This book explores a specific ecosystem in depth, in order to weave a story built on place and history. It incorporates the theme of a journey to help reveal the environment-human-health-food system-problem. While drawing on a historical approach stretching back to the American colonial era, it also incorporates more contemporary scientific findings. By crafting its story around a specific place, the book makes it easier for readers to relate to the content, and to subsequently use what they learn to better understand the role of food systems at the global scale.

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.