Eating sustainably should be accessible to all. One way to do this is to make visible how communities are able to feed each other in a way that asserts people’s rights, strengthens relationships, involves those that are most affected, and speaks truth to power.

Pinagkaisang Lakas ng Mamamayan (PLM) – Payatas, a people’s organization and urban poor network, has been mobilizing for rights to housing and rights to the city for several years through community kitchens and community gardens.

These programs address immediate, basic needs to feed and care for people within their communities, in the face of precarious living conditions and failing social welfare, and also serve as political strategies to further advocate for people’s rights.

These practices of people-led sustainability are the much-needed counterpoint to the narratives of sustainability that solely focuses on green products. While those are important and have their place, vulnerable sectors are unable to access them given their very limited purchasing power.

Participating in the creation of a sustainable society must be accessible to all. These community-driven initiatives are important because they explore possibilities of sustainability that do not rely on creating profit, but rather advance people’s rights. They highlight the importance of social innovation together with concerted solidarity building across different sectors of society—not just to keep these actions going but to model alternatives that can be championed and asserted at the levels of policy change.