2020 Articles

Plenary lecture: Eating our way through the anthropocene: the challenges, risks and ethics of actions

Hunter, Stephanie R.; Fanzo, Jessica C.

In the plenary presentation, Dr. Jessica Fanzo discussed interactions between the production and consumption of foods with the environment. The pressure that human agricultural practices have burdened the Earth with are enormous, as they require significant natural resources. Importantly, she highlighted that transformations in agricultural practices have had positive effects in the sense that more people were able to be fed, but this was largely at the expense of the environment, which is not surprising considering that agriculture uses nearly 40% of the earth's land and 70% of its fresh water supply. Compounding issues, the temperature of the Earth continues to rise, water supplies are altered and often insufficient, and agriculture and population-induced changes in the soil and water increase challenges to maintaining the current rate of food production, much less allow for its expansion with a rising global population. Collectively, these issues are just some of the myriad issues faced in current times, each of which requires ethical consideration as changes are proposed, developed, and implemented.