The challenges facing the food system are complex—but they’re solvable. During a Climate Week NYC event hosted by Food Tank and World Food Program USA, which was recorded on Food Tank’s YouTube channel, panelists made the case to a packed crowd that the future can be bright if we work hard to make it so.
Optimism is not naivete, says Cary Fowler, U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security and a 2024 World Food Prize laureate. Being optimistic means we understand what’s required of us and are willing to take on that uphill battle.
“Pessimism is like you’re in the passenger seat of a car that’s about to crash, and you’re pumping the brakes,” he says. “Optimism is not a guarantee of success—it’s a guarantee of your agency.”
The scale of global hunger is so pervasive, panelists said, that it can be easy to fall into desperation. But we need to focus on solutions, which means starting small.
“I don’t know how to save the world,” says Andrew Zimmern, a U.N. World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador and an award-winning TV host and celebrity chef. “But I know how to save my next-door neighbor from hunger, by bringing food to him. Then I can do that in my community, and then in my state. And then I’m saving my country—and maybe I can go out and save the world.”
“Pick one thing that resonates with you and share that with your community,” says Maddy DeVita, a private chef, social media influencer, and member of the World Food Program USA Zero Hunger Activist Council.
This understanding of what it means to be optimistic also needs to be reflected in the way we purchase and consume food, panelists said. We can’t just talk optimistically; we have to eat optimistically, too. This doesn’t only nourish our bodies, but it also builds tangible support for farmers who are also living in accordance with their values.
“You can talk all you want about farmers growing climate-resilient crops, but if there’s no market for it, they are not going to grow it,” says Roy Steiner, Senior Vice President for the Food Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation.
“Farmers need to be at the center of discussions and solutions that allow us to make progress as we adapt and mitigate climate change,” says Katie Lee, Vice President of Government Affairs at the Farm Journal Foundation.
By informing ourselves about the challenges our communities face and believing in our ability to make meaningful change, we can find solutions that are nuanced, culturally relevant, and actually workable, says Bailey Bass, an actress and a member of the World Food Program USA Zero Hunger Activist Council.
“When someone says you can’t change the world,” she said, “I would combat that with, ‘Watch me!’”
Watch the full Summit:
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Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.
