, oxygen- while other indirect factors such as access and ability to physically connect with nature impact more of my physical fitness and mental health.  They're also interrelated: better nutrition can improve physical fitness, and both or those can improve mental health.

I think some of the largest intersections between environmental, community, and personal health are pollutions in air quality, availability of sustainably produced foods over processed foods, and urban planning.  Obviously air quality directly impacts all three as it's an essential tenet of existence, the availability of sustainably produced foods over processed foods influences personal and community health not only physically but mentally and socially too (people are more connected and feel better individually, so together they tend to act better), and the urban planning effects connections between people along with people and nature while also impacting physical and environmental health through opportunities such as reduced dependency on vehicles, more green space, better access to food sources and to circle it back: air quality!

Food growing and manufacturing practices impact both producer and consumer health directly, effects the land and materials being utilized, and effects surrounding areas.  Things like pesticides and insecticides not only pose health risks to the people applying them or those eating foods that have been treated, and direct harm is caused by runoff contaminating water sources and the killing of insects that are either pollinators or food sources for other animals.  Heavy machinery, extensive land use, and production facilities also negatively impact the indigenous plant and animal life in the immediate and surrounding areas, produces harmful emissions, and depletes/damages local natural resources. These practices contribute to the harmful reduction in biodiversity and the ever increasing threats that climate change brings.

The advantages include feeling connected to the food more as a life source than as commodities, and fully appreciating the food.  Knowing their food producers is a connection that someone would likely want to share with others so that they may experience the same sense of grounding or belonging and expand the community being connected.  In knowing who is producing their food, it also allows them to be invested in how the food is being produced- both supporting the producer yet also keeping them accountable for their production practices, which builds community and improves the impact being made in the environment and in their health.

I think I do experience it in a different way, but not by much.  Walking helps me to feel more a part of my community as I'm more interactive with it than being in a car on the road, but I am pretty observant and appreciative of the people, places, and things that I pass while driving.  If the weather is better than snow or rain, I often drive with the windows down so that I can experience my surroundings better.  Of course walking is better for the environment and for my health, but I don't think I experience my community too differently.