The One Health Trust hosts a study abroad program for Princeton University undergraduate students. The course is titled “Food, Climate, and Health: An Indian Exploration”.
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While allowing for large-scale food production, modern agriculture is arguably the most environmentally damaging activity that people do. It significantly affects soil quality, water availability, climate change, and the potential for pandemics. Climate change also has a significant impact on agriculture itself. Climate change can reduce crop productivity, which impacts all of us while rising temperatures and putting half of the world’s population who depend on agriculture at risk of heat stress. At the same time, drug-resistant microorganisms endanger contemporary medicine, and the extensive use of antibiotics and fungicides in agriculture is a major factor.
The issues of climate change, food accessibility, and health in India are all covered in this course. Students will live and study at a contemporary research campus located in an agricultural village. They will be exposed to both conventional and cutting-edge options, such as ancient regenerative farming techniques that may provide a way to deal with carbon sequestration and livestock rearing techniques that provide alternatives to antibiotic usage. Through visits to nearby agricultural communities and discussions with top scientific and policy experts, students will gain extensive first-hand experience and exposure to planning for climate change. OHT experts will explain how India will need to adapt and use its traditional methods of water management and soil replenishment to address current and future challenges.