Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2009 - (Page 18)

Food Matters by Roni Neff, Ph.D ou are what you eat. We’ve all heard that expression countless times from parents and teachers who encourage us to eat healthily. But eating food is just one way you’re affected by it. The way food is produced, processed, and distributed has an enormous impact not only on the quality and variety of food you eat, but also on the environment and the health of people involved in every aspect of what we call our food system. I work at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF), an interdisciplinary academic center within the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Our work focuses on public health issues related to the food system, which we define as everything it takes to produce and process food, advertise and bring it to customers, prepare it, and dispose of it. This includes the people and businesses involved, and the places, processes, Y Most animals raised for food or to produce food in the U.S. are raised on “factory farms,” or CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations). CAFOs can have hundreds or thousands of cows or hogs, and tens or hundreds of thousands of chickens. (Source: www.epa. gov/npdes/pubs/sector_table. pdf) policies, and politics that shape the whole system. Using “systems” thinking is useful for generating ideas for change, and for keeping us mindful of the fact that tweaking one part of the system can have ramifications throughout. CLF conducts and supports research aimed at understanding the public health and environmental issues associated with our current food system; identifying ways to make our food system healthier and more sustainable; and communicating science in meaningful ways that educate, inform decision-making, and support change. In short, we want to help build a food system that is healthier for people and more sustainable for our planet. Factory Food U.S. agriculture is largely industrialized, with the farm being viewed as a factory with “inputs,” such as pestiJanuary/February 009 18 imagine Photo courtesy of Farm Sanctuary. How What We Eat Affects Our Health and the Planet http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/sector_table.pdf http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/sector_table.pdf http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/sector_table.pdf

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2009

Imagine Magazine - John Hopkins - January/February 2009
Contents
Letters
Big Problems
In My Own Words
Witness to a Pandemic
An Ounce of Prevention
Of Math and Measles
Predicting the Next Pandemic
Medicine, Medicine Everywhere
Food Matters
Looking for a Challenge? Try Summer College!
CTY: The Real Deal
Hot Topic
Selected Opportunities & Resources
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Middle Ground
One Step Ahead
Exploring Career Options
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Creative Minds Imagine
Sudoku
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2009