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m.j. altman uncovers the hidden human stories about people and food on the frontlines of hunger in her podcast called “hacking hunger.” as editorial director at world food program usa, she also oversees the organization’s multimedia projects, op-eds and communications outreach. her previous work experience includes writer-reporter for time magazine and public affairs producer at the smithsonian institution.

altman’s podcast features interviews with aid workers and families in the field who are involved with the world food program in some way. “hacking hunger” is currently in its second season and was downloaded more than 10,000 times since starting last year.

for altman, “hacking hunger” is more than just one aspect of her role at wfp usa. she elaborated on that in a conversation with planet forward:

q: has your work with global hunger issues changed the way you perceive food?

a: one thousand times yes. it has changed the way i look at food in so many ways. a third of the food grown globally is wasted and if we didn’t waste that food we could feed most of the hungry people on the planet, which is mind boggling and it’s developed countries like the u.s. that are responsible for a lot of it.

i’m very conscientious about throwing out food. i’m that person where if it’s a half eaten sandwich, i’m asking for a to go box.

q: “hacking hunger” has been going on for some time. have you noticed an impact?

a: this upcoming episode on south sudan will be the 18th one. we’ve changed a lot. i won’t lie we dove into this not really knowing what we were doing. the podcast actually raised $25,000, which was huge for us because knowing that with that money you can feed 100,000 people really makes the project even more worthwhile.

q: in january’s episode of “hacking hunger,” you said, “i dove in headfirst without knowing exactly what i wanted hacking hunger to be.” what was your mindset in early episodes of the podcast?

a: you’re in d.c., it’s such a bubble and we didn’t want to be lending our microphones to people who already have a platform. so i found personally that the episodes i did with people that you wouldn’t have otherwise heard from like an ethiopian donor who crowdsourced facebook support for the drought relief in his homeland, those are the stories that really moved me and those are the stories that really moved our listeners.

we realized we had to go deeper. we weren’t aiming to get people like nicholas kristof on the podcast. we wanted the everyday rwandan student who was a refugee, received food from the world food program and later became an agricultural student in the u.s. that’s the story we wanted to tell. those really hidden human stories and i think that was a huge revelation for us.

q: in january’s episode you also said, “i didn’t sound like myself and it took 12 episodes before i could start to find my real voice.”

a: (laughs)

q: what did you mean by real voice?

a: if you go back and listen to the early episodes i sound different because i had an idea of how a podcast should sound. i was channeling diane rehm. so i’m talking in a very soft, just the intonation of my voice, whereas if you know me i’m a pretty loud and outspoken person.

when you’re writing a podcast script it can start to sound really stilted and dry so what i’m really hoping with this second season is that it’s a little more conversational, it sounds just a little more natural.

q: are there any other interviewers besides diane rehm that you have learned from?

a: doing a lot of the interviews over skype because we’re talking to people in juba, south sudan, and iraq is really difficult because you don’t have the face-to-face interaction. you’re not able to read someone’s expressions and get a sense of, “ok are they comfortable with this question?” i think listening to “fresh air” with terry gross has been really illuminating and just other podcasts where people act like themselves.

q: how have your previous experiences like working as a public affairs producer at the smithsonian institute influenced your work on the podcast?

a: my experience, both reporting at time and working at the smithsonian’s american museum, taught me the importance of perspectives. when i was at time i had the opportunity to put together a special anniversary package on the iraq war and for that i interviewed an aid worker, a wisconsin senator, a documentary filmmaker and a soldier. i got very different run downs of what the war had been like. it was just a reminder of how everyone has a different view of what’s happening in the world and the same was true at the smithsonian.

it was a reminder that you can’t make assumptions. we’re always learning and there are just a lot of unreported stories and unreported voices and perspectives that even though we don’t hear them doesn’t mean they don’t exist and aren’t important.

q: do you still consider yourself a journalist?

a: i don’t think i do because i have a bias right? i love the world food program. i love the mission. i feel i’ve had the opportunity to travel to tanzania and bangladesh. i’ve seen wfp’s impact and interviewed families first hand.

i have an agenda and my agenda is to hopefully share that passion with my listeners and get them to understand why this is so important, why they can join this mission, whether it’s listening to the podcast or sharing it with family or a friend, or donating $10 after an episode. i come into it with a deliberate purpose of i want to get you on my team.

q: jane pauley, the anchor of cbs news sunday morning said, “the shows i really admire like ‘oprah’ and ‘ellen’ are distinctly like their hosts. so i think my show will be successful only if we try to stay consistent to my own sense of myself.” do you see “hacking hunger” as a reflection of yourself?

a: i’m starting to. i think because of my journalism background, you’re not supposed to put yourself in the story, or at least traditionally the idea isn’t to be overly narcissistic and just see the world through the lens of your own past experiences. but i am starting to realize that there are experiences i can share with listeners that make them know me more and the importance of building that relationship.

i started the south sudan episode by telling a story about being in tanzania and meeting a 10-month-old baby who was basically starving to death. it’s an experience that changed my outlook on life so much. it haunts me to this day. it always will and it always should. so i shared that in the beginning just because i think fortunately most people are never going to have that experience of meeting a child like that who has been without food for so long that they can’t be saved. i hope that in sharing that people understand my personal investment to this particular story in south sudan.

q: you’ve elaborated on your personal investment and a lot of the significant issues behind global hunger, but has anyone ever told you to focus on what they believed were more important or pressing issues?

a: luckily, i have a really supportive group of family and friends. my husband over christmas announced to my whole family, “did you guys hear that ‘hacking hunger’ raised $25,000? oh my gosh!” it was kind of embarrassing, but here at world food program usa we get comments like, what about hunger in the u.s.? that’s one of the big pushbacks.

i understand that perspective because we do have hunger in this country, but i think it’s important to realize it’s not always a zero sum game. the extent and the scale and the severity of hunger in a place like south sudan is so much worse than we see in this country. it has implications for people in the u.s. even if they don’t realize it.

hunger feeds on violence and instability and spreads. it’s like a virus. if we have the ability to feed a hungry person, we should. if we have the capacity to save a life, we should. even beyond that there are really very serious economic development and national security consequences for ignoring a famine on the other side of the world.

q: are there any episodes of hacking hunger you wish you could change?

a: we always want to have more voices of people who are impacted by hunger and that’s really hard to do not just because of the logistics of getting a recorder to a remote village in syria, but because of the language issues and access generally.

there was an episode we did on this really incredible miracle crop called moringa. it’s coming to the u.s. and it’s helping smallholder farmers in ghana. we didn’t get a chance to talk to a farmer in ghana who has seen her family’s income triple because she started growing this really nutritious, hearty and drought-resistant crop. so there are a lot of examples from last season where i wish we could have heard first hand from the people who are growing these crops or are experiencing hunger, not just the aid workers.

q: how has the podcast influenced your perception of hunger?

a: before i started working here i didn’t have an appreciation of hunger and how much of a problem it is, but also how solvable it is. it’s a paradox. we’re growing enough food in the world to feed everybody and make sure everybody is healthy. the problem is access. people live in remote villages that don’t have roads or they’re not able to get the farming equipment and the financial capital they need to make their farms successful.

this is maybe not a “sexy” topic, but i met a wall street journal reporter named roger thurow — and maybe you’re familiar with him — but he covered agriculture for 20 years. it was market stuff and the developed world’s business side of agriculture and then he covered the famine in 2010 and ’11. he said it was a story he couldn’t walk away from. thurow quit his job at the wall street journal and now just reports on hunger full time. i think that is extraordinary.

q: what does success look like for “hacking hunger”?

a: success is literally anytime someone is moved by our podcast. if you listen to an episode and it opens your eyes to something you never thought about or it changes your perspective or just broadens your perspective, i feel like that’s a win. if you share it with family or friends, even better. if you donate after and you become a supporter of our organization or you become a supporter of any hunger nonprofit, that’s a win. but i think even just starting with if you listen, and you have something that you take away from it, then i feel it’s a success.

christopher b. leinberger, a professor at george washington university and president of a national coalition of real estate developers and investors called locus, felt the same way and co authored a report with michael rodriguez titled “foot traffic ahead” to highlight the rise and benefits of walkable urban places (walkups) in america’s largest metros.

“the reason i’m in this is because of climate change,” leinberger said. “i don’t need to do this stuff. my wife and i could be on the beach in the south of france but from a sustainability point of view we need to find a way to address climate change and the best way is by building great density and walkable places that would cut down 50% to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions.”

stephen gyor, lead urban sustainability planer at the dc office of planning, agreed and said land use decisions like increasing transit-oriented development to allow the greatest density along transit corridors are crucial to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

creating high density walkups is difficult. “it’s really easy to build this stuff, not,” leinberger said. “this kind of stuff is really complicated to do. it is very risky, much riskier than a strip mall and on top of that, it’s illegal in 95% of the country.”

leinberger built 15 walkable urban projects throughout the country. his projects were illegal as proposed because they were too dense, mixed use, and broke zoning requirements that called for more parking spaces than he believed was necessary. “i had to go change zoning to make it possible and it took years of time, brain damage, and millions of dollars,” leinberger said.

zoning laws aren’t the only opposition to expanding urban sustainability.

“many mayors say that they don’t talk about sustainability in their cities,” said lisa benton-short, former director of sustainability at george washington university. “rather they talk about lowering asthma rates, increasing resilience to storms, and generating jobs that are safer. i see some possibility in getting residents on board with sustainability when it’s contextualized in a way that people can understand the direct benefits.” 

according to leinberger, the education needs to be done at the neighborhood level. if dupont circle only consisted of town houses, then hotel, retail and restaurant proposals would probably face not in my backyard opposition. however, the value of residential areas within walking distance of great urbanism goes up by between 40% and 100% on the price per square foot basis. he went on to say these people have the best of both worlds because they can live in suburbia and walk to great urbanism.

“that’s not a hard educational lesson to pull off,” leinberger said. “you’re not telling people to accept this because it is good for society, because it’s environmentally sustainable. no, accept this because you’re going to make money and it’s going to be a better quality of life.”

research supports leinberger’s belief that urging people to act solely because it’s a good thing for the planet has limited motivation. “we’re not as rational as we would like to think,” cicero’s research director steffen kallbekken told the guardian. “more information is not the answer.”

the dc office of planning took a different approach using amenities to draw people to walkups. “as mayor bowser stated, the district’s investments in neighborhoods – from affordable housing, public infrastructure, and transportation to public schools, parks, retail, and the arts – are all making dc a highly desirable place to call home,” gyor said.

leinberger spoke with the washington monthly, a left of center policy journal, and the american conservative, a right of center magazine, to bridge the gap between politics and infrastructure. both publications will run the same article in which he said infrastructure should be driven by whatever local governments decide they should be able to get funding for, and not by the federal government or state departments of transportation.

“the federal role should be reduced to 20% to 30% federal funding because nobody wants to raise taxes,” leinberger said. “the rest can be financed by the real estate development community paying their share of the infrastructure. we’ve seen this done throughout the country and it’s also how we used to do it 100 years ago. one hundred years ago all of the rail transit was paid for by developers. we need to take a page out of that book.”

market demand for walkable urbanism is at an all time high. leinberger is currently working on the first ever 100% census of all real estate in new york and dc to better understand where the walkable urban places are and how well they perform economically. he is also in discussions with gw’s milken institute school of public health about a place based public health metric and in discussions with us green building council about a place based environmental metric.

“the research we’re doing demonstrates that there’s an economic reason to do it, as well as an environmental reason, so i’m basically trying to compel people to, and this is my favorite phrase, to do well while doing good,”leinberger said. “it’s possible and that’s what we’re trying to demonstrate. you can make a buck and still do the right thing.”

“for me when working on any sustainability initiative there has to be a little bit of joy embedded,” said lasky. “why are we doing this? it’s not just to make sacrifices and save the planet. it’s actually to bring meaning, joy, and a little bit of fun into my own life.”

wilted green is similar to cards against humanity. cards with phrases are played in response to prompts. whoever drew the prompt picks their favorite response and the person who played it wins the round. the twist is that the cards have sustainability jokes and parodies.            

“cards against humanity does something really wonderful by providing people a framework to express their own humor,” said lasky. “i may not come up with that joke by myself but by having those options in front of me, i’m able to express my feelings or share my humor with friends in a new and interesting way.”

he went on to say the game allows people to vent because there are a lot of passionate environmentalists. some are very cynical, but not all of them have the sense of humor they maybe should have. lasky hopes his game will be an outlet for people to express themselves and explore sustainability in fun, relaxing and creative ways.

his first foray into sustainability was in graduate school as a presidential administrative fellow at gw around the time president steven knapp started at the university.

“i remember one of the first times i met him,” said lasky. “it was like his third day on the job. i asked him, ‘what’s your plan for addressing sustainability?’ and he said, ‘i’m not sure but i’d like you to be involved.’”

president knapp put lasky on an environmental task force. they came up with a set of recommendations, like opening an office of sustainability. lasky became the first staff member when it opened the following year and was in charge of fields like energy management, waste production and student engagement.

before his current role as program manager at the u.s. green building council, lasky was the assistant director for sustainability education at the university of the district of columbia (udc). he learned conventional methods do not always succeed after he tried to get people to sort their waste in common area trash and recycling bins.

“part of that process was removing those individual desk side trash cans in faculty offices and giving them these small little desktop cans that look like little trash bins and saying this is all of the waste i create,” said lasky. “i was talking to one faculty member about the concept. i gave them their new little mini trash can and they put it on the ground and kicked it out of their office.”

lasky realized you have to laugh at some of this and understand not everyone is immediately on board with making change.

“some people are not predisposed to the ideas you value,” said lasky. “in order to get them to move you have to get them really excited about something or show them that its more fun where you’re trying to take them.”

this excitement stems from game prompts like “leonardo dicaprio’s next oscar acceptance speech will highlight the plight of blank,” and responses such as “a smug prius driver.” some of lasky’s favorites include glacial melt water, litterbugs and cow farts. he wasn’t afraid to include a few gross cards in the deck.

“some people might be a little turned off but part of the objective is to get a little bit closer to the edge of comfort, so something like placenta smoothie,” said lasky. “not something you have every day.”

creating a variety of timely, relevant and outrageous cards took lasky hours of discussion with friends.

“i worked really closely with a core group of environmental nerds like myself to figure out what would resonate most with the audience,” said lasky. he also received over 100 suggestions from his web form. they whittled down an initial list of 1000 cards to 40 prompts and 160 responses.

wilted green was a collective effort in more ways than one. kickstarter made it possible.

“it was nice to have a platform that showed i was serious and gave me a little bit of structure, guidance and support,” said lasky. he hopes the game’s structure will spur sustainability guidance and support through discussion.

“every round is a little discussion on how we can do a little bit better, how we can engage a new audience, how we might rethink the language in some of these cases, or why some things in the environmental movement have become parodies of themselves,” said lasky. “i think wilted green is educational because it allows some of these conversations to take place. it allows friends to take an in depth look at how we got here, why an issue maybe isn’t as prevalent in the news or relevant as it should be, and how we can change our individual needs to better that particular topic.”

fun is still the main goal.

“it’s not meant to be like let’s talk about the polar bear standing on a shrinking piece of ice,” said lasky. “if it’s not fun then people aren’t going to get on board.”

his friend played the game with three generations of family and said it was a fun way to bring up sustainability related topics and allow them to personalize their connection to these themes.

“maybe at the thanksgiving table or after dinner we won’t talk about environmental issues, but all of a sudden you introduce wilted green and it becomes a fun platform for an honest open discussion whether it’s sarcastic or not,” said lasky.

lasky is looking for new ways to bring people together over sustainability.

“i want to know if this resonates,” said lasky. “i want people’s suggestions for cards and where this should go in the future. it’s just a side project. a little passion project but it seems like its picking up some steam.”

the appearance of handy bikes dc is not very different than the numerous food trucks parked along l street during the lunchtime rush, but a closer look reveals an entirely different kind of service. handy bikes dc is a static pop-up bicycle repair shop.

owner peter buck launched a successful kickstarter campaign to turn his trailer into a repair shop. he knew he couldn’t afford a brick and mortar space and was determined to launch after learning there were only a small number of service-based shops and a large number of cyclists in the area.

“i was an aspiring mechanical engineer prior to joining the navy, and i really like being able to work with my hands to fix bikes,” buck said. “there is always a new challenge to be solved, a new symptom to diagnose and solve, and it’s tough to beat the look on a happy rider’s face when their bike is finally functioning properly again.”

buck was deployed to iraq as a flight medic with the marines in 2003 and served in afghanistan with a marine infantry battalion in 2011. he started a small business as a handyman while stationed in north carolina and went from handyman to handy bikes when he transferred to dc in 2012.

colin browne, communications coordinator at waba, said buck’s handiwork is great because many people don’t have easy access to bike shops. “it’s neat to see folks trying to bring access like that to a broader community,” browne said.

handy bikes dc can almost always be found at the same spot near 1st and k streets se. when they travel for events or larger jobs they tweet and post on facebook. buck hopes to get a second truck and is talking through options for a brick and mortar shop.

“the initial idea was to be truly mobile, but i quickly found that to be a horrible business model due to traffic, poor roads and parking,” said buck. “in the time it used to take me to visit one customer, i can see three or four by having them come to us instead.”

traffic, poor roads and parking are a few of the factors fueling the lack of low stress places for cyclists. buck believes getting more cyclists on the road will make drivers more accustomed to sharing it and checking for bikes.

witnessing this danger and learning about subsequent bicycle related injuries, gerard poole, ph.d., founded aurora smart technologies, started a kickstarter campaign for aurora bright bikes, and enlisted the help of craig calfee, designer of the bamboo bike. the aurora bright bikes’ unique features are a translucent frame and the lighting system that runs throughout the inside of the frame.

most of the parts are 3d printed, customizable and compatible with an app. the app has a plugin for a heart monitor. users can set the bike to turn various colors after different conditions have been met such as warm up rate, time limits or target distance.

poole hopes his bikes will contribute towards a change, or at least an expansion, of bicycle culture from predominantly athletic riding to a more functional and leisurely experience. browne was less optimistic about the bike’s impact on cycling and safety. “there are nifty gadgetry and gizmos, but the reality is it’s pretty easy to take any bike and make it safe at night,” said browne.

many of the features are optional, so cyclists interested in a more traditional bike can always opt for a cheaper model. the base model alpha bright bike is $800, while the next step up is the prometheus at $1000. higher end models include a programmable horn system with custom sounds, app compatibility and custom led patterns. although the bikes have led turn signals, browne recommends using hand signals to make it extra clear where cyclists are going.

the bike’s design goes beyond traditional bike enhancements to improve bicycle safety. the “fanning out” headlight creates a circle of light around the bike that dr. poole said is more visible at different angles and can be seen from farther away than other lighting systems.

an additional safety measure is the alert function that creates an all white semi-strobe effect to catch the attention of inattentive drivers. “the function can be deactivated as quickly as it can be activated so that it does not become a nuisance to drivers in the vicinity- just enough attention to get the rider through a potentially hazardous situation,” poole said.

the kickstarter campaign ends early december and currently has about 25% of their $40,000 goal. even if their goal isn’t reached, aurora bright bikes might still light up the streets. they are meeting with potential investors and are moving forward with promotional tours.

“what motivates people most is seeing them live,” poole said. “the videos do not do them justice, they have to be seen on the street to really be appreciated.”

waba’s biggest obstacle and a challenge faced by cyclists like those behind handy bike’s dc and aurora smart technologies is connectivity. browne noted the district’s fantastic set of trails and protective bike lanes. however, many of them are inaccessible without crossing into busy roads. waba is working to bring officials overseeing different jurisdictions on board with building and merging bike safe spaces.

“by 2035 i think everyone will live within a mile of a bike safe area,” browne said.

specialized agricultural techniques may not be enough to keep the food coming, according to william nordhaus’s climate casino.

it’s not just my sunday trips that will change, though – based on the national climate assessment, everyone in the northeast region of the country should be wary of increasing temperatures, precipitation and sea level rise. the evidence is growing larger as our time to act is shrinking. we’re on the path to finding out what climate change means for us the hard way.

this is one risk we should not be willing to take. even if there was a way to maintain my favorite broccoli and cauliflower supply at the market, getting the food to town poses another significant problem.

the predicted 71% increase in heavy precipitation will permanently flood the bronx river parkway. major traffic on other routes will become the norm as families struggle to clock in on time for work and have a tedious experience even grabbing a good burger in the next town over.  

the bronx river parkway has its name for a reason. water originally filled the route before we came along with cement and a tractor, and all signs are pointing toward water filling it again. all solutions are costly, but with no place for another parkway, elevating the roads might be the only viable option unless people want to start kayaking around the county.

frequently traveling by water is one thing – drinking it is another. the quality of water is also greatly at risk.

sea level rise will increase salt-water intrusion into the hudson river. the hudson river runs into the state’s water supply, meaning drinking water quality is guaranteed to diminish. costco will prosper due to the increase in water bottle sales. everyone else will pay the price.

eastchester is in the same position as the rest of the globe. the best solution is prevention. we cannot save our crops once we go beyond the point of no return and there is no conceivable way to drain inches of water from the ocean.  between increasing temperatures, precipitation and sea levels, the earth is slowly consuming our habitat. nature is supposed to be an ally of mankind, but we are slowly turning the environment into an undefeatable adversary.

new yorkers need to adopt favorable climate practices before they are forced to adapt to an unfavorable climate.  

devouring my grandmother’s meatballs and my grandfather’s gnocchi at the dinner table on sunday night lies at the heart of some of my favorite memories growing up. food brings my family together. i can always buy premade meatballs or pasta, but my family’s passion and connection would be replaced with generic processed products and an arguably less enjoyable meal. food is more than essential, so why not make the best possible choice with yours?

organic foods, foods grown without using synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, are one good choice you can make. they can be easily identified by those tiny green usda certified organic labels. since 2010, sales of organic foods have increased by about 10% annually, which is an incredible amount of growth by industry standards. this can only mean good things for people who buy food – every family in the u.s.

i can tell from the endless checkout lines in my local whole foods that despite the slightly more expensive cost of organic foods, organic food and drink sales are on the rise. sales of organic products in the united states jumped to $35.1 billion in 2013, up 11.5% from the previous year’s $31.5 billion and was the fastest growth rate in five years.

eating healthy or organic doesn’t mean i never grab my favorite ben & jerry’s ice cream carton, or spend a night at the mcdonald’s down the street with friends eating big macs. the key is to do everything in moderation. while these foods provide “empty calories,” lots of calories with little nutritional benefits, organic foods provide more effective antioxidants that aid in preventing cancer, vision problems and cognitive malfunctions as well as improving heart health. pesticide-free produce may not look as appetizing, but if you want fewer harmful chemicals such as cadmium that have been linked to kidney damage and cancer in your body and in the bodies of your family, make the organic choice.

the impact isn’t just on your health – your favorite organic cauliflower or ginger root has far more positive environmental effects than conventional food. organic agriculture mitigates the greenhouse effect and global warming by sequestering carbon in the soil.  furthermore, replacing pesticides with natural fertilizers such as compost prevents groundwater pollution and enhances soil structure and water infiltration. organic farming even produces more biodiversity than other farming systems.

regardless of what aisle i venture through, organic foods are becoming more prominent. about three fourths of american grocery stores carry organic foods and the number continues to rise. you can vote with your dollars every time you buy food if you want to see more on the shelves. compared to conventional farms, organic farms are just as productive, the soil is healthier and energy is used more efficiently. the next time you see two seemingly different broccoli crowns in your local grocery store’s produce section remember you’re not just paying fifty more cents for organic foods, you’re paying for fifty more years for the planet.

references:

• nestle, marion. what to eat. north point press. 2006
• willett, walter. eat, drink, and be healthy. free press. 2001

top photo courtesy of ncalternativecropsandorganics.com

cherie gibson of the district department of transportation says the streetcar will stimulate development and rejuvenate economically depressed neighborhoods (such as the h st ne corridor), based on the overwhelming success of portland and seattle streetcars serving as development-oriented transit.

proximity to streetcars will increase property values by $10-15 billion, according to gibson. the expected result is $238 – 291 million in annual new tax revenue after the 37-mile streetcar network is finished. at that rate, it would take only six years for the city to recuperate the full $1.5 billion cost of the streetcars. after six years, the tax revenues would be pure profit.

with numerous methods to travel around the district and the convenience of being able to ride the streetcars with smartrip cards, we all have another reason to avoid sitting through dc traffic.

source: dc streetcar official site

map of the proposed 37-mile streetcar network. the initial h/benning line, shown in red, would extend west all the way to georgetown. additional lines are planned to go north and south through dc. 

sources: interview with cherie gibson (ddot)