Sustainability Day

9:30 am - 10:45 am: This session will host two engaging speakers. Don Smith, Healthy Soil Advocate at Kiss the Ground, will be speaking about how their organization is working to solve one of the greatest challenges of our time – climate change. Kiss the Ground creates curriculum to raise awareness about how compost can enhance carbon sequestration in the soil. Their mission is to educate and activate the broader community on issues such as food waste, farming, health, biodiversity, and climate change.

Kathleen Blakistone, Co-Creator of Urban Microfarm Moonwater Farm, will discuss her work engaging the diverse community of Compton in conversations about food justice and health. Kathleen creates a safe space for dialogue around issues of white privilege, inequity, and health/food policy. African Americans and Latino/as are disproportionally impacted by a lack of food access and diet-related diseases and change needs to happen. Kathleen works on making that change with educators, non-profits and businesses who share a commitment to creating a healthy and just food system in Los Angeles.

11:00 am - 12:15 pm: Clare Fox, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, will share how this collective impact initiative works to make southern California a Good Food region for everyone - where food is healthy, affordable, fair and sustainable. Prior to being appointed as the Executive Director, Clare served as the Director of Policy and Innovation for the Council, and worked to establish a food access investment program at the City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. She has coordinated four pilot projects in South Los Angeles in partnership with LA County Department of Public Health and a coalition of community-based organizations and residents.

12:30 - 1:30 pm: Erica Wohldmann, CSUN Psychology professor and Interim Director of the Institute for Sustainability, will lead a walking tour of campus and discuss all of the edible and medicinal plants found at CSUN.

2:00 - 3:15 pm: We will show a documentary that discusses sustainable food systems and social justice.

4:00 - 5:15 pm: CSUN Alum, Gina Thornburg, will speak about alternative food and agriculture systems and the need for a reflexive approach in the governance of alternative agrifood initiatives. A reflexive approach toward governance builds in efforts to be inclusive from the outset of devising governance structures and writing policies that facilitate sustainable and other alternative food-and-ag systems. A reflexive approach strives toward equitable outcomes across a given geographic space.

After Gina’s presentation, the Marilyn Magaram Center will host a cooking demonstration, showing attendees how to make healthy meals with ingredients sourced from the CSUN Wellness Garden. Frida Endinjok, a Nutrition and Dietetics major, will lead the demonstration and will also discuss how students can get involved with campus sustainability efforts such as the Food Recovery Network, campus gardening and compost programs, and the AS Sustainability Committee.