Who was involved in producing the food you ate this morning? Are you wearing plastic today?

This past Thursday, September 26, I had the privilege of attending NYC Climate Week’s “Forward Food & Fashion” event. It was hosted by Clim-Eat in collaboration with Barnard College and Columbia Climate School, at The Forum at the Columbia Business School on 125th and Broadway. 

I didn’t know very much about it before, but NYC Climate Week is a pretty big deal. Every year, it welcomes leaders and experts worldwide to host events discussing the world’s most pressing climate-related issues and ideas. As somebody interested in Sustainable Development, I figured that it would be beneficial for me to go.

The event was advertised as bringing “together leaders from the food and fashion sectors to exchange insights, share best practices, and showcase solutions addressing sustainability and climate change.’ I loved its interdisciplinary and future-focused aspect. It was focused on collaboration and inspiring ideas on how to tackle pressing climate-related issues.

I showed up late due to having class in the morning, but I was just in time for lunch. They served a delicious lunch consisting of different pasta options, courtesy of the nearby vegan restaurant Le Botaniste. The lunch was yummy but interesting as it was served in reusable take-out containers that were then collected. I thought that this was a great idea! Re-Dish, the company behind that aspect, had their Head of Sustainability speak at a later panel.

The event was mostly industry professionals and grad students, meaning I felt very out of place. I was planning on not talking to anybody, but during the four hours I was there I was approached by four different people! The idea of “networking” still terrifies me, but the people I casually talked to were very kind. It also helped that the event gave me a fancy-looking name badge stating my Columbia affiliation. 

During lunch, I talked to an alumnus from the Sustainability Management program, who explained to me just how many Climate Week events there are. It is also involved with the UN—meaning many important people make appearances. She told me that she has been back and forth at events all week, as they are all around the city. Columbia and Barnard are involved with a good amount of them, but organizations, governments, and schools from all over the world participate. 

The first event I went to was a “Sustainability Presidential Debate” between the two industries showcased: food and fashion. Ana Maria Loboguerrero, the Director of Adaptive and Equitable Food Systems at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, represented food, while Christine Goulay, Founder and CEO of Sustainabelle Advisory Services, represented fashion. It was fascinating to hear about both of their experiences within their fields. It didn’t feel a lot like a debate, as they both made very good cases for why their different industries were instrumental in moving forward against climate change. 

I enjoyed hearing from these professionals on how they see sustainability. Loboguerrero discussed how sustainable food systems mean that everybody is well nourished, including future generations, in a way that can also reduce environmental impacts. I knew that the food sector was important in this discussion, but she brought up that it contributes to 30% of total emissions. She discussed how making our systems more sustainable is complicated because it involves many different actors, as well as different political and socioeconomic variables. 

The two answered questions from the moderator and the audience, furthering their points on how critical their sectors are in this debate. I liked Goulay’s approach, as she started by asking the audience who is wearing plastic today. Almost everyone raised their hands. One point she emphasized was how, unlike food, fashion is not as regulated and supply chains are very long and convoluted. From this aspect of her speech, I gained a new way of looking at sustainability.

Both of them had hopeful points though. For food, Loboguerrero discussed innovations in protein which could help reduce emissions by a large amount and feed even more people. Goulay discussed new regulations in Europe encouraging transparency and higher standards. Both women agreed that to feed and clothe 10 billion people by 2050 sustainably, we need to set and follow higher standards, on a corporate and government level. I saw here why an event like this is important, as we can’t solve global, interconnected issues by siloing different sectors, a point Goulay brought up. Everything is connected. For example, lots of the fashion industry’s leather comes from agricultural waste. Connecting more dots between sectors could help to lower waste and become more efficient in enacting sustainability principles. She used this to emphasize the importance of effective communication that will lead people to shift behavior, something that I would agree is lacking when it comes to climate change discussions. Events like this are valuable, but they primarily attract and cater to industry insiders, limiting their reach to a broader audience.

In closing, Loboguerrero made the powerful point that our current food systems contribute a large amount of emissions, but if we don’t reduce those emissions, those food systems won’t be viable. In the end, I was more convinced by Loboguerrero’s argument, as she advocated for bigger shifts needed to be made by governments, and food availability is an issue that affects everyone on earth. 

I stayed for a couple more events, which I also found to be intriguing. The next one was a panel on “Enhancing Circularity and Traceability in Sustainable Food and Fashion.” My main takeaway from the expert’s discussion was similar to the debate–sustainability issues don’t exist in a vacuum. We live in a world that creates so much excess waste, yet little traceability or accountability for it. This panel involved the Director of Sustainability from Re-Dish, Anita Schwartz. I enjoyed her discussion on how simple changes can lead to large shifts in consumption habits. But we can no longer have business as usual. Even “compostable” single-use packaging, she said, doesn’t break down in the same way as food, leading to other possible issues such as PFAS contamination. This panel was engaging and prompted me to think more deeply about sustainability. It led me to consider how individual innovations can work together to effectively tackle global, interconnected challenges.

The last event was a delightful presentation of sustainability-inspired food and fashion, presented by three groups of local high school and college students. They even received help from the Barnard Design team! It had a judging panel of sustainable food and fashion experts, as well as the one and only Chef Mike. He was really sweet, saying he “cooks for a living”, and is just here “for the kids.” He provided great feedback and notes on the food. I had never seen his chef prowess before so this part was exciting. 

The event concluded with more delicious vegan food and some closing remarks from Clim-Eat. I ended up staying at this event for much longer than I intended to, as I just found it to be so engaging and important. Next year, be on the lookout for more Climate Week events around the city! There are still some events this weekend that you can find on their website. Clim-Eat has a full recording of the event on their website.

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