this summer, i took a trip aboard lindblad expeditions’ national geographic resolution to explore the ways in which the company is working to make ecotourism more sustainable. while traveling up and down the western coast of iceland, i learned about the ways that food is sourced, served and disposed of on a 138 passenger lindblad ship. while a completely sustainable cruise experience might still be out of reach for the largest of these ships, responsibility is always scalable.

editor’s note: lindblad expeditions, our planet forward storyfest competition partner, made this series possible by providing winners with an experiential learning opportunity aboard one of their ships. all editorial content is created independently. we thank lindblad expeditions for their continued support of our project.

in this video, storyfest winner cassidy hough, of the michigan state university, reflects on traditional icelandic cuisine and what that means for her as a vegetarian. . 

a special thank you to lindblad expeditions for their continued partnership with planet forward and for sponsoring our storyfest winners as they traveled across the rocky coastline of iceland, interviewing experts, and creating their upcoming stories. an additional ‘thank you’ goes to icelandair for sponsoring the students’ air travel.

what if crops grew back every year like your lawn does each spring?

if you’re a farmer, a gardener or a scientist, i know your ears just perked up — but this story isn’t just for you. such an innovation would have an impact on the entire food system, and anyone who eats.

in this episode of the food fix, i will walk listeners through the past, present and future of agriculture all in 14 minutes. i start off explaining the birth of agriculture in the fertile crescent, where humans first began domesticating crops. then i fast forward to the present and explain how our current agricultural way of life is thanks to 10,000 years of breeding. once everyone is caught up, i present the idea of perennial grains.

grains like corn, soy and wheat make up about 50% of every human’s diet. we grow 2.2 billion tons of grains each year to meet that need. and at the end of every season, we rip up those “amber rays of grain” and release all the precious carbon that was being stored in the roots back into the atmosphere. not to mention, the cycle is hard on farmers and the soil.

but what if we could leave grain crops in the ground for a few years? their roots would grow long and deep and the soil microbiome would flourish.

to create such a crop naturally would take thousands of years, but scientists at the land institute have discovered a way to engineer it in just 50.