Living Earth Symposium Features Leaders in Indigenous Food Sovereignty, Sustainability and Ecology

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., will present the symposium “On the Table: Creating a Healthy Food Future” during its annual Living Earth Festival Friday, July 17, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the museum’s Rasmuson Theater. The event is free and open to the public. The program flyer with participant biographies is available here.

This program will explore innovative ways to build a healthier, more resilient food future that provides fresh, nutritious choices while protecting public health and sustaining the environment. Audience members will be able to join a wide-ranging conversation about sustainable farming, the impact of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the conservation of heritage seeds and traditional indigenous approaches to the environment and harvest.

The museum’s associate director for museum programs and executive committee member of the Smithsonian’s Living in the Anthropocene initiative, Tim Johnson (Mohawk), will moderate the symposium. Three successful and innovative leaders who endorse sustainable practices, ecological restoration and cultural protection will be speaking at the event:

Clayton Brascoupe (Tesuque Pueblo) is the director of the Traditional Native American Famers Association and works to preserve and increase community access to heirloom/traditional seeds and to educate the public on traditional seed saving and the GMO threat to traditional seed heritage.

Robin Kimmerer (Citizen Band of Potawatomi) is a scientist, award-winning writer and Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, N.Y. In collaboration with tribal partners, she has an active research program in the ecology and restoration of plants of cultural significance to Native people.

Ricardo Salvador, who is of indigenous Zapotec and German ancestry, is senior scientist and director of the Food & Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists where he works with citizens, scientists, economists and politicians to transform the present food system into one that grows healthy foods while employing sustainable practices.

A live webcast will be available at http://nmai.si.edu/webcasts. Follow the conversation on Twitter @SmithsonianNMAI and use the hashtag #OnTheTable.

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SI-322-2015