climate change is threatening people globally, but it also presents business opportunities through innovation and sustainability, said bea perez, global chief communications, sustainability, and strategic partnerships officer at coca-cola.

perez addressed hundreds of global influencers and upcoming mba entrepreneurs at northwestern university’s kellogg climate conference this spring. perez and other corporate leaders advocated for sustainability during the impending climate crisis linked to rising temperatures, economic instability, weather disasters and water insecurity. 

the conference drew on expertise from the energy, transportation, agriculture, food, finance and other sectors to leverage solutions, such as the generating enough electricity and parts to transition to electric fleets for corporate shipping and mass transit. 

an anticipated $1.3 trillion in investment will be needed to innovate and curb climate pain points companies have inflamed in recent years, turning the spotlight on the sustainability leaders globally. 

perez focused on coca-cola’s recent sustainability efforts and errors at the conference hosted by the kellogg school of management and northwestern’s paula m. trienens institute of sustainability and energy. 

evaluating big business’s responsibility to mitigate climate change

kellogg brought corporate leaders from companies including exxon-mobil, invenergy, and general motors under one roof to educate and prepare future business leaders to prioritize sustainability and innovation. 

there’s two things everybody should understand about climate — where do greenhouse gasses come from and how are industries and companies following through on climate mitigation goals, said meghan busse, associate professor of strategy at the kellogg school of management. 

perez combined the outlook for commercial profitability and sustainability to evaluate what roles the fortune 500 company plays in prioritizing the climate as a key strategy in decisions, not just an offshoot program. 

her theme was accountability — owning up to coca-cola’s mistakes and reimagining the company’s more recent role in mitigating climate change. some steps included changing bottle design and water conservation. 

“don’t you think we have a responsibility as a business to manage those resources [water and carbon] and do better?” perez said.

taking accountability

by reducing the amount of carbon used to produce a singular coca cola product by 25%, perez said the company found a loophole when they first tried to focus on sustainability. 

their per unit carbon usage was down, but since business was growing, it let coca-cola grow their carbon emissions in “absolute terms,” perez said. 

“we made a mistake,” perez said. “and so just as any smart business group would do… we had to reset the plan.”

in other words, coca-cola needed to establish new targets that held all aspects of their business accountable in lowering their carbon emissions – and not just their production line. 

perez also recognized the role fortune 500 companies play in restoring resources like water. 

“you can’t have a conversation about climate, unless you talk about water,” perez said.  

coca-cola established three goals hoping to restore all the water they use for production globally: using 100% regenerative water across 175 facilities facing “high water stress,” improving 60 watersheds’ health, and returning two trillion liters of water to communities. 

in 2021, coca-cola introduced regenerative water as a metric for achieving their sustainability goals. the concept includes reducing, reusing, recycling and replenishing water to communities for nature and other stakeholders to use, according to their 2021 sustainability report. 

perez’s talk put more responsibility on corporations to work on climate change mitigation, rather than falling on the consumer. 

“water is a human right… a lot of places in developed countries don’t have water regulation. if you go into emerging markets, they typically do. and so how do you make sure there’s [a] great water policy in place for people and for society?”

emphasizing community

perez said that between 2018 to 2022, there were only 18 days, on average, between every billion-dollar disaster, compared to 82 days in the 1980s. 

coca-cola shifted its value proposition from getting communities to spend money on their products to investing back into the communities where resources are acquired from.

“if you don’t have strong communities, you don’t have businesses,” perez said. 

“water still will always be number one, but it cuts in many slices… some people say, ‘we saw you met your target five years ahead of schedule, so what are you doing today?’” perez said. 

she said coca-cola is now working to replenish 100% of the water it uses. 

room for improvement

despite getting ahead of their target, coca-cola falls short compared to the company’s leading food and beverage competitor: pepsico.

pepsico used 1.4 liters of water per liter of beverage product produced, according to their water stewardship approach, which is 0.39 liters less than of coca-cola’s usage in their latest business and sustainability report. 

perez also spoke about the importance of independent auditing for environmental, social and governmental reporting. 

“imagine if it were just coca-cola saying, ‘hey, we did this,’” perez said. “do you think you would believe me? this is a little bit like a conflict of interest, right?” 

esg reporting involves publicly disclosing information about environmental, social and governmental business operations, according to the corporate governance institute. 

coca-cola made the switch to sustainability report auditing through ernst and young, a multinational professional services company, in 2015. 

coca-cola was one of the first in the pack, since only 2% of fortune 500 companies started esg reporting back then, perez said. 

perez urged audience members to look up coca-cola’s business and sustainability reports, which replaced the reports that were originally only geared towards quantifying how well the company was reaching sustainability targets.   

the transition came after coca-cola realized it was sending “unintended signals” that they had two separate reports, perez said. 

“it would look as if it [sustainability] wasn’t important to our business,” perez said. “frankly, you saw throughout those charts how important it [sustainability] is to our business].”

a data-informed approach

coca-cola incorporates a next-generation data platform to track and manage progress against esg metrics and has abided by the sustainability accounting standards board standards since 2020, according to their 2021 reporting frameworks and sustainable development goals. 

the company focuses on water leadership, packaging, climate, sustainable agriculture and communities in their esg report, according to their 2022 business and sustainability report. 

“we integrated the data,” perez said. “we made sure that we have the same standard that we have in our financial reporting as we have in here — [the esg report].”

currently, companies are only required to report scope 1 and scope 2 criteria, which involve reporting greenhouse gas emissions from sources an organization directly owns and from indirect energy sources the company has purchased, according to the securities and exchange commission. 

scope 3, emissions that the company does not produce by itself and are not from the companies’ assets, and water consumption reporting are still not required by the sec.

navigating the future of esg reporting

currently, coca-cola’s reporting has been voluntary in the u.s., so accountability hasn’t come at a penalty cost, yet. 

but what happens when the sec enforces mandatory esg reporting?

on march 6, the sec adopted rules to “enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies,” according to the sec’s enhancement and standardization of climate-related disclosures for investors. 

while declaring water-usage was proposed as an inclusion  for the final rule, it was ultimately axed to simplify requirements and prevent putting a “topical focus” on any one climate-related disclosure, according to the disclosure. 

coca-cola has already begun anticipating the sec’s future moves towards making sustainability reporting mandatory.  

 perez said she tells her team to consider how much voluntary reporting they’re doing that could impact mandatory reporting in the future. 

“if you report work you’re really not doing, with the sec rules, you’re going to have personal fines to executives, criminal penalties potentially. so the stakes are higher,” perez said. 

many western people think of seafood as one category: fish. as jessica gephart, an environmental scientist and professor at american university said in an interview, “we talk about it (seafood) as one group in the same way we might talk about chicken or beef, but really it represents 2000 species that are captured or cultivated around the world.” 

seafood is more than fish

the term seafood refers to a diverse array of organisms from fish to cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttlefish, etc.) to algae (phytoplankton, seaweed), among others.

we often limit our seafood choices to only fish, leaving the rest of the sea in a tank. 

how can we expand the conversation around seafood — and why should we?

ole mouritsen, physicist and professor of gastrophysics and culinary food innovation at the university of copenhagen, answers, “it’s a matter of elevating people’s knowledge of what seafood is.” 

mouritsen’s exploration of cephalopods and algae began as an interest in japanese cuisine. his curiosity led him to years of research surrounding these organisms and their role in food systems. he has worked alongside scientists and chefs to explore the nutritional compounds and flavor found in these species. in his recent paper, a role for macroalgae and cephalopods in sustainable eating, mouritsen claims we should look further to octopus, squid, seaweed and other aquatic organisms for a lessened environmental impact and greater health benefits. his research calls for a change to “consume marine food in a more diverse and insightful manner, including eating from lower trophic levels and limiting bycatch and waste” (mouritsen & styrbæk, 2018, p. 2). by consuming these compounds at the source, we are able to maximize the nutritional value of these foods. typically 90% of nutrients are lost as they move up the food chain through consumption. marine seaweed is on the lower end of the food chain, and dense in micronutrients. cephalopods are generally on a higher trophic level, while still retaining much of their nutrient density. when we eat the organisms towards these lower trophic levels (compared to large fish, cows, pigs, etc.), we consume the richest nutrient components, with fewer calories. 

role of cephalopods & algae in a nutrient-rich diet

raw, boiled, fermented, alive, fluorescent, it’s all edible, mostly.

beyond their delectable flavor, these two types of organisms provide omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. the human body cannot synthesize these nutrients on our own, so we must seek them out in our food. micronutrients including iodine, iron, copper, zinc, and selenium are also found in many species of cephalopods and algae. all of these nutrients are essential for our health and brain function (mouritsen & schmidt, 2020).

beyond nutritional value, one of the huge strengths of seafood is the diversity, explained gephart. not only are there over 2000 species of seafood organisms, but they are “found in all climatic belts on the planet and they can be harvested in the wild or farmed in aquaculture” (mouritsen & schmidt, 2020, p. 2). 

umami

mouritsen highlights in an interview that when it comes to diet “taste comes first — after that you can talk about nutrition, health, calories, and sustainability.” the central component of mouritsen’s research related to seafood is the umami flavor found in cephalopods and algae. umami, is considered “the essence of deliciousness” (mouritsen, 2016, p.8). found in a variety of cephalopods and algae, “umami may be a part of the solution to provide healthier, less caloric and more satisfying meals” (mouritsen, 2016, p.8) — while adding the same delicious savory flavor we’re used to. the umami-rich seafood plays the role of an alternative to salt or sugar. replacing additives with seaweed and other umami-rich foods can “reduce the fat content by up to 30%… and reduce salt intake up to 50 % without reducing while retaining palatability” (mouritsen, 2016, p.8). this work has also involved experimentation with the use of umami as seasoning for vegetables in an effort to make a plant-based diet more palatable for omnivores.the craft of preparation

the reason most americans find cephalopods and seaweed unappetizing is the texture. cephalopods get their texture from collagen, which makes up their muscular structure. in his research, mouritsen speaks to the value of proper preparation, describing for example how improperly prepared squid can transform from a subtle, tender dish to a rubbery, greasy mess. japanese cuisine offers models of how to handle these meats. we may look to their example, mouritsen believes, to see “as with other types of meat this can be handled by culinary insight, craftsmanship, and scientific knowledge”(2020, p. 3). for these more uncommon types of seafood, it will take culinary insight and public communication for them to find their way onto western grocery store shelves.

looking to the future

feeding the growing human population will require culinary innovation. mouritsen notes that in order to meet our needs, “we would have to use all the resources of mother earth,” including cephalopods and algae — even if it takes some getting used to. seafood represents an under-utilized, sustainable alternative to more expensive, carbon-producing food products. mainstreaming seafood — in all its variety — will make the world easier to feed. 

when it comes to food you can’t really force it. it takes a long time. it probably took a long time for americans to learn how to eat pizza.” -ole mouritsen

works cited

mouritsen, o. g. (2016). deliciousness of food and a proper balance in fatty acid composition as means to improve human health and regulate food intake. flavour, 5(1). doi:10.1186/s13411-016-0048-2

mouritsen, o. g., & schmidt, c. v. (2020). a role for macroalgae and cephalopods in sustainable eating. frontiers in psychology, 11, [1402]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01402 

mouritsen, o. g., & styrbæk, k. (2018). cephalopod gastronomy – a promise for the future. frontiers in communications, 3, [38]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2018.00038

researchers mengyao li, susana ferreria, and travis smith examined data between 1993 and 2010 on temperature and on self-reported mental health obtained from a state based health survey system under the center for disease control and prevention. cooler days were found to reduce the probability of reporting bad mental health days whereas hotter days, mostly after ten consecutive days, increased this probability. the probability of frequent mental distress (more than 14 days of bad mental health for the past month) was even higher during these hotter days. 

three years prior to these findings, a study published in environmental health perspectives concluded that exposure to air pollution was also related to poor mental health. long-term exposure to particulate matter (pm 2.5) was associated with depression and anxiety, and short-term exposure to pm 2.5 was associated with suicide. pm 2.5 are fine inhalable particles that can be emitted directly from sources, such as construction sites and unpaved roads, or through complex chemical reactions of pollutants emitted from power plants and automobiles. 

the release of new research on temperature and mental health is a concerning addition to the psychological health effects humans could face from air pollution. understanding these implications, li and the other researchers suggested future studies examine how community-level factors impact the mental effects of climate change. 

“i think it’s necessary to know how community-level factors like neighborhood environment, social cohesion, and also individual adaptation actions like use of air conditioning or migration, whether those things would help mitigate the effect of temperature on individual mental health,” li said. 

at local levels, air pollution is often worse in lower income areas, where industrial facilities or highways serve as point sources, increasing exposure. speaking on both temperature and air pollution, li said, “the two factors combined together would pose extra pressure on people that have more exposure in those communities.”

as poorer and less developed communities will ultimately bear the mental burdens of increased air pollution combined with hotter days, it is clear that climate change is not the great equalizer. this health disparity will grow as increased temperatures will only exacerbate the mental health decline of exposed communities. 

at a local level, air pollution varies throughout the district of columbia and is generally higher in the seventh and eight wards which are historically low-income and often minority neighborhoods. this inequality is left unaddressed because the environmental protection agency aggregates air quality data from their six high-cost monitoring stations, labeling the district with the same pollution levels despite drastic differences between communities.

fresh air d.c., a student-run and community focused research project about air quality at george washington university, seeks to create the first and only community level network of low-cost air quality monitors. these monitors would serve to fill the gaps in pollution level data throughout the district’s wards. aitana mendiguren, a student working on community outreach for the project, said, “we mainly want to educate and empower community members of wards seven and eight who are exposed to higher local levels of air pollution. using our sensors they will be able to actually monitor their community-levels with real data.”

while fresh air d.c. stresses the physical health effects of air pollution, the recently discovered associations between mental health and global warming only further support the necessity for their efforts. “people living in these wards need the hands-on tools to understand how their health is a risk,” mediguren said. 

now, imagine a world where people are well educated and thus are well-aware of the impact and the crisis that the world is facing today. imagine the efficiency and acceleration with which we would be able to solve these tough challenges across the world, if only there were well-educated populations across the world. quality education can elevate lives of people around the world and provide the necessary tools to solve complex challenges so that we can make the world a better place, not only today but for future generations.

even in today’s digital age, the approach to education is based on the old format of fact retention. teaching methods focus on providing facts, without caring on absorption of knowledge by students. as a result, a lot of students have difficulties comprehending so much information in such a short period of time. to overcome this challenge, we can leverage technologies like virtual reality (vr) to create the perfect learning environment.

using the virtual reality model, we can create a virtual world that can be real or imaginary, thereby allowing students and teachers, not only to see it, but to also interact with it. by immersing themselves within the virtual world and interacting within it, students are able to learn better, while also being able to fully understand the concepts. this in turn, reduces the cognitive load on learners to process the information. vr has become more and more popular in today’s era of digital technology and soon it will become mainstream.

driving forces

education outside the classroom: a lot of people are visual learners. leveraging vr can aid such learners. students with a disability can also benefit greatly with such type of learning methods by designing class curriculum for their specific needs. instead of reading about things, students can actually see things that they are learning and comprehend more easily. for example, in poorer countries, going for virtual field trips like zoos or museums may not be feasible due to a disability, lack of funds, transport problems etc. however, using vr, students can gain near first-hand experience.

learning empathy: empathy enables us to learn from others’ pain and allows us to know when to offer support, enabling us to make the world a better place for all. through a perceptual illusion called embodiment, or the body ownership illusion, vr allows individuals to step into someone else’s shoes. educationists can leverage this to create curriculum for sensitive topics like racism, gender discrimination, disabilities, violence, traumas etc.

promoting creativity and curiosity: having vr in education is useful, not only for content consumption, but also for content creation. this aid requirements of different types of learners including students with special needs or distance learning, thus promoting and enhancing creativity for all types of learners across the world. in fact, students with special needs can actually be included in the development of curriculum and made to feel inclusive in the content creation process, which allows for even more relevant content development.

kinesthetic learning: it’s a well-known fact that people learn best by doing. unfortunately, in modern education we don’t see enough of learning that actually happens by doing things. this is partly because it is impossible to learn everything by actual examples. examples of learning lessons on firefighting, learning to handle active shooting, or even traveling through space are just not feasible. therefore, for such activities, learners often rely on reading instructions rather than doing them in practice. through vr students have an opportunity to learn by doing, rather than passively reading.

education for all: providing children with top-class facilities is not cheap. the cost of education is one of the biggest barriers to education across the world. however, it is also true that the brightest minds of tomorrow could come from any part of the world, and therefore we cannot neglect or deprive people from access to education. vr can break this barrier for us. there is no need for expensive school facilities like laboratories and building. it is great if a country or population can support these costs but if not, then vr can be that much needed constructive alternative that allows access to education in a simple and less expensive manner. vr can help in breaking the language barrier as well as fill the void of lack of good teachers. many good teachers are willing to teach both, students and even teachers across the world, but due to proximity and language barriers they are unable to achieve what they intend to. with vr these barriers can be overcome easily by democratizing education and opening the doors for all. 

challenges and advocacy areas

currently, the price to implement and leverage vr is high and that is a significant barrier for many users. with the united nations’ (u.n.) goal to make knowledge available, accessible, and affordable for everyone on the planet, government funding should be made available and strong reforms and regulations should be passed to make vr devices tax-free. in addition, governments and / or local bodies should subsidize these devices to reduce overall manufacturing costs. for the u.n. to solve the other sustainable development goals, goal no. 4, i.e. quality education, is key. a focused and effective approach to solving goal no. 4, will allow for the u.n. to have a much larger impact on achieving the other goals. the u.n. can achieve this goal by visiting schools around the world and providing teachers with the resources they need, especially virtual technology resources. a solution that combines technology with advocacy, will not only mitigate many problems outlined earlier such as high infrastructure costs and others but can also serve as an enabler to students of all kinds. as a society, we can achieve inclusion of not only students with special needs, but also students who suffer discrimination — all this while also encouraging lifelong learning. leveraging vr, students can receive an enriched and wholesome education. it also allows them to take their learning experience to a whole new level — a place where the sky is not the limit!

when i embarked on the trip to rome, italy, where i would be participating as a delegate with planet forward in the 46th committee on world food security (cfs), i knew there was going to be plenty of opportunity for my pitch on a personal and professional level. and before i knew it, there i was, on the first night in rome with a traditional pasta dish sitting below me on the checkered table-cloth, performing my pitch, and introducing who i was. why was i there attending the conference on global food security?

it came so naturally, especially as my peer sitting across the table from me claimed climate change could be solved through technology-based solutions. this was a contradiction of everything i believed in as a student that has studied the climate crisis and how we have gotten to where we are in the world today. so, i ran with it. 

“hi, my name is lindsay, and technology scares me. i don’t believe it holds solutions, i believe it hosts destruction, and in light of development and adapting to climate change, i think it has the potential to further increase the gap between human beings and the earth. my skepticism is not only curious, but it is angry towards technology and its rapid speed. i am here to better understand its role in global development and sustainable agriculture.”  

something along those lines rolled effortlessly off my tongue.

i quickly realized that the following week at the food and agriculture organization (fao) building was going to be a challenge, especially as i held on tight to my ideas about technology. but as much as i was skeptical of technology-based solutions, i tried my best to remain open to their potential in reducing suffering, feeding the hungry, and contrary to my beliefs, actually bringing us humans closer to the earth.

oh, how privilege sits comfortably in our beliefs

on the first day of the cfs46 i found myself perched up in the comfortable blue seats of the plenary with my eyes wide, notebook crisp and ready to be filled with notes. once i figured out what the white thing was on everyone’s ears, i attached mine to my ear with the language set to english, and i was ready to listen.

nearly 1,900 attendees filled the room. each one, coming from their corner on the planet; bringing along with them their unique experiences, ideas, and perspectives. from scientists and governments to farmers and members of civil society, the cfs is a multi-stakeholder platform that reports to the united nations general assembly about the status of global food security and nutrition for all. that’s what they’re all about; having every voice at the table for creative, inclusive, and effective policy approaches towards positive change.

within the first few moments of the meeting, chairperson of the cfs, mario arvelo, gave the attendees some context and reason for being there with a moment of silence for the millions of people that have died since last year’s meeting as a result of hunger and disease stemming from malnutrition.

this single moment set the tone and motivated the attendees to address world hunger for the estimated 821 million people without access to a nutritious meal. this number loomed heavily throughout the space of the fao, and deeply contributed to my perspective.

all of my life, i have had access, adequate access — maybe even an overly adequate access — to food. it was in these heavy moments soaked in the unimaginable number of 821 million that my privilege was unveiled. i began to see the importance of accepting the potential of technology, and understanding that food cooperatives, organic farming, and things alike cannot be the only solution. throughout the week, i was beginning to realize that food insecurity is a far bigger issue than i have been able to imagine within the walls of my college classrooms, from my corner on the planet. 

in order to fulfill the u.n. sustainable development goals for the 2030 agenda, solutions need to be multifaceted with the embrace of technology on the foreground. this, at first was a hard pill to swallow, but with the 821 million people in mind, the pill went down really smoothly.

opening the door & asking the questions

my questions during my time in the fao building ultimately became, “can technological innovation and sustainable agriculture work hand-in-hand? and, can technology actually work to make the gap smaller between humans and the earth?” i carried these with me as i attended a side event called “innovation and agroecology.” it was held in the “green room” and as the diverse group of panelists filled the seats on stage, i found my seat near the front, so i wouldn’t miss a thing. the panel was complete with farmers from argentina, new mexico, italy, and nigeria, along with business owners of agrotechnology companies. when dialogue began, i felt as if my questions were being directly answered.

agroecology is a farming practice that centers on food production and aims to make the best use of nature’s goods and services while not damaging these resources. farmers that include agroecology in their practices seek to improve and increase yields for balanced nutrition while simultaneously strengthening the ecosystems and fair markets in place for their products. typically, agroecology is associated with a more natural and organic approach to agriculture, as its origins are deeply embedded within indigenous knowledge. needless to say, i was looking forward to what luciano loman was going to share as the executive director of metos brazil, an agrotechnology company.  

he shared about how, through the technology and services metos provides, farmers can become more in tune with their crops. for example, with the imetos® decision support system, farmers can closely monitor the soil parameters and relevant climatic conditions. the data collected through this technology directly increases the yield and decreases the input, whether that’s water, fertilizer, or even physical labor. essentially, the software speaks for the plant, letting the farmer know what they need, and exactly when they need it.

this insight from loman highlighted the value and proved to me how beneficial adopting technologies as such can be, especially for farmers working in harsh and unpredictable climates. it was beginning to seem as if technology could actually work to make the gap smaller between humans and the earth. 

balance in skepticism

the gears in my mind were turning, but i was still feeling connected to my old beliefs, especially as i sat in on an interview between kip tom, the united states representative to the u.n. agency for food & agriculture, and frank sesno, the creator of planet forward. 

in the conversation, tom weighed heavily on the end of the technology advocate spectrum — the one that i feared the most — and in response to sesno’s question about the reality of climate change, the ambassador said, “i think one of the things that we have available to us today is (science), if we are to let science do its work, we can address some of these changes… 

“i think this is what we need to look at, the way we can use technology to better leverage our farm, each acre we farm, (and) improve the environment along the way.” 

overall, the conversation held a tone that placed technology on a pedestal, as an end-all-be-all, long-term solution. i was just not buying it and after this interview, i felt as if i had returned to square one with a returned sense of anger and distrust in technology.

but, rest assured, after sharing my skepticism and ideas with tom, he reminded me of the importance of questioning. questioning, confusion, skepticism, and sharing: each of these are catalysts for change. they are catalysts for growth. in order to effectively work toward goals such as ending world hunger, they remain extremely valuable. 

a changed mind – for the better

by no means am i now a person who will advocate for the technological solution first, or believes that it is the only solution. simply, i can see both sides much better now, and the importance of embracing the many different ideas and experiences of others. although, i will be the first to say that it wasn’t easy to make this shift. i had to poke some holes through my skeptical shield, and pieces of my identity were definitely checked at the door. this was done so with relief and solutions in mind. relief and solutions for the 821 million people whose question is not, what will we eat? rather, it is, will we eat?

as we move forward, searching for solutions in the face of a quickly changing climate, we need to remain mindful of the reality of the situation and be willing to embrace the many forms that solutions come in. whether it is through organic farming, or through embracing biotechnology and software, lucky for us, that pitch i was talking about earlier can change whenever we want. with that, i hope you challenge your perceptions and beliefs, and you’re not afraid to step outside of the box people may have put you in, or maybe even you, yourself have put you in.

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.

it was a fitting end to a week spent learning about human-environment issues from some of the world’s preeminent experts at the united nations food and agriculture organization’s 46th committee on world food security. just as pompeii experienced a catastrophic environmental event in 79 a.d., we in 2019 are facing down climate change on a global scale. the difference is that unlike the unfortunate souls of pompeii, we have advance warning and the tools to adjust how we interact with the environment – if only we can agree on how to do so.

agriculture is one of the major contributors to the processes causing climate change, and it’s also incredibly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. the ways that we’ve manipulated the land to produce food are not sustainable if we want to continue living on this planet, and many delegates to the committee on world food security seemed to acknowledge that. but at least in the sessions i attended, few speakers gave climate change the attention that it demands. the only climate change moment that stood out to me from the week was when an official from nicaragua spoke to the plenary about how his nation is one of those most vulnerable to climate change despite contributing negligible greenhouse gas emissions. it was a powerful moment, but it was fleeting.

spending a week with researchers and officials from around the world taught me so much about the issues we’re facing and what governments and institutions are doing to address them. most of my personal interests in sustainability are focused on energy and climate, so it was an amazing opportunity to learn about issues that are unfamiliar to me and gain new research interests. but i did find myself wishing climate was more central to the week’s discussions of sustainable development, and my visit to pompeii helped me realize why: none of our accomplishments in development will matter if our environment becomes inhospitable. we must address climate issues in every goal, plan, and agreement, even if the issue at hand seems far removed from climate change. if we don’t, we will be seeing more lost cities and civilizations in the future.

thank you, planet forward and fao, for this experience!

more than ever, after attending cfs, i have a renewed sense of passion for using the camera to shed light on injustice. for me, this revelation couldn’t have come at a more necessary time.

while i have clung onto my dream of being a journalist, amid the rigor of college, my passion for storytelling has, admittedly, taken a backseat. when people would ask me about my plans post-grad, i would hesitantly reply, “possibly, journalism… but maybe finance, or marketing, or business. i’m not sure yet.”

however, at cfs, i was reminded that journalists serve a worthy and righteous cause as the recordkeepers of history. as attacks on the free press are made around the globe, persisting to tell the truth is a responsibility that is worth the risk; even if it means stepping on the toes of corrupt bureaucracies and being considered a nuisance.

furthermore, given the complexities of environmental issues, i realized it is not enough to be able to regurgitate facts and statistics. while i have committed myself to the mastery of the production elements of journalism, as delegates from the sahara to the pacific spoke, i recognized that developing intellectual insight was an equally, if not more, important element to telling informative, powerful stories. 

as the plane lifted off of the ground from san francisco, i felt a shedding of my old self. i knew that i was in for a dramatic internal transformation, but i did not know in what ways they would come. however, as i strapped into my seat and left the city of seven hills, rome, i realized that i didn’t necessarily become a new person but rather i shed the fear, self-doubt, and uncertainty that were quieting my inner self.

i returned back to the 6th grader in me that beamed when she saw her classmates excitedly watch her documentary. i reunited with the 16-year-old version of myself that spent nights studying amanpour, winfrey, and lisa ling. most importantly, i made the declarative decision that my aspirations of being a professional journalist wasn’t going to be a mere “possibility,” but my reality.

my name is marisa umeh, i’m a planet 世界杯欧洲预选赛免费直播 , and i am going to be a professional journalist.

for one week i joined planet forward at fao’s committee on world security (cfs) 46th conference in rome, italy. as i sit down to reflect on the gathering, i feel as if a million doors have opened before me. 

i’m a college student at suny’s college of environmental science and forestry, a small stem campus in syracuse, new york, studying environmental studies. that said, it often feels like a bubble, and that bubble can sometimes be blinding. in rome, we’ve met and heard from delegates, stakeholders, youth, and others from around the globe working to solve issues around world hunger and nutrition. my mind has opened to a greater understanding of what is going on on a national level, and of course, a global level. i know this will be useful information to know as i move forward in my life and career surrounding environmental and humanitarian issues. 

prior to this week, i have had an ingrained way of thinking that encompassed a relatively strong distaste for technology. i thought that the issues facing the earth, such as world hunger, and climate change could not be fixed by technology, because in my mind, these issues were caused by technology. as i moved forward through the week, i listened. i heard what the technology advocates had to say, i heard from the farmers themselves, and the people fighting for the right to food, that technology holds a great deal of space in the solution to world hunger. i don’t believe that it is the only solution, but i can now zoom out from the space i am from, and understand there are other ways to go about addressing issues of this suffering. this is just one example of the many takeaways i have received from the past week.

this all said, as a correspondent with planet forward, i viewed much of this week through the lens of a storyteller. as of late, i am in the process of creating a story highlighting the fine balance of technology in development. as my perspective and understanding transformed throughout the week, i recognized its relevance in the battle against troubling issues, such as world hunger. through a series of journal entries, tracking the days i spent in the fao building in rome, i will unravel my fear of technology in development, and refer to its power in reducing suffering and actually getting humans closer to the land; closer to the earth.

“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.