Overview of Course

Despite the fact that we grow enough food to feed the entire planet, one out of ten globally face food insecurity and malnutrition. This Spring 2025 course will examine how various patterns and causes of urbanization and population growth – including economic growth, global trade, technological advancements, industrialization of food production, an increasing wealth gap, political movements, government and non-governmental interventions, climate change, and social transformations – have presented challenges and opportunities to advancing a just, healthy, and sustainable food system. This course will explore current initiatives and solutions, framed through the lens of the United Nations sustainable development goals.

In the context of the Spring 2025 SAS voyage, students will compare and contrast cultural differences in farming systems, food security and insecurity, politics and policies, food waste, and environmental and economic issues in various countries visited on the voyage. Students' discussions, assignments and field trips will dive deeper into countries' efforts toward achieving the sustainable development goals and their progress in measures of human wellbeing.