as sesno observed the world around him changing, he sensed the need for effective environmental science communication and awareness by covering some amazing stories. sesno believes that stories speak to people. 

“you give a person a piece of data and maybe they’ll remember it or memorize it,” sesno said. “but embed that data in a story and people will remember it — and understand the context of why it matters.” 

sesno wanted to find a vehicle where students learn and participate. “a place where we could engage faculty and researchers to be on the frontline of knowledge,” he said, explaining his vision. “a place where i could use my media skills and push ideas out to the wider world.” hence came the idea for planet forward in 2006.

he always believed that student-generated content came from both the heart and the head, looking back to his time as a student storyteller. sesno went to wilton high school in wilton, connecticut, where he, at the age of 15, was writing about numerous controversial topics. in fact, he soon became the co-editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper and was invited to speak to the board of education about an op-ed piece he wrote. he discovered the power of story and the impact even writing in a high school newspaper can have in the community: “(storytelling) is both powerfully influential and creatively engaging.” 

thus, he wanted students to be the principal storytellers at planet forward: “these students, who have a stake in the future, generate stories from their campuses and communities in very real ways.”

as an explainer of sustainability, sesno takes sustainability for granted. “to not live sustainably is to not live,” sesno said. he was inspired — in part, by richard attenborough, the documentary “planet earth,” and national geographic, among others — to be a storyteller around sustainability and to tell stories about science, breakthrough, and discoveries. “those are the stories i want to tell and want people to know,” he said, his passion for the subject reflecting in his voice.

although planet forward has come a long way since 2009 and moved to an online storytelling platform from a tv special, sesno believes that the basic idea of storytelling around sustainability has survived — and thrived. “(planet forward) can sustain over time and reach more people,” said sesno, who thinks stories can be timeless. “we still go to plays written by the guy named will shakespeare,” he said with a laugh, as he moved on to describe some of his timeless stories from the past.

in 1977, as sesno started applying for jobs after college at local newspapers and radio stations, he accepted a job at wcfr radio – a local radio station in springfield, vermont – where he was soon promoted to be the news director. although it was a small job in a small town, he still believes that that job taught him the most. he found himself going to just about every city or town council meeting, school board meeting, and even meeting influential people in town to cover interesting stories, while finding ways to connect with the community. it had an incredible impact on him as a 22-year old: “it’s one heck of an experience for a young journalist,” said sesno. 

sesno is a man who constantly likes to challenge himself. as one of the four applicants out of over 400 selected for an internship at the voice of america, sesno left the job at wcfr and moved to washington, d.c., in the fall of 1978. he had the good fortune of getting the internship at a time when the cold war was happening. “it was the job of the media to tell people the truth about what was happening,” said sesno, who worked within multiple departments as an intern. however, not feeling challenged enough, he moved on to work at the associated press network in d.c. after six months.

within a few weeks at the ap, a job soon opened at the london office. fluent in french and spanish, the associated press thought, “why don’t we send frank to london?” shortly thereafter, he was named ap’s overseas correspondent for london in the fall of 1979. although it might be a dream job for a young journalist, sesno felt challenged and pressured at various points, but found it equally rewarding, as he was there in london at a tremendous time.

he distinctly remembers the time when he had to dash down to rome after pope john paul ii had been shot in 1981. “there were thousands of people at st. peter’s square praying and showing incredible emotion for their religious leader,” sesno said. “that was a very powerful and emotional experience.”

before moving back to d.c., in 1982 as the white house correspondent for ap, sesno covered the falkland islands war – one of the most transformative stories for him. he saw a big lie told by a corrupt government to a well-educated country and people believed that big lie. he learned how a population could be lied to by the argentine government – an unelected military junta – who watched the people die as the country went to war. 

his overseas experiences at the ap changed him. “they made me a journalist, confronted me with the full range of human potential, vulnerability, and failings.”

in 1984, sesno was traveling all over america doing a series of specials for ap when he moved on to working at cnn. “in october of 1984, cnn was hiring people who had great faces for radio, and i was one of them,” sesno said with a laugh. the world was just getting cable during that time and cnn was not making a profit, being only 4 years old. while at first, no one was watching cable tv, soon, the world was watching. 

he walked further up memory lane and palpably remembered the words, “mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall!” as if it had been imprinted on his memory from 1987. in fact, his mind is deeply imprinted by all the experiences he has had as a journalist that he would not trade for anything. it was not until 1989, when he was working as the white house correspondent for cnn, when he was amazed to see the berlin wall come down. 

“sometimes i feel a little like forrest gump to realize that i was there for these amazing things. i still feel that way as i still do some of that,” said sesno, with a hint of wonder to his voice.

to have had a career spanning over three decades – having his own talk show, “late edition with frank sesno” for 7 years, winning an emmy award among several other accolades, and covering some powerful stories of strength and heroism – sesno has become more hopeful about the future of the world.

standing at the west end of the capitol building white house, sesno remembers seeing america’s first black president-elect take the oath of office in front of a gigantically diverse audience. as president obama reflected on the experience this country had gone through, sesno said he felt spellbound: “to see this country elect somebody named barack hussein obama was a phenomenal moment in history.”

sesno has no doubts about the impact storytelling can have on people to continue to find smarter and innovative solutions for problems the world is facing today. 

“human beings are an ingenious species,” sesno said, talking about harnessing the power of humankind. “we defy gravity every day. nobody would have imagined these things.” 

as planet forward continues to grow, sesno said: “to me, having a project like planet forward is a win at so many levels. the students win as they tell a story that empowers so many people. the university wins as it uses its platform to positively influence those students and the wider community. the community wins as it gets information through the storytelling from students. 

“i win because i get to be the orchestral leader of the most inspirational and interesting experiment i can imagine.”

as a dedicated storyteller, sesno continues to inspire young people to address the challenges of feeding and saving our planet. by combining intellect and imagination, sesno intends to create an experience that will both inform people and engage them. he continues to share ideas and innovations of people who are doing amazing things to inspire them. as he wound down narrating his story, he mentioned something he wants people to remember: that times are desperate for our planet. 

“the clock is ticking. but first, know that (climate change) is the challenge of our times,” he said, closing his travel diary. “second, don’t give up. and go to work.”

the food sector is no different. the digital invasion in the agricultural industry is underway. however, these “intruders” are bringing positive changes, such as increased crop yields, while addressing the issues of global hunger and malnutrition.

as an example, a malnutrition issue colombia grappled with was alarmingly low breastfeeding rates — especially low among teenage mothers. the exclusive breastfeeding rates among children under six months was as low as 30% in most regions, according to zona cero, which lead to an increased risk of malnutrition and death as a result.

this range of health issues, sometimes conflicting – from diseases to lack of food and malnutrition – would unnerve many leaders. instead, the first lady of colombia, maría juliana ruiz sandoval, took on the challenge to address some of the pressing social issues in an innovative manner.

in a session at the food & agriculture organization headquarters in rome, sandoval said she believes that innovation is the way these issues should be addressed.

to align themselves to the digital revolution, colombia’s leaders are using technological tools in capacity-building projects, involving and educating families, and permeating the cultural barriers to explain the importance of nutrition and generate healthy habits among the local and indigenous populations of different regions. through multi-stakeholder partnerships, leaders were able to get private companies to help in designing applications for food banks. thanks to artificial intelligence (ai) technologies, these applications were able to locate and identify people who are wrestling with health issues in some form or the other.

in fact, two such initiatives by the world food programme (wfp), namely meza and scope coda, aim to effectively track the right beneficiaries and make the programs available to them.

poor data equals poor results, with data being at the bottom of improving individual nutrition.

there are a lot of information gaps in remote areas, with limited or no access to computers or the internet. such health clinics relied on paper-based data systems, where the papers were all tallied by hand and transmitted up the hierarchy in person, until it reached the ministry of health. however, with the use of meza, workers in remote clinics can now use their cellphones – provided by the meza team with the best network infrastructure – to send pictures of log-books, where the data is automatically extracted from the photos using the optical character recognition software.

“getting the right nutrition to the most vulnerable populations is most important,” lauren landis, director of nutrition at wfp, said at a session at the food and agriculture organization headquarters. that is exactly what the wfp is striving hard to achieve.

to further eliminate the paper-and-pen records, the world food programme has introduced a cloud-based innovation that gives a personalized smartcard to patients in the remotest of areas. mobile devices and patient cards allow for improved targeting of beneficiaries in the community. furthermore, the software works both online and offline to be compatible with areas with little or no connectivity or electricity.

“technology is the easiest way to really know and understand the problem,” sandoval said. “it engages youth… complementing their education by building skills for them.”

if the world is set out to meet the 2030 goal of zero hunger, youth engagement is paramount.

“there cannot be any progress of any of the sdgs without the involvement of youth,” said mario arvelo, chairperson of the committee on world food security. but to involve youth in agriculture, it should be viewed as an honorable trade and not a synonym for poverty.

the minister for food security of the uae, mariam bint mohammed saeed hareb al mehairi, believes that technology can spearhead development in the agriculture sector and start sustainable food supplies.

“i am not looking for the next farmer, i am looking for the next agri-technologist….,” she said at a special event at the food and agriculture organization headquarters. “we have to make it cool!”

this would help produce and market more nutritious food that minimizes greenhouse emissions and environmental impacts. it also provides easier access for young men and women to climate-resilient technologies.

greater food insecurity is one of the worst consequences of climate change. in 2018, there were 704 million people facing severe food insecurity, according to columbia university professor jeffrey sachs, ph.d., who presented a keynote on world food day at the fao. and that figure is constantly on the rise. out of that population, sachs said more than 75% of the people are based in sub-saharan africa and southern asia alone. there is a tremendous vulnerability to climate change in these two regions.

reports from fao show countries that are poor are food insecure. sachs pointed out in his keynote that “poverty and hunger are virtually the same phenomena” as the correlation between them shows a very tight fit between income per capita and food insecurity.

with about 25% of greenhouse gases emitted by the agriculture sector, zitouni ould-dada, deputy director of fao’s climate division, says “agriculture affects climate, and climate affects agriculture, which is very sensitive to climate variation.” he believes that making technology the main character, we can prevent post-harvest losses, increase agricultural yields, while also helping small farmers grow more resiliency toward climate change.

for example, large farms in china are using ai tools that use facial recognition to identify the pigs and record their movements. it tells their vital conditions and isolates the unhealthy ones from other pigs to maintain the health of the farm and other animals.

“this really saves the time and effort for human intervention, while understanding our needs better,” ould-dada said.

“but making technology accessible is not enough. you need to make it easier for people to use for them to be involved in the ag industry,” ould-dada said, while explaining how important it is for people to understand the maintenance of those technologies.

to address this digital divide and many other challenges to digitalization for sustainable development, ministers of more than 74 countries proposed the urgent need for an international digital council for food and agriculture. in agriculture, sensors, drones, and robots are examples of technologies that provide information on soil moisture, crop growth, and livestock feed levels, while reducing the use of fertilizers, pesticides, feed, and water.

the internet of things that interconnects vehicles, robots, and drones makes labor-intensive tasks, such as monitoring, sowing crops, or milking cows more cost-effective. the council would advise governments and enhance the exchange of knowledge and experiences to implement these resources in place, where they are needed the most.

technology is expanding rapidly and hence, “the time could not be more right to put such a thing in place. if we do it in two years, we would miss out on a lot,” said theo de jager, president of the world farmers organization. as the agriculture minister of nicaragua, edward francisco centeno gadia said, “the best technology is not the most expensive or cheapest, but it is beneficial for family farmers and rural development.”

digitalization and innovation are tools that can help achieve the 2030 goals that seem evasive.

“i want to solve climate change!” i said in a jet-lagged voice, hoping to entice laughter from him.

i could not help but wonder, why would someone be interested in hearing more about solving global issues through science and technology? 

i had impatiently waited to attend the committee on world food security in rome for the past four months. little did i know that i was about to step inside a place that would dramatically change my perspective on global issues that i am so passionate about solving, and give me a new hope to address them through the lens of technology. 

as i stepped foot in the plenary hall on the first day of the conference, i felt myself being surrounded by the world. while hearing the diplomats speak on their country’s plans for action to combating global hunger, i could witness the power dynamics in the room. i realized what the former president of the general assembly, maria fernanda espinosa, meant when she explained in one of her speeches that i attended on why things don’t always work the way they are supposed to at the united nations. 

it was heartwarming to see a plethora of side events on addressing malnutrition and climate change by leveraging technological innovations. after one of these sessions, i had the amazing honor and opportunity to interact with the keynote speaker, the first lady of colombia, maría juliana ruiz sandoval, and interview her about colombia’s plans for enhancing their technical resiliency to engage more youth. it was a pleasure to see dr. jeffrey sachs present live on the sustainable development goals and hear his perspective on solving these issues. 

i could not have been more astonished by the humility and the willingness to engage in discussions of all the leaders, diplomats, and presenters i had the chance to interact with. i connected with people that are currently using data science and ai to solve climate change and fight global hunger. to save a life. 

most importantly, i had the great pleasure of spending the week with an incredible team of individuals from across the united states. answering frank’s curiosity every evening at dinner made me think about topics that i had never given enough thought to. sharing my love for pop music and taylor swift with marisa was a heartfelt moment. walking the streets of rome with lindsay and matilda made the experience only more memorable. going into a bar and ordering “chocolate-flavored” milk with “my man” dan was a moment i’m sure both of us will share with our grandchildren. running into my biggest celebrity crush, alexandra daddario, on the streets of rome and talking about her for the rest of the night to kim, ahdi, and edona. 

at the end of it all, i finally realized that “rome wasn’t built in a day” and “all roads [do] lead to rome.” all i know is, if given a chance, i would come back to this place in a heartbeat.

walmart, at first, seemed like an interesting place to me – many aisles for various kinds of food, pharmacy items, clothing, and even furniture. it had more than everything a person would need to sustain a life. after frequenting the store a few times, i observed that most of the produce was imported from other countries. 

‘grown in mexico’ read the package. 

it seemed too far-fetched to me at first, knowing that mississippi was historically an agricultural state. perplexed, i spent some time researching about the agriculture sector in mississippi and the united states as a whole. 

the mississippi delta holds some of the most fertile lands in the country for agriculture due to the presence of the mississippi river. it is best suited for crops like beans, whole grains, and the like, that are not only healthy but also sustainable for the environment. instead, the state abundantly cultivates corn and soybeans, crops that wreak havoc on the environment. 

that was where i spotted the problem in the american agricultural system. farmers only want to grow certain crops that are subsidized by the government under the farm bill — corn and soybeans being the two major subsidized crops. there are farmers receiving more than 25 times the average yearly income of a u.s. citizen in farm subsidies. it almost has reached a point where the $867 billion piece of legislation has been developed to create a market for farm millionaires. this is unfathomable for a place like india. 

i still remember riding with my grandfather on the back of his scooter every sunday to the farmers market. there would be seemingly limitless stalls lined up in an unorganized fashion selling all kinds of fruits and vegetables. seeing this, i tried to better understand the apparent non-existence of farmers markets in mississippi towns, which ironically are surrounded by farms, by spending some time talking to the vegetable vendors in my hometown during my visit to india last year. 

“all of the produce is grown on our own lands on the outskirts of the city,” a farmer told me. “we rotate crops throughout the year to remain in business, while also ensuring a regular supply of seasonal foods.” this turns out to not only be beneficial to the land, but also provides more nutritional options for consumers. 

in fact, in a new york times article titled, “millennials ‘make farming sexy’ in africa, where tilling the soil once meant shame,” augustine collins ntim, a ghanaian politician, explains that with increased governmental efforts to make farming modern and lucrative, no maize was imported into the country in 2018 while most produce was sold locally. moreover, they have made it a priority to lure more youth into engaging in agriculture. 

however, this is not completely the case for the united states or india, which provide food for millions each day. due to their large populations they have developed different practices in order to develop food not only for their inhabitants but the world. the united states can benefit from setting up farmers markets like india by redirecting money from the farm bill to help small-scale farmers grow healthier crops. additionally, it can help increase access to whole foods in low income areas, as these populations tend to eat highly processed foods from big (corporate) agriculture, as it is less expensive. some u.s. states, in fact, have successfully utilized this practice. 

rural towns in michigan, for example, have been working on putting healthy foods on local tables for the past few years by organizing farmers markets. according to the 2015 fair food network survey, 90% of rural participants were eating more fruits and vegetables while 63% of vendors reported making more money. this system truly could have a profound impact on hundreds of rural towns in mississippi and around the country in food deserts.

in times, where climate change is more pertinent than ever, certain bold steps aimed towards stasis, harmony, and healing instead of growth and dominance (capitalism) can improve farming practices exponentially, while also being good for the environment. ultimately, it is about transforming mindsets and not saving the taxpayer money. it is about involving youth and not fighting cronyism. it is about moving the planet forward.