Have you or your students ever wondered what impact growing your own food or eating more of what is available locally could have on the environment? Check out the recording of our recent webinar to hear from distinguished guest speakers, Zahra Ali Husain (Pakistan) and Dr. Joan Dye Gussow (USA), about how they got involved in the fields of environmentalism and food sustainability, some interesting facts related to the work they do and their recommendations for what we can all do to have a positive impact on the environment.
View the webinar recording here >
This webinar, held on May 29, was part of the Photojournalism 2.014: Heritage, Hunger and Food Security Program, a partnership between iEARN-Pakistan, iEARN-Tajikistan, and iEARN-USA, made possible through funding from the U.S. Department of State and sponsorship from the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.
Dr. Joan Dye Gussow is a serious food producer, a writer and Mary Swartz Rose Professor Emerita and former chair of the Nutrition Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Officially retired, she still co-teaches her popular course on nutritional ecology every fall. She has served on and chaired the boards of many organizations, but currently serves only on the boards of Just Food, the Sustainability Fund, the Frontera Farmer Foundation, and the Rockland Farm Alliance, and on the advisory board of Kids Can Make a Difference. Until December of 2012, Dr. Gussow was also on the Board of Trustees of Piermont, her Hudson River village. She has previously served two terms on the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences and single terms on the FDA’s Food Advisory Committee and the National Organic Standards Board. She is author, coauthor or editor of a number of articles and several books; the latter include The Feeding Web, The Nutrition Debate, Chicken Little, Tomato Sauce and Agriculture and This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader, published in 2001 and based on the lessons learned from 30 years of working on growing her own food. Dr. Gussow’s latest book, Growing, Older: A Chronicle of Death, Life and Vegetables, was published by Chelsea Green in November of 2010, and though she harbors some doubts about there being a market for a third memoir from a woman in her ninth decade, she is at work on a new book.
Zahra Ali Husain is a sustainability educator, freelance writer and environmentalist. She conducts eco-literacy classes at private, government and welfare schools and has designed and implemented a green curriculum at a public school. Ms. Husain similarly conducts horticulture therapy classes, along with her husband, Yasir Husain, at the Recovery House for patients with mental illness. She is also Co-Director of the Organic City, an organization started by her and Yasir Husain, that promotes green living through sustainable living, culture, media and arts. Crops in pots and Green Schools Pakistan are its two main initiatives. Crops in Pots is a virtual community of 2,000+ urban organic gardeners and consumers who participate in exchanging knowledge and in activities to improve their surroundings. Crops in Pots also works to promote heirloom seeds and in a process of establishing a seed bank. Ms. Husain additionally writes for local newspapers on environmental issues and organic gardening, including Dawn, Express Tribune and Newsline magazine; blogs on cropsinpots.blogspot.com; and is a public speaker and trainer. In a few weeks, she will be launching the Green School Program, an open source website with her green curriculum and lesson plans for teachers and students.
Related Links
- Joan Dye Gussow’s website
- Zarah Hussain’s blog
- Photojournalism 2.014 Project on the iEARN Collaboration Centre
