Food for Thought Program

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Food System Literacy in Classrooms, Cafeterias and Communities

A Two-Day Symposium June 16 and 17, 2011 The Ethel Walker School, Simsbury, CT

S Y M P O S I U M

P R O G R A M

Welcome!

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the Food for Thought Symposium.

As an attendee and in your work, you join thousands of people around the world who are taking decisive action to reform the way we produce, procure, prepare, consume and dispose of food. Institutions are fundamental to the interdisciplinary webs that make up the food system, and for this reason will be a critical part of the innovative strategies that will cause sustainable change. This work is not easy and it takes collaboration and information sharing.

This Symposium, organized by The Ethel Walker School, is the second in their Environmental Symposium series, and has been carefully designed to provide a unique and intimate opportunity for educators, food service directors, sustainability coordinators, farmers and other professionals in schools and communities. It is our sincere hope that you will return to your workplace equipped with the tools and inspiration you need to facilitate positive change, and be a model and resource for developing minds and bodies.

We hope you enjoy this special event!

Sincerely, The Symposium Co-Chairs

Carol Clark-Flanagan Green Council Co-Chair, History & English Faculty The Ethel Walker School Jill Harrington Green Council Co-Chair, Science Department Chair The Ethel Walker School Brooke Redmond, EWS ’90 Trustee, The Ethel Walker School Communications and Development Director The Farm-Based Education Association

Symposium schedule at a glance PLEASE REFER TO YOUR PROGRAM ADDENDUM FOR SESSION LOCATIONS.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Friday, June 17, 2011

10:00 a.m.

Registration Opens

8:00-8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast Beaver Brook Common Room

11:00 a.m.

Depart from Beaver Brook Lobby for Billings Forge Tour and Lunch

12:45 p.m.

Depart Billings Forge for Community Farm of Simsbury

2:15 p.m.

Return to Walker’s

1:00-3:00 p.m.

Registration and Visit the Exhibit Tables in Beaver Brook Lobby

Registration, Beaver Brook Lobby Exhibit Tables, Beaver Brook Lobby 8:45-9:00 a.m. Welcoming Remarks, Bessie Speers Head of The Ethel Walker School 9:00-10:15 a.m. Keynote Address, Frances Beinecke, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council

3:00-4:30 p.m. Session I (see session options page 2) 10:30-11:30 a.m. Session II (see session options page 3) 4:30 p.m.

Cocktails* Featuring Connecticut produced wines, beers, and artisanal cheeses

5:30 p.m.

Dinner Buffet Locally sourced produce, fish and meats are featured

6:45 p.m.

Evening Forum Bill McKibben, Author, Educator, Environmentalist Facilitated by Jon Isham, Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, Middlebury College

8:30-9:00 p.m. Campfire, Songs and S’mores up on the Ridge

11:30 a.m.-12:30 Lunch in Abra’s Dining Room, Beaver Brook 12:15 p.m.

Remarks from Brooke Redmond, The Farm Based Education Association, and Erica Curry, National Farm to School Network

12:30-1:30 p.m. An Hour with John Turenne Q&A with the President and Founder of Sustainable Food Systems 1:45-2:45 p.m.

Session III (see session options page 4)

3:00-4:00 p.m. Session IV (see session options page 5) 4:00-4:30 p.m. Tea, Coffee, Good-byes and Networking

*Music for the evening, beginning at Cocktails, is provided by the Sylvester Manor Worksongers, led by Bennett Konesni, who is the former founding Executive Director of Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island, NY will provide music for the evening, beginning at cocktails. Bennett will introduce participants to the history and future of food and culture though music and dancing — both of which were important technologies that made the food system more efficient and joyful — things lost in today's system. With the Worksonger’s help — a resurgence is afoot!

Walker’s Food Service Partner, Flik Independent Schools, is providing all meals, snacks and services.

This conference has been underwritten by a generous grant from the EE Ford Foundation.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Food System Literacy in Classrooms, Cafeterias and Communities

1

Thursday, Session I (3:00–4:30 p.m.)

Choose from Community, Classroom or Cafeteria Tracks — Mix and Match as you please!

COMMUNITY 1:

Cultivating Connections: Engaging Youth in the Food System Presenter: Anique Wiggins, F.R.E.S.H. New London, 4-H Urban Farming This workshop will explore lessons learned by FRESH New London about engaging youth from ages 3 to 18 in the food system through their community and classroom. From hands-on exploration in the garden to food system literacy training, to growing and selling organic vegetables, FRESH will share different strategies and programs for connecting young people with issues and through experiences with food, community and agriculture.

Participants will hear how youth in our summer program view the process of being hired and working with FRESH. After this presentation, attendees will be able to identify strategies proven successful by FRESH New London to integrate garden-based education into the classroom/school system and apply techniques to create experiential education in the garden, while tying it to curriculum standards.

COMMUNITY 2:

The Transcendentalist Challenge: Learning by Doing, Or, Get Away from the Screen and Onto the Farm!

Presenter: Maria Buteux Reade, Trinity Pawling School

CLASSROOM 2:

Why Don't We All Eat Local Meat?

Presenters: Michael T. Keilty, University of Connecticut, and Jean King, Food Policy and Nonprofit Management Consultant This presentation will describe our work to increase local meat production as part of the development of a sustainable agriculture system in New England.

Attendees will understand how local food production benefits people and communities. They will learn about supply and demand for local meat and related infrastructure issues. They will also learn about humane treatment of our food animals and Temple Grandin’s principles. Finally, they will find out how they can partner with local farmers to support sustainable agriculture in their communities.

“This oughta be required for every boy before he graduates,” Tom said, tasting the sun-warmed broccoli he just harvested. Since 2008, Maria has taken more than 100 Trinity-Pawling boys to volunteer at a local organic farm. Watching them embrace that experience prodded her to take an unpaid sabbatical from teaching this past fall, travel around Vermont, and learn more about farming.

CAFETERIA:

CLASSROOM 1:

From Farm to School Cafeteria: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Projects with Teeth: Students Learn from Architects, Engineers, Business Managers, Marketing Directors, and Food Service Professionals to Make Sustainable Change Presenters: Carol Clark-Flanagan, History and English; Jill Harrington, Head of the Science Department; and students from their Environmental Studies Course, The Ethel Walker School Central to the Environmental Studies course, a science elective at Walker's, are business proposals that teams of students work on and ultimately present to the School's Board of Trustees. The goal of these proposals is to make sustainable change on campus or in the surrounding community.

Presenters: Rhonda DeLoatch, Food Services Director, and Annie Hettick, Farm Manager, Common Ground High School Getting food from garden to kitchen and onto the student’s plate seems like it should be easy but Common Ground High School has found the reality poses many challenges. In this workshop, Common Ground will describe their experience and what they have done to address the challenges.

Participants will leave being able to anticipate some of the challenges they will face when implementing a “farm to cafeteria” program. They will come away with some concrete strategies for addressing those challenges. They will also learn the basics of processing fresh local vegetables for use in the school kitchen and tactics for getting their students to embrace new foods.

Participants will come away with lesson plans and projects that students have designed in their efforts to push for sustainable change in their schools and communities, as well as strategies for getting institutional support and space for interdisciplinary courses.

2

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Food System Literacy in Classrooms, Cafeterias and Communities

Friday, Session II (10:30–11:30 a.m.)

CLASSROOM 2:

Choose from Community, Classroom or Cafeteria Tracks — Mix and Match as you please!

Spirituality, Ethics, Sustainability and Food

COMMUNITY 1:

Youth Farmstands: Their Place in the Community Food System Presenter: Luanne J. Hughes, MS, RD, Rutgers Cooperative Extension Seeds to Success youth farmstands bring nutritious foods to at-risk communities while providing economic opportunities to farmers and jobs to special needs teens.

After this session, participants will be able to explain how youth farmstands can impact consumer fruit/vegetable consumption in at-risk communities. They will also be able to explain how youth farmstands impact youth and consumer nutrition knowledge, and identify how these stands can offer new business opportunities for local farmers.

COMMUNITY 2:

Getting There from Here Presenters: Aimee Shelton, Middle and Upper School Wellness and Transition; Sarah Kinder, Lower School Technology Integration Specialist; and Leslie Hahne, Middle School English and Science, The Agnes Irwin School This interactive session is designed for those who are just getting started. Whether you are trying to improve the quality of food in your dining room, integrate food literacy, sustainability, and wellness into your curriculum or just introducing food for thought into the daily workings of your school, the workshop will provide a template for how to get from wherever you are to where you want to be.

CLASSROOM 1:

Presenter: Wynn Calder, Director, Sustainable Schools This session will begin by looking at how a strong ethical or spiritual perspective can strengthen schooling in sustainability.

How does an ethical foundation change how we define and practice sustainability at schools? Beyond the conservation of natural resources, what are the implications for sustainability in teaching and community outreach? More specifically, how can spirituality, ethics and sustainability provide support for a food program that reaches into the classroom, out into the community, and fosters more conscious and healthy living in a school community?

Participants will come away with new ideas for making links on their own campuses between spirituality and sustainability, and between ethics and a fully sustainable food program.

CAFETERIA:

Meatless Monday Campaign: A Learning Experience Presenters: Greg Lanphear, Aramark at Millbrook School; Janette Luparia, Aramark Independent Schools; Jane Meigs, Millbrook School Implementation of a Meatless Monday Initiative serves the school community by offering an opportunity for learning outside the four walls of the classroom. Meatless Monday encourages campus discussions relating to health, wellness, environmental stewardship and social responsibility while teaching students the effects of the food choices they make.

Participants will learn about the history and mission of the Meatless Monday Campaign, how to coordinate and implement the program as a dining hall-school partnership, and support school initiatives by designing a campus specific communication and execution plan. Participants will also understand the thought process behind menu choice, and how cost and dining hall layout relates to the overall implementation of this initiative.

Digging Deeper Into Farm to School: Food, Farm & Nutrition Curriculum Development Presenter: Erica Curry, National Farm to School Network, Shelburne Farms and Farm-Based Education Association This workshop will focus on the best practices of integrating Food, Farm and Nutrition topics into classroom curriculum. We will provide examples of curriculum, lead discussion and conduct hands-on activities demonstrating ways to connect local farms and food to the classroom, cafeteria and community. A focus of this workshop will be a “webbing activity” that will demonstrate how farm to school topics provide incredible interdisciplinary opportunities. Participants will take home sample curriculum-aligned class projects, ideas and inspiration to begin to weave these topics into their teaching.

Participants will become familiar with several Farm-to-School teacher curriculum materials and with organizations that can be contacted as future resources. They will gain an understanding of the basics of both selling food to schools and working with a school to support food and farming curriculum.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Food System Literacy in Classrooms, Cafeterias and Communities

3

Friday, Session III (1:45-2:45 p.m.)

away with ideas to create a sustainability narrative for their school communities.

Choose from Community, Classroom or Cafeteria Tracks — Mix and Match as you please!

CLASSROOM 2: COMMUNITY 1:

Facilitating Conversations about Social Justice through Food Presenter: Dave Madan, Founder, theMOVE To mobilize others to advocate for social change, we need to motivate them to care. theMOVE is a Boston-based organization that puts together farm-volunteer workdays for all sorts of groups around the city, with discussions/activities afterwards that help build a direct link between personal health, community health, and environmental health. theMOVE believes that a hands-on connection with food and its origins is key to inspiring others.

Together we’ll come up with bold/inspiring/creative new activities to push the boundaries of social justice education.

Ecologia: How an Urban Farm is Used to Teach Science and Spanish in a Single Interdisciplinary Course Presenters: Keith Johnston, Spanish teacher, and Dave Edgeworth, Science teacher, Common Ground High School Teachers and students of “Ecologia” will describe what is behind the success of this popular interdisciplinary course that teaches science and Spanish using Common Ground’s urban farm as a primary educational resource.

Participants will gain the basic knowledge necessary to design, develop, and conduct a similar interdisciplinary course.

Participants will learn how a farm can be used as a teaching tool.

CAFETERIA 1:

Sustainable Eating and Environmental Dining This workshop is entirely interactive. Participants will be led in a sample discussion session, reflect on the exercise, and then break into groups to develop a new creative learning module for bringing out social justice concepts through hands-on farm/gardenvolunteer experiences that they will share with the group. Together we’ll come up with new activities to push the boundaries of social justice education.

COMMUNITY 2:

The Unquowa School Farm Camp at Sport Hill Farm: How to Establish, Manage and Maintain a Robust Summer Program with a Partnering Farm Presenters: Mary Faulkner, Camp Director; Sharon Lauer, Head of School; and Peter Gorman, Chef, The Unquowa School In this workshop, we will introduce the program, briefly explaining the history of how the partnership was born, the ball bearings of management, leadership, finances and how this program is central to our school's core mission. We will also highlight our strategies around dining, nutrition, and wellness, and how we incorporate the farm into the curriculum and other areas during the school year.

CLASSROOM 1:

Creating a Sustainable Narrative in Your Community: Moving Beyond the Basics Presenters: Rev. Bob Flanagan, Head of the Theology Department, Brooks School, and Brian Palm, Head of the Science Department, Brooks School Sustainability is more than recycling, eating from local food growers, and reducing electricity usage. In this small group workshop, speakers will engage with participants in thought-provoking discussion and activity to assist school community leaders in creating narratives that have the potential to strengthen student, faculty and staff connectivity to the importance of sustainability.

Presenters: Joann Khoder, Vice President of Support Services; Susan Cooper, MS, RD, CDN, Nutrition Specialist; Michelle Ades, Director of Dining Services at The Ethel Walker School, Flik Independent School Dining Flik Independent School Dining has promoted health and wellness initiatives at The Ethel Walker School by implementing sustainable programs and practices that help protect the environment, reduce waste, decrease our carbon footprint and support local communities. Our dedication to nutrition and healthy eating is demonstrated by practicing programs and offering educational tools that help students make informed decisions.

In this session, learn about some of these programs that assist students in making wise healthy decisions.

CAFETERIA 2:

Green Cuisine: The Innovation around The Spence School's Food Program Renovation Presenters: Chef Rose Walker, Food Services Director and Executive Chef; and Ellen Thomas, Chef Consultant Green Cuisine is built on a commitment to nutritional, environmental and social well-being. Green Cuisine is not just about eating good food. It is also about learning where our food comes from and about the impact of our food choices on our health and the planet.

In this workshop, we will introduce the program by briefly explaining the history of how and why we initiated changes. We will discuss some of the challenges and opportunities, and highlight why we made the decisions we did around procurement and program integration.

Participants will learn how to think about creating change in their food program. We will help you to identify opportunities for implementing simple, sustainable strategies to create real and lasting change in your food service programs.

After this presentation, attendees will have resources and ideas to grow sustainability programs and curriculums. They will be able to identify the importance of a sustainability narrative and come

4

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Food System Literacy in Classrooms, Cafeterias and Communities

Friday, Session IV (3:00-4:00 p.m.)

CLASSROOM 1:

Choose from Community, Classroom or Cafeteria Tracks — Mix and Match as you please!

Agriculture and the Environment: Understanding Impact of Choice

COMMUNITY 1:

Farm to School — Sowing Seeds for Future Farmers!

How Connecting with Schools Strengthens Ties Between Farms and Communities LOCATION: ROOM A Presenter: Erica Curry, National Farm to School Network, Shelburne Farms, VT FEED, Farm-Based Education Association The farm to school movement is spreading across the country like wildfire! We’ll discuss just what “farm to school” means and how making connections with local farms creates healthier kids and communities. This interactive workshop will touch on the basics of farm to school including an introduction to selling to schools, understanding the school food environment and how farm based education can play a role in school curriculum.

Participants will leave the workshop with tools to connect their curriculum to food, farm and nutrition topics: learning, in the process, how to facilitate several hands-on farm to school activities.

Participants will also leave understanding the basics of both selling food to schools and working with a school to support food and farming curriculum.

Presenter: Susan Quincy, Environmental Analyst and State Coordinator of Project Food, Land and People, National Steering Committee Project Food, Land and People brings understanding of our food system to the public through classroom ready materials designed to meet educational standards. Students gain understanding of the dynamics of food systems and their impact surrounding choices and sustainability.

This session will provide active participation and ready to use materials for the classroom. Participants will be able to implement the activities from the session in their classrooms without reinventing the wheel. They will leave being able to address challenging topics and choices with their students around food issues using balanced materials: not teaching them what to think.

Participants will obtain resources that the state provides to assist them with their educational goals.

CLASSROOM 2:

Veggiecation: Successfully Linking Classroom Lessons to Mealtime Experience Presenters: Lisa Suriano, Jovanni Ramos, and Marsha Gomez, Veggiecation

Presenters: Rebecca Holcombe, Director of Community Programs, and Melissa Spear, Executive Director, Common Ground High School

This workshop offers the techniques and tools to create a practical and simple avenue for educators and food service providers to empower and educate students about the delicious and powerful nature of vegetables. The program’s philosophy is explained, as well as how and why it was developed. We will share experiences as a school food specialist and nutritionist, discussing obstacles and presenting solutions to creating a positive food environment within the school community.

Common Ground’s urban farm is a source of food, an outdoor classroom, and a venue for community programs. This workshop describes how Common Ground has both brought the community to the farm and the farm to the community while balancing the many sometimes conflicting demands created by the diverse uses of the farm.

After this presentation, attendees will be able to empower students to try new nutritious food, to integrate nutrition education concepts into established curriculums and food programs seamlessly, and to foster support from parents and guardians, providing them the tools to continue healthy food choices at home.

COMMUNITY 2:

The Many Faces of a Community Farm

Participants will understand the difference between a “farm enterprise” and a “community farm.” They will become aware of many of the unique challenges faced by a community farm and learn some specific strategies for addressing these challenges.

CAFETERIA:

Incorporating Sustainable Food into Your School Cafeteria Presented by John Turenne, Founder and President of Sustainable Food Systems In this workshop, John will bring the participants through a discussion about the challenges of incorporating more sustainable food into the school cafeteria. He will then work with the group to identify ways to overcome these perceived barriers.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Food System Literacy in Classrooms, Cafeterias and Communities

5

The Community Farm of Simsbury The property long known as the Town Farm in Simsbury was donated to the town by Amos Eno in 1883, “to be used for the occupation and maintenance of the town poor.” Originally, the 140-acre farm and its farmhouse were home to poor residents of Simsbury who worked on the farm. After World War II and through the 1950s, a dairy farm was run on the land. The last indigent resident moved out of the farmhouse in 1981 when the town decided to close the poor farm. At this time, town officials explored different options for the property that would fulfill the charitable intent of the deed.

Town Farm Dairy began in 1989, the farm was certified organic in 2004, and the Friends of Town Farm Dairy, a non-profit organization was formed in 2005.

With the closing of the dairy in 2008, The Town of Simsbury, The Ethel Walker School, and Hartford’s Billings Forge Community Works (BFCW) came together to create a unique and special collaboration in support of the mission. Seventyseven acres are currently leased by CFS, 38 of which are tillable.

Educational programs have been developed to teach people of all ages about nature, farming, nutrition, and environmental stewardship. Both summer and year-long programs are offered to students in local public and private schools and in Hartford and neighboring communities.

Organic farming is also being conducted, including growing vegetables, fruit, grain, and flowers. The charitable mission is being accomplished as all food grown in the teaching gardens is donated to local food distribution services. A summer farm stand is open from June to September, selling produce grown on the farm.

CFS is committed to preserving and maintaining the historic structures on the site. These include a 100-year-old farmhouse and a barn with an original section built during the Civil War. CFS continues the practice of farming organically and maintaining the organic certification on the property. This policy helps to protect the Farmington River, which adjoins the property.

believes that food should travel the shortest distance from farm to table, be locally grown, and prepared with classic techniques and inventive thinking. Less than two years later and highly acclaimed, the restaurant is creating economic revitalization in Hartford and bringing people into a blighted area they would not have encountered before. Thirty percent of the Firebox workforce is made up of local Frog Hollow residents.

Firebox’s adjoining green space has become home to a seasonal Farmers’ Market with the goal of bringing fresh Connecticut grown produce and products to the inner city. The Farmers’ Market @ Billings Forge was the first to accept EBT/Food Stamps, credit/debit and WIC transactions and participates in the Wholesome Wave Foundation’s Double Value Coupon Program.

In its next phase of neighborhood redevelopment, The Kitchen @ Billings Forge further integrates and expands the food concept with a commercial kitchen, artisanal bakery, job training opportunities, and a cooking school for kids and adults.

Sylvester Manor Worksongers The farmer-musicians at Sylvester Manor, led by Bennett Konesni, will entertain guests at the symposium. Sylvester Manor is a 243-acre educational farm on Shelter Island, NY. Started in 1652, the Manor has been a native hunting ground, a triangle-trade plantation, an enlightenment farm providing food for New York, Hartford, and Providence, and home to the father of modern food chemistry, Eben Norton Horsford. Today Sylvester Manor is an Educational Farm that focuses on preserving and understanding the culture of food through a CSA and farmstand, workshops, and community events.

The Sylvester Manor Worksongers describe themselves this way: "We are organic farmers and musicians. We love weaving music into our work and can be found out hollering in the fields or playing for a local barn dance. We've got a small farm here and when it suits the task at hand we sing farmer's laments, rounds, repurposed rock- you name it. Out in the fields we're preserving and growing a cultural landscape every day."

Billings Forge Community Works Billings Forge Community Works (BFCW) is a self-sustaining non-profit organization in the Frog Hollow neighborhood of Hartford. Creating a vibrant community through supportive and entrepreneurial programs that build improved infrastructure, offer family education, job training, mentoring, sustainable enterprises, and exposure to a healthy quality of life is at the core of BFCW’s innovative strategy — and most revolve around food and our vision to create an urban center for the farm-to-table movement.

In 2007, award-winning fine dining restaurant Firebox, now a self-sustaining enterprise, was born. With its simple belief in healthy eating and a healthy quality of life for all, the restaurant

EVENT STAFF: VIVIAN ELBA – Director, Marketing & Communications LEEANN HARRIS – Centennial Coordinator COURTNEY KING – Manager, Development Events & Publications THE ETHEL WALKER SCHOOL EVENT MANAGEMENT BY THE FERRIS GROUP, LLC

6

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Food System Literacy in Classrooms, Cafeterias and Communities

Keynote Speaker Biographies Frances Beinecke EWS '67, President, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Under Frances's leadership, the organization has launched a new strategic campaign that sharply focuses NRDC's efforts on curbing global warming, moving America beyond oil, reviving the world's oceans, saving endangered wild places, stemming the tide of toxic chemicals and accelerating the greening of China.

Frances has worked with NRDC for more than 30 years. Prior to becoming the president in 2006, she served as the organization's executive director for eight years, during which time NRDC's membership doubled and the staff grew to more than 300. She also worked as a member of NRDC's water and coastal program, fighting to protect marine ecosystems from offshore oil and gas development and advocating for sound coastal land use.

In addition to her work at NRDC, Frances has played a leadership role in several other environmental organizations.

She currently serves on the boards of the World Resources Institute, the Energy Future Coalition and Conservation International's Center for Environmental Leadership in Business and is on the steering committee of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership. She has been a member of the boards of the Wilderness Society, the China-U.S. Center for Sustainable Development and the New York League of Conservation Voters.

Frances received a bachelor's degree from Yale College and a master's degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She now co-chairs the Leadership Council of the Yale School of Forestry, is a member of the School of Management's Advisory Board and a former member of the Yale Corporation Frances has received the Rachel Carson Award from the National Audubon Society, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, the Annual Conservation Award from the Adirondack Council and the Robert Marshall Award from the Wilderness Society.

Bill McKibben Bill McKibben is an American environmentalist and writer who writes about global warming and alternative energy and advocates for more localized economies. In 2010 the Boston Globe

called him "probably the nation's leading environmentalist" and Time Magazine described him as "the world's best green journalist." In 2009 he led the organization of 350.org, which coordinated what Foreign Policy Magazine called "the largest ever global coordinated rally of any kind," with 5,200 simultaneous demonstrations in 181 countries. The magazine named him to its inaugural list of the 100 most important global thinkers, and MSN named him one of the dozen most influential men of 2009.

Bill was president of the Harvard Crimson newspaper in college.

Immediately after college he joined the New Yorker magazine as a staff writer, and wrote much of the "Talk of the Town" column from 1982 to early 1987. His first book, The End of Nature, is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has been printed in more than 20 languages.

Subsequent books include The Age of Missing Information, Hope, Human and Wild; The Comforting Whirlwind: God, Job, and the Scale of Creation; Maybe One; Long Distance: A Year of Living Strenuously; Enough, about the existential dangers of genetic engineering; Wandering Home, about a long solo hiking trip from the mountains east of Lake Champlain in Ripton, Vermont back to the Adirondacks. In March 2007 McKibben published Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future.

In late summer 2006, Bill helped lead a five-day walk across Vermont to demand action on global warming. Beginning in January 2007 he founded stepitup07.org, to demand that Congress enact curbs on carbon emissions to cut global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050. With six college students, he organized 1,400 global warming demonstrations across all 50 states of America on April 14, 2007.

March 2008 saw the publication of The Bill McKibben Reader. Bill is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Orion Magazine, Mother Jones, The New York Review of Books, Granta, Rolling Stone, Outside and Grist Magazine. Bill has been awarded Guggenheim and Lyndhurst Fellowships, and won the Lannan Prize for nonfiction writing in 2000. He has honorary degrees from Green Mountain College, Unity College, Lebanon Valley College and Sterling College and is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College.

John Turenne, President and Founder Sustainable Food Systems, LLC John Turenne, founder and President of Sustainable Food Systems, was one of the lead innovators in sustainable food practices during the creation of the Yale Sustainable Food Project. Realizing the impact of food service decision-making on the world around us, John transformed a conservative university food service model, of which he has 25 years experience, to create a sustainable dining program through careful planning, teaching and development.

John Turenne continues as a leading innovator in bridging the gap between conventional and sustainable dining programs working with the Culinary Institute of America, Harvard Medical School, The New Hampshire Department of Education, Kaiser Permanente as well as several public hospital and school systems.

John Turenne and Sustainable Food Systems continue to harvest national and international recognition.

Jon Isham, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Environment, Middlebury College Jon joins us to introduce and moderate our keynote session with Bill McKibben. He is a Professor in the Department of Economics and Program in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College.

Jon's research encompasses a broad range of questions about institutional determinants of well-being and sustainability. He co-edited (Island Press, 2007) and Ignition: What You Can Do to Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement and Social Capital and Economic Development: Well-Being in Developing Countries (Edward Elgar Publications, 2002); has published articles in Economic Development and Cultural Change, The Journal of African Economies, The Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Rural Sociology, Society and Natural Resources, The Southern Economic Journal, The Vermont Law Review, World Bank Economic Review and other journals; and book chapters in volumes from Ashgate Press, The New England University Press, Oxford University Press, and Cambridge University Press. He served as the Guest Editor of ‘Getting to 350,’ a special edition of Solutions, based on the 'Getting to 350' workshop held at Middlebury in May 2009.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Food System Literacy in Classrooms, Cafeterias and Communities

7

NOTES

8

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Food System Literacy in Classrooms, Cafeterias and Communities

NOTES

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Food System Literacy in Classrooms, Cafeterias and Communities

230 Bushy Hill Road Simsbury, CT 06070 www.ethelwalker.org