A Healthy Environment Is Our Food Security

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1 A Healthy Environment Is Our Food Security Healthy Eating in Context, University of South Carolina, March 30, 2012 Roni Neff, PhD MS Director of Research & Policy, Center for a Livable Future Assistant Scientist, Environmental Health Sciences Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Rneff@jhsph.edu

2 A Healthy Environment Is Our Food Security Food systems From old food security paradigm to new How we get there Our roles in the getting there

3 Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future Concept Model

4 Principles of a Healthy, Sustainable Food System Health-promoting Sustainable Resilient Diverse Fair Economically balanced Transparent (APHA, APA, ANA, ADA) hysustainablefoodsystemsprinciples.pdf

5 What is the Food System? Inputs, mechanisms, structures for getting food from farm or processing to table and beyond Participants, policy, politics Eggs Growing Processing Consumption Marketing Consumer Access

6 US Food Security, Nutrition < 1/10 Americans meet fruit and vegetable goals in MyPyramid 35.7% adults in US obese; 17% children Disparities by income, race, ethnicity, geography Kimmons et al 2009; CDC 2012

7 Systems Interconnected Nonlinear Changes to one component ramify elsewhere Ideas about where to intervene Adaptive (to a point) Modeling

8 Today s Industrial Food System Since WWII our agricultural system has become almost unrecognizable

10 How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used. - Wendell Berry

11 Flavor Environment Time Nutrition Price Risk Guilt Status Family Culture Religion Health Convenience Rebellion Comfort

12 Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites. --William Ruckelshaus, first EPA administrator

13 Old Paradigm: Food Security/Environment Food security, nutrition and environment separate Food security pressing, affects real people right now Nutrition a crisis individual gluttony escalating Environmental concern a luxury save the whales Connections between food choices, envt irrelevant; low food prices the only priority Fixing envt might benefit food security, nutrition far in future or somewhere far away But: not essential, not here, not now Technology will save us

http://cropwatch.unl.edu/archives/2002/crop02-18.htm; http://rfu3.da.gov.

16 ; photo Hamish Wilson from Env Health Perspect 113:8; Aug 2005.

17 Food is Ubiquitous

18 Distance to McDonalds

20 We are all used to talking about these impacts coming in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren. Now we know that it's us. -Martin Parry, co-chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

22 Future Food Security Global population may exceed 9 billion by 2050 Need 70% more food! (UN) US population may rise by 30% by 2050 Could lose 10-25% global agricultural capacity by 2080s Shortages always hit poor, disenfranchised hardest Cline 2007; Census 2011; UNFAO

23 New Paradigm: Food Security/Environment Food system threats: Climate change Soil depletion, peak phosphorus Water shortages Peak oil Farmland loss Super-weeds Contaminated water, soil (e.g., methylmercury) Population growth Food security, environment inextricably linked Immediate in some places; not-distant future everywhere Technology might help; might backfire. Need all hands on deck

lack of cover crops, chemical use Healthy soils: Resilient to drought Sequester more carbon

24 Soil Soil loss is not a problem in agriculture, but the problem of agriculture Wes Jackson Farming practices affecting soil, soil organic matter Compacting, tilling, too-heavy grazing, lack of cover crops, chemical use Healthy soils: Resilient to drought Sequester more carbon Reduced erosion Healthier plants years / inch topsoil US losing an inch every 34 years Soil contamination

Soil Fertility Fertilizers fueled 20C rises in food production Nitrogen fertilizers Crops absorb 1/3 1/2 nitrogen applied - runoff Energy intensive, greenhouse gases Phosphorus : Gravest natural

25 Soil Fertility Fertilizers fueled 20C rises in food production Nitrogen fertilizers Crops absorb 1/3 1/2 nitrogen applied - runoff Energy intensive, greenhouse gases Phosphorus : Gravest natural resource shortage you ve never heard of -Elser & White, 2010 Manure 130X human waste (US) Applied to land, usually untreated Often contains: pharmaceuticals, pathogens (incl. antibiotic resistant); dust; arsenic; dioxin, other persistent organics; complex mixtures VOCs Photo; tilman: Pew Commission on Industrial Food Animal Production 2008; Walker et al 2005, Elser & White 2010 srap

Today: 7-10 calories to produce, process, package every food calorie (>40

26 Energy/Fossil Fuel Use Traditional, solar powered agriculture produced more energy than it consumed. Today: 7-10 calories to produce, process, package every food calorie (>40 for beef) Today s food production responsible for: 19% US fossil fuel use Heller & Keolian 2000; Pimentel & Pimentel 2007;

27 Peak Oil Oil enabled yield increases of 20 th C Food system now fully oil dependent Transport, machinery, pesticides, irrigation, mining Global oil supply peaks, then declines, extraction increasingly costly. The end of cheap energy will force us to begin redesigning our food economy as a subsystem of the ecosystem. (Kirschenmann)

29 THE FUTURE CAN BE BRIGHTER The end of cheap energy will force us to begin redesigning our food economy as a subsystem of the ecosystem. (Kirschenmann)

30 Public Health & CC Mitigation: CO-BENEFITS Addressing environment has big picture public health benefits, vice versa Often same eating patterns benefit nutrition, food security, communities & environment Eat less [closer to caloric needs] Less meat/better meat Less processed Local (??) Note: not always co-benefits

31 Why We Are Needed Each field brings important tools, credibility, audience Interdisciplinary efforts even stronger In addition, public health: Addresses public health threats Addresses disparities Recognizes impact of structural forces Works via community partnerships Helps make case for action via health framing and co-benefits

32 New Paradigm, Existing Workload Communication respected source Education co-benefits Preparedness Interdisciplinary efforts e.g., projects to jointly address nutrition & environment Partnerships amplify both partners efforts Monitoring: incorporate relevant indicators Research: new questions

33 Community Garden h/ecosophies1.jpg

34 School Garden

35 School System Farm education + food production

36 EBT (SNAP) Access at Farmers Markets

37 Urban Gleaning

38 Agriculture of the Middle

40 Change Institutional Food Sourcing Balanced Menus Challenge -- Less meat, better meat in hospitals

41 Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Hoophouses

43 Meatless Monday Cut meat consumption 15% International movement Cities School systems

44 Aquaponics

45 Institutionalized Composting

46 Needs: Research, Policy, Practice What must we understand about problems in current system? What will it take to address healthy eating in context? Technical factors Motivational factors How do various solutions impact health? Environment? How can we do it better? Equity, effectiveness, cost effectiveness, sustainability

47 Thank You! Roni Neff, PhD MS Center for a Livable Future Website: Blog: Facebook, Twitter

Energy Use by Agriculture

Energy Use by Agriculture Robert S. Lawrence, MD Director, Center for a Livable Future Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health March 12, 2009 Average U.S. farm uses 3 kcal of fossil energy to produce