America’s food system is broken, filled with foods that are making people and the environment sick, said an alumna of the Stony Brook University Sustainability Studies Program.

And she said that she’s determined to change all of that. Kathleen “Kat” Furey graduated with a BA in Environmental Humanities in 2012, focusing in the areas of food sovereignty, studies and politics. Since, she said she’s been working to ensure all Americans have access to healthy, sustainable food.

“My mission in life is to make the world a cleaner, healthier and happier place for generations to come, and that starts with food,” said Kat.

As a child, Kat grew up in a small farming community in Ohio. The kind of community, she said, “where you would go to one farmer for cheese and milk, another for your grains, another for fruit, another for vegetables, another for meat and so on.” She said that her mother would cook healthy meals for her family from the real, wholesome ingredients grown locally, right in their community.

Ohio, Kat’s childhood home state.

After leaving her Ohio hometown for a stint in the entertainment industry in California, Kat followed some “twists and turns” in her life, which led her to Long Island, New York. Remembering her farming roots and realizing the need for a food revolution in America, Kat decided to commit to follow her heart and receive a college education in a field that would enable her “to help both people and the planet.”

That’s when she discovered the Stony Brook University Sustainability Studies Program.

“It was truly the perfect fit for me,” said Kat. “I cannot believe where my education has taken me today.”

Kat is now education and media director of the Label GMOs California Grassroots (the National Labeling Coalition). In addition, she serves as the education and media director of GMO Free NY. Besides just GMOs, she works as senior media producer at Augustwolf Productions, a California-based media production group, helping to head up Energize Schools, a statewide campaign to bring clean energy to California schools.

And, as for current Stony Brook University Sustainability Studies Program students, Kat had this advice:

“Go for what you really freaking want and you can get it!”

Kat giving a Earth Day 2013 lecture in Grand Central Terminal.

An interview with Kat Furey
Sustainability Studies Program ’12
Environmental Humanities Major