Hello, my name is Bob Lawrence. I was the founding director of the Center for a Livable Future, and I'm now an emeritus professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering. I continue to teach because that's one of the things that has been my passion for my entire professional life. Though I'm going long in the tooth and I rely on my younger colleagues like. Hi everyone, my name is Keeve Nachman and thank you Bob. And I'm so thrilled to still be young. [LAUGH] I am an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Bloomberg School of Public Health here at Johns Hopkins. And I'm also a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and I've worked with Bob for quite a long time. So we're really thrilled to have you here today. >> This Coursera course is a distillate of a number of courses that we teach at the Center for a Liveable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. This course is going to talk about the entire food system from farm to fork. The impact of the way we produce our food on the health of the public. Either through environmental degradation or through the influence of the diet that we consume. And, Keeve, talk a little bit more about the complexity of this system. >> I would be happy to. So our food system's really at the nexus of some of the most significant public health and environmental challenges that we face today. Things like persistent hunger, global epidemics of obesity and diabetes, multi-drug-resistant bacteria, resource depletion, climate change, and inequity. So in this course we're really going to explore food systems, food security, food system sustainability, mostly through the lines of public health. Drawing on the expertise of those in the fields of agriculture, policy, and community food security. This short mook focused on the United States food system is meant to encourage you to think deeply about many of the different ways food impacts not only our health but the health of our environment and the sustainability of our food system for generations to come. So let's talk for a moment about what a food system means. So many of you are very familiar with the activities at the core of the food system. These are things like production, processing, distribution, retail, preparation. And many people's favorite element of this, consumption. But we need to broaden little beyond the activities to think about many of the other facets of this system. So next I'd like you to think a little bit about the inputs and resources that go into those supply chain activities. These are things like seeds, land, water, soil, biodiversity, minerals, energy, knowledge, skills, labour, capital, chemicals, and so many other things. So without these inputs and resources, our activities couldn't proceed. Next, I'd like you to think about outputs and outcomes. And these are things that can be both positive and negative. And these are going to have direct or indirect impacts on public health, and arise as a result of the activities were pursuing and the need for some of those resources. So these outputs and outcomes. Let's start with the positive ones. So we're talking about things like health, enjoyment, convenience, variety, employment, and profit. So those are good things. But there are some negative outcomes that we're also concerned with in the field of public health and food systems. And these are things like illness, injury, waste, emissions of pollutants, run off, erosion and many other considerations. So these outputs and outcomes are another important component of our food system. And lastly I'd like you to think about the influences on the food system. And these are forces that can impact public health at various levels. And these are things like climate change, varying worldviews, different policies. Culture, changes in population, consumer demands, changes in opportunities and technology, marketing and economics. So these influences on the food systems temper the various relationships between activities, inputs an resources, and outputs and outcomes. So taken together, these various elements form our food system. And that food system is going to be the subject of what we're talking about in this course. >> Thanks Keeve. I might just add that although we are focusing on the US food system. We do know that with the import of so much of our seafood from other parts of the world and the export of so many of our commodities to other parts of the world, we are intimately involved with the global food system in all of its complexity. First thing we want you to do is review the syllabus and get familiar with it. And then please, please take the pre-course survey. Which we will learn a lot from, learn about you. And I hope you will also use it to reflect at the end of the course on what you have learned. And which of your own pet theories have been challenged and which have been supported. Next, please introduce yourself on the Coursera website. As Keeve and I interact with our students here at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. I'm often impressed by the fact that in the classroom there may be literally hundreds if not thousands of person years of lived experience with rich perspectives from different walks of life. Share those with the other students, share them with us. It'll make the discussions much richer. Each week you'll review a videotaped lecture and take a quiz. And we hope that you'll keep up with a regular pace. If you fall behind, it's a course that when you're working full time it's really hard to catch up. So try to stay on pace and stretch it out. You'll get more out of it. And then, finally, we really are excited about your interest in food systems. The next slide shows the full array of opportunities here at the Center for a Livable Future and at the Bloomberg School of Public Heath. In case some of you are contemplating graduate study, you can see that there are lots of ways of deepening your understanding of our food system. Thanks very much and we look forward to seeing you on Coursera. >> Take care everyone.
