Image Source: TetraPak
TetraPak, the company that makes aseptic milk carton-like packaging that holds everything from
wine to soup to tomato sauce, has been receiving a lot of coverage in the green media lately, both
good and
bad. This surge in attention is in part due to a recent TetraPak-sponsored media event in Sweden,to which I had the fortune to get invited. Before I continue I should state that what I am about to write is based entirely on my professional opinion as a sustainability engineer and was not influenced by pickled herring or Swedish meatballs....
A snap of a dazed and skeletal addict after copping. Credit: Religion Compass
Before you or your child dig into that plastic jack-o-lantern (or its post-consumer equivalent) full of sugary snacks, you might do well to check out former FDA Commissioner David Kessler's new book
The End of Overeating. The book highlights the addictive nature of
junk food, showing how these processed, nutrient deprived products are consumed to overcome a craving rather than sate hunger.
A piece in
Science News that highlights a study done by the independent, not-for-profit Scripps Research Institute, seems to bore out Kessler's claims. The study shows how brains respond to sweet, salty and fatty processed food the same way it does heroin. ...
Flaxseed from Canada's prairie has been contaminated with a genetically modified seed. Photo by bdearth via Flickr.
It sounds like science fiction: A genetically modified
flax seed--named after an experimental plant in a sci-fi flick--is popping up in flaxseed harvested in Canada's prairie. This might not be so strange in today's world of
genetically modified foods if it weren't for one thing: The seed never made it to market and all seed was supposed to have been destroyed in 2001.
The flax mystery was brought to light in a recent article in
The Globe and Mail, which revealed the contamination has prompted Europe to put a halt to imports of Canadian flax--a move that could bring the $320-million industry to its knees....
Images from Divine Caroline
PSFK picks up an interesting post about how food portions, both in restaurants and at home, have increased over the last twenty years. While a dietitian will tell you that a portion of meat shouldn't be larger than a deck of cards, most servings now are more like the size of a paperback book.
It is the inevitable result the corn-based industrial food system; while other costs, like staff and real estate were increasing, food costs were stable or decreasing so you just made things bigger, added another layer to the whopper.
Divine Caroline notes that " large quantities of cheap food have distorted our perceptions of what a typical meal is supposed to look like."...
Image via: Mr Luke Harby on Flickr.com
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Do you have to slide on your values when you want to eat a nice meal out on the town? Are you in a smaller town and figure there's not much but fast food around you? How do you find a restaurant that is able to purchase local, fresh food when your city is 3 feet under snow? Do restaurants these days
compost? And of course, how are workers treated? These are among the 14 items included in
Heavy Table's Atlas of Ethical Eating Guide to Minneapolis - St Paul restaurants, now available. The Atlas is not just a guide to good eating but a celebration of all things local in
Minneapolis - St Paul....
photo: J Novak
In response to what the Cornucopia Institute calls a continual blurring of the line between organic and all natural, last week they filed a complaint against Target with the
USDA. ...
Image credit:original from
Smart Choices website. Cross added to indicate change of status.
The US packaged food industry
Smart Choices labeling program, which went from front-of-package to front page "FAIL" in the space of just two months, began, as our earlier post described, as a label, "
...whereby consumers can see if their food purchases meet the criteria set forth by the program for healthy eating. ...Kellogg's Froot Loops meets those criteria. Other smart choices include Fudgsicles, Lunchables and Mayonnaise." The just-suspended label was an industry designed and managed, voluntary effort which seemed designed to fend off a prospective government (FDA) standard for food labeling. New York Times explains that they are
suspending operations, which, assuming FDA moves ahead, means "RIP," just in time for Halloween....
Image credit: Piedmont Biofuels
From a
25-megawatt photovoltaic plant in Florida to a
4,500 acre solar thermal installation in California, solar just keeps getting bigger. Within that context, a 100kw array may seem hardly worth mentioning, but folks in my community are excited, and not without reason.
(Disclaimer alert: Friends of mine are involved with this project.)You see traditionally, unlike wind, large-scale solar has often meant displacing otherwise productive land, to the point where some areas like Ontario are looking at banning solar from class "a" and class "b" farmland. What sets this project apart is that it aims to not just co-exist with productive farm land, but actually enhance the agricultural process. ...
Here's one more reason to feel good about heading out to
Chipotle for a burrito: The Denver-based Mexican restaurant chain has just announced that is making a big solar power push, partnering with
Standard Renewable Energy to
install solar panels at approximately 75 of its restaurants over the next year:...
photo: Nick Hobgood via flickr.
New analysis of the
bushmeat trade in central Africa by
TRAFFIC shows that the scale of trade has been severely underestimated and is actually increasing as forest cover declines. By studying statistical data from the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the wildlife trade monitoring organization found that in some places the amount of game taken from forests is double that which is ecologically sustainable:...
Image credit: Access to Aquaponics
Whether the discussion is about the
efficiency of aquaponics, or whether
aquaponics is cruel or not, this innovative method of growing vegetables and raising fish certainly seems to be good for stirring up debate. But what do you do if you actually want to put aquaponics into practice? Apart from the ready-to-use
systems of Aquaponics USA, until now most practitioners seem to either be agricultural-scale operations like
Will Allen's Growing Power, or backyard hobbyists adept at DIY, like
Snowcamp Aquaponics. But a new design company based out of Atlanta, GA is looking to change that - launching a range of kits and instructional materials for aquaponics enthusiasts in eleven states. But what's with the weird broccoli-fish monster? ...
photo: J. Novak
It's easy to get radical when faced with the blatantly unsustainable food system in this country, but the most obvious solution is much less sweeping than a revolt. We just need to learn how to cook, according to the Nation's Dan Barber....
"Changes in log yield if crop is exposed for one day to a particular 1◦C temperature interval..." Excerpted partial image and partial caption credit:
PNAS,
publication of Wolfram Schlenker and Michael J. Roberts, Supporting Information Appendix (pdf)
Most people realize that grain yields can fall when croplands are either continuously very wet or extremely dry, for extended periods. Futures market traders closely track weather reports and soil moisture at critical times of the year, knowing that changes in these can affect yield and, hence, prices on relatively short notice. Extreme US examples include:
Upper Mississippi River floods eliminating yields over vast acreages; and,
South Texas farmers losing hope of producing crops of any sort.
What happens, though, when soil moisture is acceptable, but it's extraordinarily warm at critical times in the food crop's life cycle? ...
Ireland has taken the bold step of banning the cultivation of all GM crops. Photo by ellievanhoutte via Flickr.
Prince Charles has called it the "biggest environmental disaster of all time," while
Monsanto and
others maintain it's safe for humans and the environment.
Genetically modified foods are a contentious issue, but Ireland is erring on the side of caution, placing a ban on growing any genetically modified crops....
Image credit: Chow
I find myself increasingly taken with the term "urban farming". From the awesome
permaculture allotment of Mike Feingold to the
Carrboro Urban Farm Tour to the
urban aquaponics of Growing Power, these pioneers can't be described as gardeners. They are growing serious amounts of food for themselves and their fellow human beings. They are farmers. I've just come across a video that provides an inspiring illustration of the importance of urban farmers, not just in growing food, but in revitalizing traumatized neighborhoods and reinventing the urban landscape. (Warning, there is some graphic footage of animal slaughter!) ...
Image via: Jon Steinman, Deconstructing Dinner
Jeff reported on the launch of this unique(ly)
Candadian CSA, Urban Grains, that brings grain to shareholders, roughly this time last year. While a grain CSA is unique, this one is extra special because all of the grain is
transported via sailboat - talk about cutting their carbon footprint and their fuel costs. What he and they didn't count on was that the program would be so wildly popular that they are tripling their supply in only their second year....
Image via: pascalk on Flickr.com
Seems like the topic of
climate change can bring around some of the strangest, and best stories.
Corporations turn their back on each other for not believing in it. And yet others are banning together, like the sailing club that is helping grain coops in Canada bring their goods to market, just for the fun of it. Now
dairy farmers are all banding together to face up to their role in changing the climate and help each other out with some of the best practices in dairy farm management, energy efficiency and resource management....
Image via: micronirav on Flickr.com
And the estimates of what it would take to get such a volume of food produced don't get any better. The money it would take to increase food production by that large amount is in the billions and even with best estimates, hundreds of millions of people will still starve by 2050,
reports the BBC. Is there anything that can be done?...
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on 11. 6.09
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