The Power of Comm-Unity: Stephen Ritz Returns for the Next ‘Food is a Conversation’

By 2050, almost 70% of the world population will live in urban areas. A population that by 2050 will eat, drink, and consume more natural resources, while we are already struggling today to satisfy globally basic needs. A growing global population with deteriorating natural resources and increased urbanization means more people to feed with less water, farmland, and rural labor that will have to feed increasingly growing food deserts, areas that mostly host low-income communities and that have limited access to affordable and nutritious food Indeed, the problems of food access in cities are not only due to the resources’ overexploitation but also to insecurity in having healthy and good food for everyone.

Malnutrition is the largest contributor to disease in the world. Over 4 billion people are either micronutrient deficient or overweight. In this current scenario, food education is more than needed to build climate-smart and resilient cities. As much as thriving communities, who can learn how to implement sustainable production systems and to grow fresh and healthy food locally. As Green Bronx Machine does!

Aimed at building healthy, equitable, and resilient communities through inspired education and local food systems, this organization developed a school-based model using urban agriculture to reduce the number of students that drop out of schools and their communities. Its creator is Stephen Ritz, one of the top ten finalists for the $1 million Global Teacher Prize, who created the first edible classroom in the country and uses plants as an entry point for all learning across every subject area.

With his infectious energy, passion, optimism, and, above all, love of people and planet, he has harvested hope and cultivated minds while helping student attendance soar from 40% to 93% and moving the 17% graduation rate to 100% for targeted students.

As he also tells in his book “The Power of a Plant”, Green Bronx Machine provides educational programming both in local schools and on its farms to teach Harlem youth about urban farming, food justice, and sustainability. The food produced is distributed throughout the community, and the organization aims to provide a source of nutritious food in a community where healthy food options are hard to come by.

In order to deep dive these challenges in the smart cities’ framework, after the Good After Covid19 virtual fishbowl on rebooting school education and the last Conversation on Sustainable Gastronomy, we are ready to introduce our Food & Climate Shapers Digital Boot Camp with him, one of our favorite school heroes at all: Stephen Ritz!

“Food is a Conversation with Stephen Ritz from Green Bronx Machine” will be moderated by サラ・ロヴェルシ (Founder of Future Food Institute) and will include the participation of Future Food ambassadors, young talents and changemakers in the food and sustainability sectors that will debate with Stephen in the final Q&A session.

Join us – June 25, 6.30 PM CET Subscriptions are open at this link: https://conversationgreenbxmachine.eventbrite.com

BOOT CAMPS KICKOFF July 6 – Apply now! 👉 https://futurefood.academy/digital-academy/digital-boot-camp