Sustainable Futures: "Fat Places?"

As part of the Sustainable Futures Speaker Series, Dr. Julie Guthman will present “Fat Places? Exploring Environmental Causes of Obesity.”

Julie Guthman is a professor of social sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz, where she teaches courses primarily in global political economy and the politics of food and agriculture. Since receiving her Ph.D. in 2000 in geography from the University of California at Berkeley, she has published extensively on contemporary efforts to transform the way food is produced, distributed, and consumed, with a particular focus on voluntary food labels, community food security, farm-to-school programs, and the race and class politics of “alternative food.” Her first book, “Agrarian Dreams: The Paradox of Organic Farming in California” (University of California, 2004), won the Frederick H. Buttel Award for Outstanding Scholarly Achievement from the Rural Sociological Society and the Donald Q. Innis Award from the Rural Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. Her recent book, “Weighing In: Obesity, Food Justice, and the Limits of Capitalism” (University of California, 2011), was awarded the 2012 James M. Blaut Innovative Publication Award from the Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers and the 2012 Book Award from the Association for the Study of Food and Society.

The Sustainable Futures Speaker Series is presented by the Environment & Community Graduate Program and the Schatz Energy Research Center.