Dyson College of Arts and Sciences

D Y S O N Y E A R I N R E V I E W • 2 0 1 9 – 2 0 2 0 14 O n March 6, 2020, Dyson College and the Dyson College Institute for Sustainability and the Environment presented "Resilience Summit IV: The Future of Meat?" The one-day event brought together prominent scientists, farmers, ethicists, and activists for thought-provoking conversations covering a range of topics including regenerative and plant-based meat options, the relationship between livestock production and climate change, nutrition, the future role of animals in the agricultural system, and how the world will obtain necessary protein in the future. For event organizer E. Melanie DuPuis, PhD, the goal was to present the full range of perspectives on the issues. "This was probably one of the few times all these groups sat down with each other to think and talk about the future of meat," DuPuis, the professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Studies and Science, said. At the event, Pace University President Marvin Krislov hosted a keynote session with Timothy Searchinger, research scholar, Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University, and Nicolette Hahn Niman, rancher, environmental attorney, and author of Defending Beef: The Case for Sustainable Meat Production (2014) and Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms (2010). Their conversation centered around a debate on the pros and cons of beef production and consumption, and the challenges of feeding a growing world population: Should we work to get more food out of less land, leaving the rest uncultivated? Should we move to a more plant-based diet and eat more plant-based and/or "in vitro" plant-based meat? What is the protein production method of the future? The debate highlighted the complexity of this topic and the need to find common ground. "I think the total amount of food that we produce or eat should be balancing values, such as water quality, air quality, animal welfare, and community issues," Niman said. Another panel, moderated by Matthew Garcia, PhD, professor at Dartmouth College, focused on different approaches to the question of how livestock and climate THE MEAT OF THE MATTER Experts and attendees at the "Resilience IV Summit: The Future of Meat?" examined the many facets of the production and consumption of meat.

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