Food summit examines sustainability, health, and justice
Forget the food pyramid, or even the FDA’s more recent ChooseMyPlate initiative, aimed at getting Americans to eat healthier. If our species and our planet are to survive, humanity needs to refocus on a diet that encompasses not only fruits and vegetables but also sustainability and social justice, according to participants at a wide-ranging summit on food production, diet, and sustainability in Boston on Wednesday. Called “Food, Farms, Fisheries, and Forests,” the daylong event at the University of Massachusetts Club was presented by the American Farmland Trust and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, in partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Food Solutions New England, Harvard Forest, Harvard Law School, and the Kennedy School of Government. The purpose was to bring together experts on the environment and nutrition as well as people focused on social justice and its implications for feeding the population. Walter Willett, M.P.H. ’73, Dr.P.H. ’80,...