BY PAUL C. WEST

Many of the increases in food production during the Green Revolution can be attributed to a single element in the periodic table -- nitrogen. Begun in the early 1900s as an effort to convert nitrogen gas from the air we breathe into a solid form that could propel ammunition farther, the Haber-Bosch process later became the key mechanism for boosting crop yields through mass production of nitrogen fertilizer. Unfortunately, excess nitrogen degrades our drinking water quality, causes many coastal areas to be oxygen-depleted "dead zones," and adds a very powerful greenhouse gas to our atmosphere. How can we manage our farmlands more effectively?

BY SIMONE ANZION

IonE resident fellow Randel Hanson, a faculty member in the Department of Geography at the University of Minnesota Duluth, is working to create institutional change around food systems. He has developed a 10-acre organic farm to grow produce for UMD dining services. The farm provides dining services with an opportunity to reintegrate minimally processed foods and move toward procuring more produce from area farmers. It also provides students with experiential learning opportunities around food and agricultural systems.

In effort to institutionalize sustainability around food, Hanson has spent a lot of time bringing together the different parts of the University to build a more collaborative, sustainable system. Hanson says, "These entities - administrative, academic, operations, etc. - have evolved rationally to do their job, but they often work irrationally in relation to one another from the viewpoint of sustainability, at cross purposes in carrying out their respective missions, and most often in ways that make each other's work less fluid." He says there remain significant challenges to move from symbolic to more substantive changes as well to institutionalize the project.

By Paul West

Ever wonder which crops are grown where? Looking for crop and pasture data to use in a research project? Need a map for your report or presentation? We've got you covered.

The Institute on the Environment's Global Landscapes Initiative and McGill University's Land Use and the Global Environment (LUGE) recently launched EarthStat, a website for viewing and downloading agriculture and land use data developed in collaboration between our institutions. These data have become the standard used by many institutions around the world, and we hope this new site will broaden their use and influence. The site serves data on current and historical cropland and pasture area, as well as more detailed yield and harvested area for 172 crops. Yield potential, yield gap and climate bins are available in NetCDF, Geotiff, ASCII, Google Earth(KMZ), and PNG formats.

We'll be updating the map viewer and download pages with additional data sets in the coming months. Please take a few minutes to check out the site, share it with your friends, and post comments below.

Special thanks to Peder Engstrom for creating the site!

Paul West is chief collaboration officer for the Institute on the Environment's Global Landscapes Initiative. Follow him on Twitter: @coolfireconserv Image courtesy of Peder Engstrom.

The opening of the American Museum of Natural History's new exhibition, Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture, this Saturday (Nov. 17) comes at an interesting time. 

The exhibit, which will look at food production throughout history and address the challenge we currently face of feeding an ever-growing population without destroying the planet as we do so, comes just days before Thanksgiving, the nation's holiday most focused on food as celebratory act. Obviously, as this is an annual holiday, the exhibition planners no doubt planned the opening with Thanksgiving in mind. The second reason the timing is interesting, though, is due to an event that no one could have anticipated well in advance. The AMNH is located in New York City, which, along with other areas of the East Coast, is still recovering from Hurricane Sandy. In recognition of these dichotomous events, Ellen V. Futter, president of the AMNH, said in a press release, "As the Museum prepares to open this comprehensive exhibition on the subject of food, we find ourselves disquietingly poised between the extremes of Hurricane Sandy--with its extensive devastation, including disruption to the food supply--and...Thanksgiving. In such a timely and vivid context, the Museum presents Our Global Kitchen, which addresses the vital and complex topic of food from the perspectives of the environment, food supply, and human culture."

BY PAUL C. WEST

Several reports estimate that we need to double current crop production by 2050 in order to meet the needs of a growing population that eats more meat and uses more crops for fuel. Some strategies - like reducing waste and reducing meat consumption - would reduce pressure on our land and water resources and free up more food calories that are potentially available. But we commonly assume that increasing crop production will come at a cost of increased environmental damages to our climate, water and natural habitat.  It turns out that does not have to be the case.

BY DOMINIQUE BOCZEK AND KATIE THOMPSON

Hats off to the Science Museum of Minnesota for its latest exhibit, Future Earth: Science on a Sphere. Future Earth is the latest brainchild of an increasingly productive partnership between the Science Museum of Minnesota and researchers at the University of Minnesota. Representing the University are IonE's Jon Foley, Global Landscapes Initiative Team, and resident fellow David Tilman.

Not just a place to unleash the kids on a rainy afternoon, the Science Museum has something to offer everyone. The Future Earth exhibit explores how humans now have a larger effect on the Earth than natural processes. I expected the exhibit to coddle the audience, offering simplistic environmental platitudes that "every little bit counts." While this is true, of course, it overlooks the harsh realities of limited resources, limited political will and limited time to create meaningful change. The truth is some bits count a lot more than others. If agricultural activities emit more greenhouse gases than any other human activity - more than transportation, energy or manufacturing - do we really believe that getting everyone to change the type of light bulbs they use will solve the climate crisis? Such feel-good efforts have become excuses for complacency and distract us from strategically approaching the environmental crisis.

My fears were unjustified. I found Future Earth to be a thoughtful, skilled construction that succeeds where too many in academia fail: effectively communicating complex choices to the nonscientific public. Future Earth delivers, and then raises the bar for the rest of us.  Technology is integrated seamlessly into the live presentations. The presenter controls the "Science on a Sphere" globe with a Wii remote and is able to display information on the 3-D surface. The presentation's scope includes temperature variations in different portions of the Earth, the globe at night, and even social media connections. Arguably a bit of a gimmick, the exhibit uses it to spectacular effect when presenting global changes in land use and makes the live presentation and short film memorable crowd-pleasers.  Outside of the presentation, visitors can play energy pinball, feel the temperature of the Earth without an atmosphere, and see how ocean acidity changes with increased levels of carbon dioxide.

Students will recognize iClickers from some of their classes, which enable instant, in-class quizzes and opinion polls. Though their application in classes can sometimes be hit or miss, I found the iClickers a terrific asset during the presentation. If only they were so much fun in biochemistry! Public responses are even retained for an ongoing study by the Science Museum.

Multiple-choice questions on energy and agriculture appear innocuous enough, but fly in the face of the conventional wisdom surrounding urban agriculture and foodie-environmentalism. Organic-buying, farmer's-market-loving locavores may have to reconsider their choices when confronted with the relative environmental costs of these choices. Are you an Energy Expert? I learned I am emphatically not. This is one of the highlights of the exhibit - it challenges our assumptions and reveals the gaps in what we thought we knew. One leaves surprised, challenged, and even unsettled by an exercise that takes less than 10 minutes.

Future Earth sugar-coats nothing, but also does not succumb to doom and gloom prognostications. This is a delicate balance to strike when the familiar frameworks of industry, energy and agriculture lend themselves so readily to black-and-white interpretations. Future Earth offers a nuanced understanding that demands more from visitors and delivers more in kind. It presents facts in an accessible format, then asks provocative, straightforward questions. The answers aren't easy, but what emerges is a message of individual empowerment, hope, and, perhaps most remarkably, urgency and personal responsibility.

This is what research can look like when brought before the public. One can't help thinking that if we all did a better job at this, the sustainability discourse might look quite different. Future Earth leaves a lasting impression and offers a model for others trying to mobilize the public and decision makers around environmental issues. Counteracting inertia may be the toughest battle out there. We could all learn to do it a little better.

I encourage you to see the exhibit, have fun, and soak up what science you can. But perhaps also take a lesson in what interactive learning and public outreach really look like from some of the people who are doing it best.