Event to look at the ethics of eating: ‘What IF we could feed the world without harming the planet?’

Jessica Fanzo (Courtesy photo)
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — How does the world feed its growing population in a way that does not contribute to climate change? How much should we enjoy what we eat at the cost of the planet’s health?

The Ingestive Behavior Research Center at Purdue is sponsoring a conference addressing “What IF We Could Feed the World Without Harming the Planet?” The Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 event is titled "Ethics of Eating: Promoting Personal and Global Choices" and will be held in Purdue Memorial Union’s South Ballroom. The conference is free and open to the public, but online registration is required. The keynote speaker is Jessica Fanzo from Johns Hopkins University, who will present "Eating Our Way Through the Anthropocene: The Challenges, Risks and Ethics of Actions.” The talk is at 7 p.m. on Sept. 30. Anthropocene refers to the current epoch in which humans have a planet-scale impact. 

The event is part of Purdue’s Ideas Festival, the centerpiece of the university’s Giant Leaps Sesquicentennial Campaign, which is a series of events that connect world-renowned speakers and Purdue expertise in a conversation on the most critical problems facing the world. Some of the Ideas Festival’s themes are health, longevity and quality of life as well as a sustainable economy and planet.

A panel of experts will address topics that include food production, waste and insecurity; advertising and taxation and their effects on eating habits; end-of-life feeding; the future of the food supply chain; and investments needed for the future.  

Fanzo is the Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor of Global Food and Agricultural Policy and Ethics at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, the Berman Institute of Bioethics, and the Department of International Health of the Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also serves as the director of the Global Food Ethics and Policy Program at Johns Hopkins and plays key advisory roles in the university’s Alliance for a Healthier World on the food security and nutrition theme, as well as the Bloomberg American Health Initiative on obesity and food systems.

She is currently serving as the co-chair for the Global Nutrition Report and is the team leader for the High-Level Panel of Experts for food systems and nutrition for the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security. She also serves on the Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets for Sustainable Food Systems. 

Writer: Jeanne Norberg 

Media contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu  

Source: Kimberly Kinzig, Purdue associate professor psychological sciences, kkinzig@purdue.edu