Featured EventsOn and Off Campus

Symposium on Environmental Affairs, “Following the Food Chain”

Why do we eat the way we do? In a complex food system, our choices are dictated by a variety of elements: tradition, access, culture, convenience, price, and flavor. What we reach for in the grocery aisle says as much about our taste preferences as it does about the food systems and movements we buy into. Thus, we must go beyond the dinner plate to question how our eating habits affect food chains at the local, state, national, and global levels.

The 13th Annual Symposium on Environmental Affairs will provide an atmosphere of open discussion and constructive controversy in which food advocates and critics, scholars and businesses, and groups and individuals will come together to chew on alternative food movements and the food system at large.

Highlights include:

• “The Life of a Latte” panel will put coffee into a broader social and ecological context, exploring how supply chains impact producers, distributors, and consumers.
• “The Food Eater’s Dilemma” panel will explore the challenges of making environmentally and socially justifiable food choices and prompt discussions that foster thought and understanding.

• The keynote will feature dialogue and debate on the topic of organics for the masses. Keynote speakers include Julie Guthman, who teaches and writes about the politics of food, and Mike Gilland, co-founder of Wild Oats Markets and current CEO, Chairman, and President of Sunflower Farmers Markets, which operates natural foods supermarkets throughout the southwestern US.

For a complete schedule of event times and locations, please visit the symposium website. Use #lcfoodsymp to join in the conversation on Twitter.

 

Event details:

When: October 11-14

Where: Templeton Campus Center, Lewis & Clark College, 0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd., Portland

Cost: Free and open to the public

Contact: For more information, contact the Environmental Studies Program at 503-768-7719