Soil talk on May 12 at UCBerkeley

[Guest guest]

Soils, Sustainability, and the Media

Panel Discussion | May 12 | 10-11:30 a.m. | 159 Mulford Hall

 

Panelist/Discussants: David Zilberman, Professor, Department of Agricultural and

Resource Economics; Garrison Sposito, Professor, Department of Environmental

Science, Policy, and Management; Nathanael Johnson, Freelance Science

Journalist; Alice Waters (invited), Executive Chef and Owner, Chez Panisse, Chez

Panisse Restaurant; Eugene Rosow, Film-maker, Common Ground Media, Inc.

Moderator: Ron Amundson, Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy,

& Management

Sponsor: Natural Resources, College of

 

More than half of the growing human population now lives in cities, depending on

the need for increasing food production from a fixed quantity of arable land,

and the use of large quantities of our rapidly dwindling fossil fuel reserves.

As a result, more than half the planet's resources and land area are under the

direct management of humans. While the scientific basis for this looming food

and ecological crisis is understood, how can the problem – and solutions – be

cast in a way that a citizen can recognize the issues, and find satisfaction and

hope in contributing individually, and collectively, to the solution?

 

A bridge between science and society is the media, and recent achievements in

related environmental issues provide a roadmap for progress. Former Vice

President Al Gore stepped well outside the policy arena to make a film that

connected personally with viewers, and set off a wave of change in America's

perception of climate change. Can a similar change of awareness occur for our

solid Earth, and for sustainability and healthy living, or is the change already

underway?

 

In this panel discussion, we bring together scientists, film makers, economists,

journalists, and visionaries at the forefront of a concern for the soil (the

Earth's " skin " ), a portion of our planet impacted by how we eat, how we balance

the need for both food and renewal energy, and finally by what portion of the

planet we decide (or are able) to preserve unused for future generations.

 

This discussion, and the connections it leads to, will be used by the panel and

their colleagues to develop novel, and maybe previously unrecognized, means of

bringing scientific knowledge about soil and society to a broader audience. This

discussion will build on, and expand, the themes articulated in " Dirt! The

Movie " , which will be screened at the Pacific Film Archive on May 11 at 6:30 pm.

 

Possible questions to fuel and encourage discussion:

 

• What is soil to you, and why is it valuable?

• Food is cheap. Why is soil and sustainability an issue?

• What is the role and obligation of the US to soil management and food in

underdeveloped nations?

• People in cities seldom see or touch soil. Is this a problem?

 

Event Contact: brittsan, 510-643-1051

http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/pubaff.html?event_ID=18997 & view\

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