Nourishing the Planet

4/8 – Healing Communities from the Ground Up

Presenters Marla Guarino and Rick Fleming

Buffalo Go Green, an agricultural and nutrition education nonprofit serving the East Side of Buffalo, invites you to explore how local food systems can transform community health and strengthen the local economy. Since 2017, Buffalo Go Green has implemented publicly and privately funded Food as Medicine initiatives that integrate regenerative farming, soil health, and Enhanced Nutrition Services to deliver measurable impact. Working in partnership with healthcare providers, community organizations, and local food system partners, these initiatives connect clinical nutrition interventions with local agriculture and education.

Rooted in regenerative, pesticide-free growing methods, Buffalo Go Green utilizes raised bed systems to avoid heavy metal–contaminated soils, ensuring that nutrient density and safety remains central to every intervention. This agricultural foundation supports both environmental restoration and human health, demonstrating how soil health directly influences the quality of food and long-term wellness outcomes.

Rick Fleming, Director of Farming, will share the history, reasoning, and regenerative methods guiding Buffalo Go Green’s agricultural path. Marla Guarino, Registered Dietitian and Director of Programming and Policy, will present evidence-based Medicaid nutrition interventions that move beyond “first, do no harm” toward proactive, enhanced nutrition services. From Produce Rx to culinary and nutrition education, Buffalo Go Green’s holistic programming model illustrates how food as medicine can drive human and planetary health, economic resilience, and sustainable community development.

https://dyouville.zoom.us/meeting/register/swxGly4QS36FTdZbmRxZ-g

4/15 - Bringing it Home: Community Interventions Promoting Plant-Based Diets

Presenter Rachel Laster

In this session, Rachel Laster, MS, RDN, will discuss community-based interventions designed to increase consumer awareness, knowledge, and interest in adopting plant-based diets. The presentation will explore the structural and environmental factors that limit some communities’ access to fruits and vegetables, as well as current efforts aimed at improving that access. Additionally, the session will highlight nutrition education programs that help community members understand the health benefits of plant-based eating while developing practical cooking skills to support healthier dietary habits.

https://dyouville.zoom.us/meeting/register/0noyCj4kT3K27ZetseBVIQ

4/22 - Roots of Sustainability: A Haudenosaunee Perspective on Nutrition, Climate, and Existence

Presenter Whitney Brooks

In this session, Indigenous Registered Dietitian Whitney Brooks of the Seneca Nation, will reintroduce us to a more traditional human approach to nutrition and the environment. Our fundamental relationship with the Earth and all of our relations will be reexamined from a Haudenosaunee lens, allowing us to see new ways of nourishing our bodies and our health. After learning about fundamental aspects of Haudenosaunee world-view and culture, we will discuss how personal, community, and planetary well-being can be approached with gratitude, connection, and hope.

https://dyouville.zoom.us/meeting/register/80lC_D4lRgKL6NclkNdpsw

4/29 – The Impact of Chicken: CO2, CH4, and Industrial Agriculture

Presenter Mark Rifkin

In this session, Mark Rifkin will cover fundamentals of food webs, their internal positions (aka, trophic levels) and how positions affect efficiency of production, generation of waste, as well as land use and food security amid climate-related disruptions to food production. From there, the content will highlight how gases related to agriculture (and livestock, specifically) contribute to climate change and why replacing beef with chicken isn’t an effective solution. The session will conclude with current and future impacts of climate-related weather extremes on food production and food security.