Unexpected Highlight of My Semester
Before taking this course, I didn’t expect gardening to become one of my favourite parts of this semester. I heard about this course last year, and as a criminology student, I never really considered what Green Criminology was or how it related to topics I’d already learned about. After enrolling this semester, I was under the expectation to just learn about environmental issues and their connection to crime, but I wasn’t expecting to actually get hands-on and spend time in a garden, and it became such a meaningful piece of my learning. Although we’re early into the semester, I find myself excited to work on the garden every week, whether that’s during my watering schedule or taking a class look. This went from a requirement to an activity that really helped me connect our course content to the real world in ways textbooks do not.
Looking Beyond Traditional Crime
One idea that stood out to me in the readings is that green criminology is encouraging us to think beyond our traditional definitions of what crime is. Before this course, I associated crime with theft, assault and acts that violate the law. The reading by Tourangeau and Fitzgerald challenged the way I think about criminology and explained that green criminologists are also concerned with harms that can be legal but also have a negative impact on people, animals and the environment.
While spending time working on the garden, it made me think more about how much work there is in food production and where it comes from. Gardening has given me more appreciation for the time, resources, care and energy that goes into growing food. I also really thought about some issues I saw in the readings, like environmental degradation, animal welfare and hidden harms that are in our modern food systems.
The most interesting piece of green criminology so far is that it asks us to consider who is affected by these harms. P.S. It’s more than just people, which is what Tourangeau and Fitzgerald argue; it’s not only people, but whole ecosystems and the animals within. Working in the garden makes this feel less abstract because I can actually see firsthand how dependent our food production is on having a good watering schedule, soil and environmental conditions.
Reflection so Far
Gardening has helped my awareness of environmental issues and how there are so many harms being hidden that go completely unnoticed. Gardening started as this simple class activity but has become so much more to me; there’s more to learn as the garden grows and I’m excited for that. I feel that my eyes have opened up to the way I think about food and environmental justice. Criminology is also not just about the people but the planet, our ecosystem and our animals.
References
Tourangeau, W., & Fitzgerald, A. J. (2019). Food Crime and Green Criminology. In The Routledge International Handbook of Green Criminology.
Sneddon, S. (2025). Food, Environmental Degradation and Injustices. Palgrave Studies in Green Criminology.
Hi Taylor,
I really enjoyed reading your blog because it made me think about how experiential learning can change the way we understand environmental issues. One thing I learned from your post is that gardening is much more than growing food- it helps us recognize the amount of care and environmental resources required to sustain food systems. I also liked your point that green criminology encourages us to think beyond legal definitions of crime and consider environmental harms that often go unnoticed. Your reflection reminded me that activities like gardening can increase our awareness of sustainability and environmental justice by showing how closely humans are connected to the ecosystems. This aligns with green criminology research, which tells that environmental harms should be understood through their impacts on people, animals, and ecosystems, even when those harms are not illegal (Gladkova, 2022). Your blog made me reflect more on how my food choices can contribute to broader environmental issues.
Reference
Gladkova, A. (2022). The criminogenic nature of food production harm responses. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 11(1), 118–132