Our Changing Menu: Using the Power of Food to Confront Climate Change
Perspectives in Global Development: Fall 2023 Seminar Series
Abstract
Food is loved and needed, it is emotive, and it is deeply embedded in cultures and family histories. However, not enough people know that climate change is changing everything from what crop plants depend on for life to the flavors, aromas, nutritional quality, availability, and prices of the foods we love and need. It is an ideal messenger for the climate change story and one that can make climate change relevant to everyone — we all eat. This story also resonates across the political divide with most people, regardless of political affiliation, being concerned about climate change impacts on their food choices and interested in learning more about climate change impacts on their food — an audience awaits. We also talk a lot about food but far less about climate change yet talking about climate change is the first step in tackling it. Can we meld these conversations? Everyone can tap the power of food to confront climate change and keep our favorites on the menu. And coincidentally, keep the planet livable.
About the speaker
Mike Hoffmann is dedicating his life to confronting the grand challenge of climate change by helping people understand and appreciate what is happening through the foods we all love and need. We all eat, making this story relevant to everyone, every day. He has published climate change articles in the popular press, such as The Hill, Fortune, Medium, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Daily News, and USA Today, and is lead author of Our changing menu: Climate change and the foods we love and need (Cornell Press 2021). His TEDx Talk – Climate change: It’s time to raise our voices has been well received along with the >150 climate change – related talks he has given. Mike’s life’s experiences include growing up on a one-cow dairy farm, serving in the Marines during the Vietnam War, and being a father and someone’s partner for 51 years. He held multiple leadership roles in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, including Executive Director of the Cornell Institute for Climate Change Solutions, Director of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, associate director of Cornell Cooperative Extension, and director of the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program. He received his BS Degree from the University Wisconsin, MS from the University of Arizona, and PhD from the University of California, Davis. He now holds the title of Professor Emeritus. He will tell the climate change story, until he no longer can.
Perspectives in Global Development
The Perspectives in Global Development seminars are held Wednesdays from 12:20-1:20 p.m. eastern time during the semester. The series is presented in a hybrid format with some speakers on campus and others appearing via Zoom. All seminars are shown in Emerson Hall 135. Students, faculty and the general public are welcome to attend. The series is co-sponsored by the Department of Global Development, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and the School of Integrative Plant Science as part of courses GDEV 4961, AEM 4961, NTRES 4961, GDEV 6960, AEM 6960, and NTRES 6960.
