2013

SCIENTIFIC, SPIRITUAL, AND MORAL CHALLENGES

IN SOLVING THE WORLD FOOD CRISIS

THE INSTITUTE ON RELIGION IN AN AGE OF SCIENCE

Fifty-ninth Annual Summer Conference

Silver Bay, New York

July 27 to August 3, 2013

Co-Chairs: Solomon Katz and Pat Bennett

Food occupies a central place in human life. Not only are its nutrients necessary for our survival, but feasting, fasting, and sharing are integral to our history, cultural identity, and religious traditions. Yet, today, and for the foreseeable future, nearly half of the world's people cannot enjoy the fullness of their potential due to problems with food affordability, safety, and access. Serious problems with food production and price increases currently leave about one billion people experiencing hunger, and many of them facing starvation. Another billion spend over half their entire income on food, but still have only marginally enough to eat. Yet, concurrently, at least another billion people in the world are experiencing problems from consuming too much food and/or from dietary imbalances and safety problems that result in serious chronic diseases and infections.

Among the questions to be addressed at this conference are the following:

 What are the origins and evolution of human diet and the food system, and how does this knowledge provide new insights about our contemporary food problems?

 What is the status of world food resources? How does it relate to macro and micro food problems locally and nationally in the United States and throughout the world?

 How does food serve as a symbol and a substance of various religious traditions? Has the loss of social traditions surrounding food production, preparation and consumption contributed to the problems noted above?

 How can the human food system be made more sustainable? How can healthy diets be safely and economically made available to all humanity? How can new scientific and medical knowledge optimally help with sustainability, safety, and access?

 What are the tensions created by climate change; population growth; demographic change; global trade and commodity pricing; market and business forces; water management; energy resources; food to fuel; new GMO technologies; agricultural practices; land use and agricultural practices; increased meat, dairy, and egg production; food sovereignty at local, national, and international levels; increased socio-political interests; and the demands for human rights and just food policies?

 What secular and religious ethics and values can help to balance and/or solve food problems at all levels of the food system? What human and institutional resources are now available or need to be developed to catalyze meaningful solutions to food problems?

 What are the potentials of a combined science and religion approach to achieving sustainable solutions to world food problems?

One of the conference’s aims is to derive, develop, and disseminate a statement of principles for

achieving sustainable solutions to some of these issues, based on such a combined approach; and to

issue an accompanying call to appropriate action at personal and communal levels.

An IRAS conference is a rather unique interdisciplinary experience, combining serious cutting-edge talks with many opportunities for in-depth discussions and workshops, as well as relaxed, informal conversation. Most speakers spend the entire week at the conference, giving plenty of opportunity to follow-up points over coffee and meals. Also, since conferees represent a wide spectrum of disciplines in the sciences and humanities, as well as coming from many different religious traditions, discussions are eclectic, stimulating and sometimes robust! And alongside the hard work of thinking and talking, and our traditional reflective sessions, there’s plenty of less serious stuff to enjoy too – music, art, laughter and jokes at Happy Hour, and all the recreational facilities on offer at Silver Bay.

As in previous years, we will be having some Poster Sessions and submissions for poster presentations related to the themes are invited from emerging scholars and professionals. We are particularly keen to encourage young scholars to participate in this, and to that end some partial fellowships, awarded on a competitive basis, will be available to support them. For details on poster submissions go here.

CONFERENCE CHAPLAIN

V.V. Raman, Ph.D. Emeritus professor of physics and humanities at Rochester Institute of Technology, and current president of IRAS. This year's chapel services entitled “Addressing Hunger, the Universal Spiritual Concern, and Diversity of Expression” will be related to various aspects of food and with references to different religious traditions.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

Ian G. Barbour, PhD is a physicist, theologian, and winner of the 1999 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. He is the Bean Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and Society at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, was a founding member of IRAS and has been a member of the editorial panel of Zygon the Journal of Religion and Science since its inception. Widely acknowledged throughout the world as one of the most distinguished scholars in the field of Science and Religion, Dr. Barbour established his pioneering work in his now classic interdisciplinary book, “Issues In Science And Religion”, first published in 1965. Since that time he has authored many additional books and articles including “Myths, Models and Paradigms” and “Religion And Science: Historical And Contemporary Issues”. In 1989 -1991, Dr. Barbour delivered the Gifford Lectures, which were followed up in his book, “Religion In An Age Of Science and Ethics In an Age of Technology”. Dr. Barbour’s latest book is “When Science Meets Religion: Enemies, Strangers Or Partners?” As a special part of our 2013 program, he will show a short DVD of an interview on "How My Mind Has Changed Since Giving the Gifford Lectures", and discuss topics raised in the interview, including emergence, neuroscience, process philosophy and feminist theology, and world religions.

Barrett P. Brenton, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Global Development, Director of the Graduate Program in Global Development and Social Justice and Professor of Anthropology at St. Johns University. He is also Faculty Expert and Consultant for the Vatican’s Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations on issues related to food security, sustainable development, and environmental justice. He will address “Food Sovereignty and Environmental Nutrition as a Foundation for Food Justice and Sustainable Food Systems”.

William J. Clark, MBA Wharton, University of Pennsylvania, has served as President and Executive Director, Philabundance since 2001. Previously, Bill had a career in food manufacturing and marketing and served as assistant to the CEO of Burpee Seed Company. Philabundance’s mission is to reduce hunger and food insecurity in the Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania. It provides food access to approximately 65,000 people per week in partnership with almost 500 member agencies and over 15,000 volunteers each year. Philabundance acquires and distributes over 25 million pounds of food per year, and holds a 4 star (top) rating from Charity Navigator. Bill will address Faith-based Communities and their Potential Moral Role in a Movement to End Hunger in America and Serve as an Exemplar for the World.

Steven M. Finn, MBA, MSOD, MPhil., is Managing Director of ResponsEcology – a sustainability and change management firm, and is adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Steve leads sustainability research in areas of food waste and global food security. He will address “Valuing Our Food and Resources, Minimizing Waste and Optimizing Resources: The Scope and Significance of the Global Food Waste Problem”.

Ursula Goodenough, Ph.D., is Professor of Biology, Washington University. She has served as president of the American Society of Cell Biology and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as a former President of IRAS. She authored the best-selling book, “The Sacred Depths of Nature” and has published extensively in the fields of cell biology and religion and science. Her presentation will be on “New Sources of Bio Fuels Through Algal to Biodiesel”.

Sandra G. Hassink, MD, FAAP, MS (Pastoral Care and Counseling), is Director of the Nemours Obesity Initiative and Weight Management Program, Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, and a Professor of Pediatrics at Jefferson Medical College. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Board of Directors and National Task Force on Obesity, Chair of the AAP Obesity Leadership Workgroup, and Co Chair of the Academic Pediatric Association Obesity Special Interest Group. She has authored “A Parent’s Guide to Childhood Obesity”, “Pediatric Obesity: Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment Strategies for Primary Care”, and “Clinical Guide to Pediatric Weight Management”. Her presentation will address “The Socioecological Factors that Impact the Development of Childhood Obesity”.

Solomon H. Katz, Ph.D., is Director of the Krogman Center for Research in Child Growth and Development and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, and CEO of the World Food Forum. His Encyclopedia of Food and Culture (3 vols. 2,000 pages), was awarded both the Dartmouth Medal and Emerald Award and was editor of a 14 book series on the History and Anthropology of Food and Nutrition that included four books on famine and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, he chairs the American Anthropological Association Task Force on World Food Problems and was a former president of IRAS, founding President of the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science, and a Trustee of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. His presentation will address “Science and Religion at a Crossroads: New Solutions for Improving the Security, Safety, and Sustainability of the Human Food System.”

Sehdev Kumar, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Ethics, University of Waterloo, and currently is a Professor at the University of Toronto, Canada. Dr. Kumar’s presentation will be based on his book, "Matters of Life & Death: Reflections on Bioethics, Law and Human Destiny". He will explore issues arising out of efforts by some US scientists to patent neem, turmeric, and basmati rice – all parts of Indian food systems – which stirred outrage against “cultural imperialism” in India and many other countries. He will discuss what constitutes knowledge, who has the intellectual right to it and how genetically modified organisms in contemporary agriculture fit into these questions, in his presentation “Bio-prospecting” or “Bio-piracy" of traditional food plants and herbs that have been part of 'Traditional Knowledge’: What constitutes 'Intellectual Property’? “

Robert S. Lawrence, M.D. is Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Health Policy, and International Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and is the founding director of Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, which is focused on issues at the intersection of food systems and public health. Dr. Lawrence is a founding member of Physicians for Human Rights, which shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its work to eliminate the use of anti-personnel landmines, and received their Founders Award in 1997, served as President from 1998-2003, and currently serves as chair of the board. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the recipient of numerous other awards, including the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarianism Prize, 2002; Sedgwick Memorial Medal, APHA, 2009; Sidney Zubrow Award, The Pennsylvania Hospital, 2008; Master, American College of Physicians, 1998; Physicians for Human Rights, 1997; and many others. Previously, Dr. Lawrence was founding director of the Division of Primary Care at Harvard Medical School and chief of Medicine at the Cambridge Hospital and also served as Director of Health Sciences at the Rockefeller Foundation. Bob’s presentation, “How the US Food System can be Brought into Compliance with International Law on the Right to Food. What is our National Obligation to Respect, Protect, and Fulfill the Food Security Rights of US Citizens?” will focus, in part, on the diverse roles that faith communities of all traditions are playing to reassess their food policies and practices in terms of food sustainability, health and justice in the US and internationally.

Ellen Messer, Ph.D., Tufts University, has specialized in food, security, religion, and human rights issues for decades. She was former Director of the Brown University World Hunger Program, one of the first major university programs devoted to finding solutions to global hunger, and currently holds a visiting faculty position at Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy. Her presentation, “The Human Right to Food: Connecting International Legal Analysis, Science, and Religious Strategies” will explore the contributions of religious ideas, ethics, understandings, and active communities to scientific assessments, and broad civil-society efforts to hold governments and others accountable for the universal human right to food, established in the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948).

Gary Paul Nabhan, Ph.D., is the Kellogg Endowed Professor of Southwestern Borderlands Food and Water Security at the University of Arizona. He is an internationally celebrated nature writer, food and farming activist, and proponent of conserving the links between biodiversity and cultural diversity. He has been honored as a pioneer and creative force in the "local food movement” and seed saving community by Utne Reader, Mother Earth News, The New York Times, Bioneers and Time magazine. His work and books on natural history and science have earned him the John Burroughs Medal, the Lannan Literary Award, a MacArthur "genius" award, a Pew Fellowship in Conservation and Environment, two honorary Ph.D.s, Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Society for Conservation Biology, the Quivira Coalition, the Chefs Collaborative, Edible Communities and the Western Parks Association. He co-founded Native Seeds/SEARCH, a nonprofit conservation organization that works to preserve indigenous southwestern agricultural plants as well as knowledge of their uses. His presentation, “Feeding the Ethnic Diversity of the World in the Face of Climate Change: Diverse Structures, Diverse Food Crops, Diverse Strategies Needed”, will discuss the ecological and cultural need for redesign of regional food systems for human health, land and water health and community economic health using diverse structures, scales and strategies.

A. Whitney Sanford, Ph.D., is Professor of Religion at the University of Florida. In her work, she emphasizes the intersection of religion, food (and agriculture), and social equity, focusing on South Asia. Her recent book, “Growing Stories from India: Religion and the Fate of Agriculture”, uses Hindu agricultural narratives to consider how we can provide food in a sustainable and just manner. Her presentation, “Why We Need Religion to Solve the World Food Crisis”, will explore how faith-based perspectives can provide new paradigms through which to assess food, consumption, and production and the attendant social relations, and better reveal the moral and religious dimensions of the world food crisis.

Anita Spring, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida, where she is affiliated with the Centers for African Studies, Latin American Studies, and Women’s Studies and Gender Research, and the School of Natural Resources and Environment. She is also Director, Sub-Saharan Africa Business Environment Report Project. She has specialized in, and published widely on, international agricultural development, food security, entrepreneurship and micro-enterprises, women/gender in international development and environment and resource management. Her current research topics include the African business environment and entrepreneurship; China and Chinese people in Africa; food security and food sovereignty in Africa, women and land, and international land grabs. She will discuss “Food Security and Agricultural Innovation: Gendered and Non-Gendered”.

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