Sustainability News

Hosted by local, organic Maya's Farm in November 2016, Dinner 2040 was a meal served to spark conversation.

The charrette-style gathering – planned by sustainability scientist Joan McGregor with support from the Food Systems Transformation Initiative – put people from diverse backgrounds around the same table. While enjoying equitably-produced dishes, diners like academics, chefs, activists, legislators and others discussed key values related to food and how they can be better implemented going forward.

McGregor hopes that Dinner 2040 events will serve as a template for “future of food” workshops and dinners in communities across North America. She explores food-related values in detail in a October 2016 Thought Leader Series contribution titled "Putting Values on Our Plates."

Author, journalist and food activist Michael Pollan — named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine — gave a Wrigley Lecture on April 14, 2016, as part of the School of Sustainability's 10th anniversary celebration.

Pulling from 15 years of research, Pollan detailed the many shifts in agriculture since the industrial revolution – including the move from sunlight to oil. He explained how many factories that supported WWII – like those that manufactured bombs – went into the food business post-war, making products like pesticides instead.

These shifts have had a number of unintended negative consequences, Pollan explained. They include crops that are so laden with chemicals that they are not fit for direct human consumption, a poor quality of life for farmed animals, and a significant toll on the overall health of Americans.

Pollan concluded by commending the ASU Wrigley Institute for its focus on solutions to the problems of food system sustainability. After receiving a standing ovation, he joined the excitement at both the Rescued Food Feast and Festival of Sustainability at ASU.

The Food Systems Transformation Initiative (FSTI) is excited to collaborate with the Global Youth Innovation Network, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and other partners to support the Youth Agribusiness, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship Summit on Innovation YALESI 2016 held in Dakar, Senegal.

Youth employment and hunger are two key issues that have been impacted by the economic crisis. This is particularly true for youth living in developing countries, representing 85% of the world youth. To address these issues, YALESI 2016 will prioritize young people’s needs, considering their developmental needs, and including underserved populations, such as girls, to an effective and inclusive employment strategy.

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Two of our FSTI affiliates - Jennifer Hodbod and Hallie Eakin - have published a new paper in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. 'Adapting a social-ecological resilience framework for food systems'  addresses the purpose of applying social-ecological resilience thinking to food systems before going on to distinguish between the resilience of food systems and broader conceptualizations of resilience in social-ecological systems. The paper then focuses on functional and response diversity as two key attributes of resilient, multifunctional food systems, using the drought in California to unpack the potential differences between managing for a single function—economic profit—and multiple functions. Their analysis emphasizes how the evolution of the Californian food system has reduced functional and response diversity and created vulnerabilities, and how managing for the resilience of food systems will require a shift in priorities from profit maximization to the management for all functions that create full food security at multiple scales.

For further details please contact jennifer.hodbod@asu.edu

Hodbod, J., & Eakin, H. (2015). Adapting a social-ecological resilience framework for food systems. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 1-11. DOI:10.1007/s13412-015-0280-6

Food systems are particularly important for human societies to sustain, as well as particularly vulnerable to multiple threats related to the interconnected sustainability challenges we face.

Reflecting the breadth of food system issues researched and taught at ASU, the School of Sustainability now offers a 15-credit interdisciplinary Certificate in Food System Sustainability - a comprehensive, sustainability-oriented introduction to food systems for undergraduate students.

The certificate, which complements a variety of majors from agribusiness to English, draws from food-related courses in the social sciences, humanities, life sciences and applied sciences. Each discipline approaches food sustainability from a different angle, giving students a holistic understanding of food-related challenges and solutions.

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Continuing its tradition of bringing internationally known thinkers and problem-solvers to engage with the community, the Wrigley Lecture Series welcomed physicist, food activist and author Vandana Shiva on Oct. 30.  Shiva - who works to protect the diversity and integrity of native organisms, especially seeds, by promoting practices like organic farming - delivered a lecture titled “Future of Food: Dictatorship or Democracy.”

“Her prescient insights, including the importance of organic farming in feeding the world, are similar to the findings of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development," said Joni Adamson, a sustainability scholar and professor of English and Environmental Humanities. "They provide many good reasons to invite her to talk about the future of food.”

The lecture was presented by the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and Institute for Humanities Research, with support from the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies.

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