Katie Edelen ’11 [right] arrived at Augsburg intent on becoming a doctor and helping people in war-torn countries. Following her junior year of college she traveled to Chennai, India to shadow doctors in government hospitals and work with a doctor who brought internal medicine services to refugee camps, slums, and villages.

In India, she began to see the effects of peoples’ actions on the environment. “What really spoke to me were all the people who had been exposed to water-borne, preventable diseases because of unsafe sanitary conditions,” she recalls. She saw that issues related to health, education, poverty, and social justice were connected to environmental problems.

This experience led Edelen to pursue other opportunities centered on water and its role in society. She took a course on environmental and river politics led by environmental studies professor Joe Underhill Cady. She also traveled to Uganda and worked with villagers on water access and conservation, even starting a “safe water and hygiene club” in the primary school.

Edeln received a Fulbright research fellowship and will work at the Peace Research Institute Oslo researching the correlation between armed conflict and water hazards and scarcity. Following her time in Norway, she will pursue graduate work in environmental studies at Oxford on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship.

Similar to her friend, Kathy DeKrey ’12 [left] came to Augsburg wanting to find a way to help people who live in toxic areas. In her first year of school, she took the Environmental Connections course. “On the first day we talked about how the environment is everything, even the things that destroy nature. I was so angry because I thought that’s not true!” As she went through the program, she realized the value of being able to look at issues in that way.

DeKrey traveled to Portland, Ore. and Vancouver, BC with the Sustainable Cities in North America class and began to realize how complicated the environmental movement can be. “I saw gentrification at horrible levels that didn’t even seem real, and next to it was this amazing sustainable city,” she says. She says she wondered how some citizens felt pride in their sustainable habits and environments when others were digging through the garbage and selling trash to each other.

Throughout the program, DeKrey says she has learned that in order to make change in an area, it is important to have an open dialogue and honor what all parties bring to the discussion. As a project for one class, DeKrey worked on writing the environmental history of Minneapolis’ Midtown Greenway. “Writing this history has helped me realize how in my work as an environmental activist moving forward listening and understanding the needs of everyone involved is more important than your own agenda,” she says.

In 2011, DeKrey received a Udall Scholarship, named for U.S. Representative Morris K. Udall. The scholarship is awarded to students committed to careers related to the environment, tribal public policy, or Native American health care.

After college, DeKrey plans to study environmental and public interest law. “I want to help the people who don’t have power in our system regain a safe place to live that isn’t full of toxins. I think it’s important to empower people to do things that they think are important,” she says.

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This semester, students in SBS 100: Environmental Connections have studied how food fits into both our socio-economic and ecological systems. This Wednesday, they will put that knowledge into action as the class members will serve a meal that they helped the A’viands staff prepare. The entire Augsburg community is invited to share this “grub” with the class. The menu was chosen based on how the food was produced and transported.

Some of the ingredients were grown on campus. Almost all of the items were produced locally. Special consideration was placed on supporting suppliers that use environmentally friendly practices and pay employees a fair wage.

The meal–which is part of the final exam for the students–is meant to inform members of the Augsburg community about the environmental and social impact of the food we eat.

The course syllabus spells out rather simply the goals of the class: This year our focus is on food–what we eat, where it comes from, and the effects of food production and consumption on bodily, community, and planetary health.

To reach that point, students in Environmental Connections, the introductory course to Augsburg’s new environmental studies major, have learned about the history, economics, sociology, math, and science behind food and food production. They planted seeds in Augsburg’s greenhouse and are harvesting the fruits of their labors on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning prior to the lunch. The class also visited local farmers markets and co-ops.

Richmond Appleton, a senior environmental studies major and Peter Klink [pictured left], a first-year studying marketing and environmental studies, said the class has been enlightening. “Most of the food we eat has a huge impact on the environment, like just one cup of coffee,” Appleton said. The class visited the Peace Coffee Company in Minneapolis to learn about the impact of coffee and the company’s efforts to promote sustainability and fair/free trade. Peace Coffee delivers all coffee within 20 miles of its South Minneapolis location by bike and delivers the remainder in a van powered by biodiesel. All employees receive a fair wage and are able to travel to the countries where their coffee is grown and produced in order to learn firsthand about its production.

Appleton and Klink also said the class was surprised to learn that more than 60 percent of the carbon found in our hair comes from corn. This is due to the preponderance of corn additives, particularly the ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup, found in our food. (http://asap.sustainability.uiuc.edu/)

The class, which is being co-taught by Michael Lansing (history) and Joe Underhill (political science), has featured guest lectures from professors across campus. For example, John Zobitz, an assistant professor of mathematics, talked about the carbon cost of food. “Determining ‘how far’ food travels from farm to plate is a challenge to quantify because of the many different ways food can be transported and processed,” Zobitz said.

Prior to Zobitz’ lecture, students analyzed their diet for a week and determined what proportion came from particular food groups. They then calculated the average distance their food traveled based on a recent published study. Students also determined the carbon footprint (or total emissions) for their food choices and discussed how different diet choices affect the emissions output of food and how to quantify a local diet.

The course also focused on food justice issues such as “food deserts” and out-of-balance food environments. In neighborhoods without grocery stores where most readily available food comes from fast food restaurants and convenience stores, residents are unable to make healthy choices. One study conducted by the Mari Galagher Research & Consulting Group in Chicago found that in these areas residents are more likely to die prematurely and at greater rates from diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases and to suffer from obesity and hypertension.

Students have also spent a lot of time in class talking about changing habits. “Changing what you eat is hard when you are a student,” Klink said. “We’ve struggled with how to do that,” Klink said, “because making one change hurts others. For example, if we all quit eating meat, people in the meat industry lose jobs.”

Wednesday’s menu (some items subject to change)

• Radish soup
• Mesclun salad with local greens & spinach
• Free range chicken
• Walleye chowder
• Shepherd’s pie with winter vegetables (kale, beets, chard, winter squash)
• Pumpkin ice cream from Izzy’s and Kemps
• Caramel apple crumble pie
• Apple cider (hot and cold) from Nesbitt’s Orchard

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Winona LaDuke works on issues of sustainable development, renewable energy, food systems, and environmental justice with Indigenous communities. She is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation-based nonprofit organizations in the country. In this project, she also continues national and international work to protect Indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering. The author of five books, including Recovering the Sacred, All our Relations, and a novel, Last Standing Woman, she is widely recognized for her work on environmental and human rights issues.

There will be a student discussion and Q&A with Ms. LaDuke from 2:10-3 p.m. in the Marshall Room, Christensen Center.

Convocation Class Schedule:

1st Period 8:00-9:20

2nd Period 9:30-10:50

Convocation 11:00-12:00

3rd Period 12:10-1:20

Remaining classes follow regular schedule

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Stuthman is a plant geneticist at the University of Minnesota with special interest areas of oat genetics and breeding; durable pest resistance and sustainable agricultural systems. He has a special interest in communicating with the agricultural and the general public about the urgency of reducing the environmental damage, such as soil erosion, generated while producing field crops. His research seeks to help answer questions surrounding world hunger and nutrition.

Following chapel, Stuthman will join interested community members for lunch in East Commons at 11:00. People interested in joining the group for lunch should contact Ross Murray at murray@augsburg.edu.

This chapel talk is supported by Exploring Our Gifts: The Lilly Grant at Augsburg.

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