[ENVS] Climate, food, and power: Lessons from now, directions for the future

There is widening gap between large-scale decision-making and on-the-ground realities of food insecurity. Drawing on experience that spans secondary analyses of environmental and health data alongside small-scale, community-based research, Khristopher draws from his experience at high-level decision-making forums—from IPCC expert meetings to COP30— which often diverge from community needs and lived experience. The presentation reviews findings from community-based work in small island settings, outlines the magnitude of global climate-related nutrition challenges with key statistics, and illustrates relevant mechanisms linking human and planetary health through food systems. Although climate is used as the primary lens in this talk, similar gaps emerge whether the driver is the food economics, policy, or agriculture, underscoring a central concern for global food security.