Diet for a Sustainable Ecosystem

Prof. Benjamin Cuker has studied arctic lakes, southern ponds and the Chesapeake Bay.  His work on diversifying the aquatic science community garnered him a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation (1999) and awards from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (1993, 2009).  Having been a Professor of Marine and Environmental Science at Hampton University since 1988, he also knows the Chesapeake well as a cruising and racing sailor who won the “Down The Bay” race in 2014 and 2015.

• Part I. Introduction and Background.- Introduction: Starting the Journey to a Sustainable Ecosystem and Healthy People.- The Bay and Its Watershed: A Voyage Back in Time.-Scientific Concepts for Understanding the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its people.- Part II. Foundations of the Chesapeake Bay Food System and the Consequences of Over-Extraction.- The Algonquin Food System and how it Shaped the Ecosystem and Interactions with the English Colonists of the Chesapeake Bay.- A Fishing Trip: Exploiting and managing the commons of the Chesapeake Bay.- Menhaden, the Inedible Fish that Most Everyone Eats.- Blue Crabs: Beautiful Savory Swimmers of the Chesapeake Bay.- The Chesapeake Bay Oyster: Cobblestone to Keystone.- Passenger Pigeon and Waterfowl: Flights to Extinction and Not.- Part III. Industrial-chemical Agriculture Reshapes the Bay’s Ecosystem.- The journey from Peruvian Guano to Artificial Fertilizer ends with too Much Nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay.- Pesticides bring the War on Nature to The Chesapeake Bay.- Livestock and Poultry: the Other Colonists who Changed the Food System of the Chesapeake Bay.- Part IV. Consequences  of and Alternatives to the Standard American Diet: Human and Ecosystem Health.- Instead of Eating Fish: the Health Consequences of Eating Seafood from the Chesapeake Bay Compared to Other Choices.- Sugar Twice Enslaves: Consequences for the People of the Chesapeake.- Eutrophication: Obesity of the Bay and its People.- Finishing the Journey: Urine and Feces as Misplaced Resources.- Plastic Food System Waste Travels Far but Never Goes Away.- Part V. Looking to the Future: Ecology, Economics, Ethics, and Policy for Restoring the Health of the Bay and its People.- A New Food System for The Chesapeake Bay Region and a Changing Climate.- An Organic-Based Food System: A Voyage Back and Forward in Time.- What Nature, Politics and Policy Demand of the Chesapeake Bay and its Food System.- Ethics and Economics of Building a Food System to Recover the Health of the Chesapeake Bay and its People.