Join the Collaborative Centre for Climate, Health & Sustainable Care on Monday, October 5, at 1:00–5:00 PM for an in-person interdisciplinary convening exploring the connections between food, climate, and health.
This event will bring together researchers, practitioners, and policy leaders from across the University of Toronto and beyond to share perspectives, build connections, and identify opportunities for research, practice, and policy. A brief report on the event will highlight key themes, priorities, and opportunities.
Panel sessions will focus on:
- Food systems as health systems featuring Zahra Kassam, Valerie Tarasuk, and John Sievenpiper; moderated by Mary L’Abbe
- Planetary health diets featuring Vasanti Malik, Sarah Elton, and Marney Isaac; moderated by Ashley Aimone
- Food justice, sovereignty, and health equity featuring Jayeeta Sharma, Josee Johnston, and Sahr Wali; moderator by Michael Classens
- Pathways from evidence to health impact featuring Sarah Wakefield, Mike Lawler, and Laura Chiavaroli; moderated by Sarah Elton
This event is being organized by Graduate Fellows of the Collaborative Centre for Climate, Health & Sustainable Care, Sarah Jarvis and Aden Fisher. The scientific co-chairs are Dr. Sarah Elton and Dr. Michael Classens.
Organizers
Graduate Fellows
Aden Fisher
Aden Fisher is a PhD student at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in the Social and Behavioural Health Sciences division, as well as a Graduate Fellow within the Collaborative Centre for Climate, Health, and Sustainable Care. His research focuses on sustainability issues in Toronto’s food system including human health (food insecurity, dietary change) and environmental health (climate change, food waste, freshwater depletion). His work aims to understand how community food organizations in Toronto are integrating environmental sustainability into their food practices while responding to the city’s rapidly rising food insecurity. Aden has a Master’s in Environment and Sustainability from the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment, where he researched the relationship between youth food-climate activists and the city government in Toronto as part of the Youth Climate Action in Toronto project partnership.
Sarah Jarvis
Sarah Jarvis is a PhD candidate in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine. Her research examines nutrition and dietary patterns at the intersection of population and planetary health. Sarah is developing a comprehensive database to assess the health and environmental impacts of foods in the Canadian context using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. She is a Planetary Health Alliance Campus Ambassador.
Scientific Co-chairs
Dr. Michael Classens
Dr. Michael Classens is Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, and Undergraduate Associate Director in the School of the Environment at The University of Toronto. His dissertation focused on socio-ecological transformation via local food production, themes on which he elaborates in his book, From Dismal Swamp to Smiling Farms: Food, Agriculture and Change in the Holland Marsh (UBC Press, 2021). A community-engaged researcher and teacher, Michael collaborates with many grassroots and community-based organizations working toward food and climate justice. He is co-editor of two new collections, Teaching Food Studies (with Jennifer Sumner) and Hungry for Change: How Post-Secondary Campuses are Transforming Food Systems (with Mike Lawler). In his courses, he specializes in community-based learning, nonformal learning outside the classroom, and praxis-based pedagogy.
Dr. Sarah Elton
Dr. Sarah Elton is an assistant professor and Eakin Chair in Critical Qualitative Health Research Methodology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. She works on food systems from an ecological public health perspective, considering the more-than-human lifeforms and ecological systems that co-produce the food we eat.