• Listen to Keeney Distinguished Lecture, Dr. Robert Lawrence

How Iowans respond to environmental and health issues formed the common ground for a series of lively discussions, the result of two lectures hosted by the Leopold Center. But that was about the only similarity between the two events, one featuring a working journalist and author of several best-selling books, and the other a scholarly presentation by a prominent physician whose Capitol Hill testimony has helped inform the next U.S. Farm Bill. Both events were part of the year-long celebration of the Leopold Center’s 20th anniversary.

“I was pleased that a venue was created so that diverse perspectives could be presented and that conversations could follow, which is an important role for the Leopold Center,” said director Jerry DeWitt. “As we tackle some of the more difficult challenges in our environment, we need to hear a wide range of viewpoints and ideas.”

Both lecturers met informally with students and Leopold Center staff, in addition to their public presentations.

	James Howard Kunstler (above and at left) meets with ISU students and guests prior to his evening lecture.]

Kunstler tackles life without oil
More than 400 people heard James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency and The Geography of Nowhere, present his views about drastic changes in a post-oil world. In addition to his October 10 lecture at ISU, Kunster spoke to audiences at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

Kunstler said he became interested in what he calls “our global energy predicament” when he read commentaries by top oil executives after they retired in the 1980s. “They understood that this was a story with a beginning, middle and end,” he said. “It’s not that we’re running out of oil, it’s what happens on the way down.”

He said American oil production peaked in the 1970s, but we escaped the effects of the decline by increasing oil purchases from other countries. Oil production in Mexico, the third leading supplier of oil to the United States, peaked in 2006 and by 2010 there will be no surplus to sell to the United States. Oil fields in the Mideast already are in decline.

The result is that Americans are “sleepwalking into the future” and higher energy prices will change everything from transportation and housing, to education, economics and agriculture. “We’ll have to downscale all of our activities in daily life, anything done on a large scale will falter,” he warned.

	Above, Dennis Keeney and Robert Lawrence meet with ISU grad student Andy Lawrence while Jeri Neal from the Leopold Center takes notes. At left, Lawrence at the evening lecture.]

Lawrence links health, ag
On October 22, Robert Lawrence, M.D., presented a lecture in honor of the Leopold Center’s first director, Dennis Keeney. Lawrence, who directs the Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, spoke about “The Agriculture-Public Health Connection.”

Lawrence said he became acquainted with Keeney several years ago when he developed an innovation grant program for public health students to study relationships that modern food production systems have with human health. Lawrence’s center has funded 60 grants, as well as 11 pre-doctoral fellowships on public health issues related to livestock production systems.

Although much of his previous work had focused on preventive medicine and international health, Lawrence said he created the center in 1997 to address a gap – between public health, diet and the environment, and food production systems.

“I believe we have a public health responsibility to broaden our vision to become better informed about the impact of agricultural policies and the food system on the health of the public,” he said.

He said he was very concerned about subtherapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock feed as a growth stimulant because it is creating a problem of “enormous proportions” in antibiotic resistance in bacteria capable of infecting humans as well as swine and poultry. Also contributing to the development of “super-bugs” that do not respond to common drugs is widespread over-prescription of antibiotics in human medicine.

“For many years, this antibiotic resistance in bacteria has been assumed to develop in hospitals, but we are finding that other pathways also are important,” he said, noting results from studies conducted by medical students.

He said conditions in confinement operations where animals receive the antibiotics are optimal for promoting drug-resistant bacteria because animals are crowded, and exposure to antibiotics is widespread, prolonged and contained in sublethal doses. Lawrence’s colleagues have found classes of drug-resistant bacteria in air samples from a Maryland swine facility, and in groundwater and surface water samples taken downstream from a facility.

The obesity epidemic and high rates of Type II diabetes, which have doubled over the past 15 years, also have strong links to our food production system. Lawrence attributed some of the problem to widespread use of high fructose corn syrup in processed foods, and heavy marketing of those products to consumers. The price of the sweetener, he said, is kept artificially low due to oversupplies and subsidies offered by the current U.S. farm policy. A world market flooded with inexpensive U.S. commodities also creates a disadvantage for farmers in poorer countries.

In discussions with students earlier in the day, Lawrence posed the question of a “harm reduction” approach to agricultural issues. “In public health, there are very few single solutions so you need to weigh many competing demands,” he explained.

“Many people thought that a needle exchange program among drug users, who are at high risk of transmitting HIV/AIDS, would result in increased drug use,” he explained. “Instead, some of these people developed trust with the medical community and they sought help.”

“What would be the harm reduction approach in agriculture? How can we help people make more informed choices, think about the consequences, measure the tradeoffs and make informed policy decisions?” he asked.