a global catastrophe such as a massive asteroid strike, a supervolcano eruption or even nuclear war.
But Deanna Behring, assistant dean for international programs in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, said she believes considering what could happen and how people, communities and governments might respond can improve preparation, coordination and investments today. Imagining the unthinkable also aids in inspiring novel ways of action for prevention, particularly for the next generation, she added.
"A worldwide disaster could severely disrupt agriculture by blocking sunlight, lowering temperatures, altering rainfall patterns and contaminating water supplies," said Behring, director of Ag Sciences Global. "While extreme, these scenarios pose fundamental questions about how food systems, communities and markets might react under sudden and prolonged stress."
Behring was a co-principal investigator on a four-year research project, "Food Resilience in the Face of Catastrophic Global Events," which was launched in 2020 and led by Charles Anderson, professor of biology and associate department head of research and faculty success in Penn State's Eberly College of Science.
Funded by Open Philanthropy, a philanthropic organization that supports high-impact projects across various fields, including long-term risks to humanity, the project is aimed at providing scalable and adaptable plans that enhance community resilience in the event of a global catastrophe.
The team involved faculty from various disciplines, including plant science, engineering, ecosystem science and management, biology, agricultural economics, and rural sociology.
"The project's interdisciplinary scope reflects the complexity of the challenge," Behring said. "In addition to developing novel foodstuffs, a team of social scientists worked to identify potential social and behavioral responses in advance."
The team's focus was on the human and policy side of resilience. Using data from two key research tracks - policy frameworks and community responses to disasters, and consumer and producer responses to natural disasters - the researchers created scenario-based assessments of how households and communities might behave in crises.
A global catastrophe simulation that was born from the project is now part of the course, "International Affairs 804: Global Cultures and Leadership," taught by another co-principal investigator on the project, Elizabeth Ransom, associate professor of international affairs in the Penn State School of International Affairs and affiliate in rural sociology.
"Through my involvement in this project and its integration into my course, I aim to promote ethical and humane responses during crises while helping shape long-term strategies to safeguard food availability in catastrophic scenarios," she said.
During the simulation, students take on roles within a fictional community; for this course, the community was modeled on Centre County. Faced with multiple shocks, such as food shortages, contaminated water and supply chain collapse, students navigated choices, tradeoffs and ethical dilemmas.
The exercise was eye-opening for Zachary Morrill, who is pursuing a master's degree in international affairs. He said what he learned from the exercise was the importance of readiness under stress, involving multiple moving pieces such as interagency coordination, role establishment and adaptive decision-making.
"This simulation did a fantastic job of deepening my understanding of the impacts of a catastrophic event by showing the severity of the impacts and the true stress that everyone would be under," Morrill said. "The sense of unpredictability, as well as the constantly worsening conditions, showed how detrimental an event like this would be."
For Behing, the classroom simulations are more than just academic exercises.
"It's about cultivating leaders who are prepared when it matters most," she said. "These are the kinds of skills and mindsets that transcend any single crisis - they're essential for building resilient communities in an unpredictable world."
