Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
Have you ever looked at mud stuck in your shoes or splashed on the back of your car and cursed it for making your belongings dirty? Watch this movie and I assure you it will change your mindset about this most valuable resource that sustains all life on Earth.
Hi from Budapest! I am here in summer school and have only sporadic internet access, but didn’t want to leave you without any news of what is going on in the food policy and food tech world – guess what? The taste-testing of the first in-vitro burger finally took place in London! The verdict? “The … Continue reading The First Lab-Burger Was Eaten!
What a dramatic title, right? I read a lot of healthy living blogs along side the food policy ones and the craze for Greek yoghurt has been noticeable in the last couple of years. Who can blame consumers that discovered a protein-rich, (often) low-fat, creamy source of deliciousness? Well, I just read an article that … Continue reading The Dark Side of Greek Yoghurt
“The appetite for grain to fuel cars is seemingly insatiable. The grain required to fill a 25-gallon fuel tank of a sport utility vehicle with ethanol just once would feed one person for a whole year. The grain turned into ethanol in the United States in 2011 could have fed, at average world consumption levels, … Continue reading Full Planet, Empty Plates: Free Chapter on Food Vs. Fuel Online!
In a last-push effort before his term ends at the end of the year, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is attempting to make the city just one more bit sustainable – by introducing food waste recycling and composting programs that could eventually become mandatory for New Yorkers. According to the New York Times, “food … Continue reading Bloomberg Aims to Tackle "New York City’s Final Recycling Frontier"
I am a huge learning addict. Case in point – this blog, which gives me a good reason to go and do hours (sometimes) of research on things such as flood prevention or in vitro meat. Another favorite tool of mine to add to my knowledge and understanding of the world around me are MOOCs. … Continue reading Summer Learnin': Sustainability of Food Systems
Yesterday, I participated in a townhall-style event called “KlimaEssen” here at my university in Bonn (which can be loosely translated as ClimateEats) in which we discussed various ways in which we can all eat in a more sustainable fashion. One great aspect of the event was that it was in part organized by the university’s … Continue reading What's for Lunch? Sustainable Dining Hall Practices
When I was visiting my grandparents a couple of weeks ago, I told them that I was going to go on a field trip with my program and we would visit a tractor company. To which my grandma – who grew up on a farm – responded: “make sure to ask them about soil compaction!” … Continue reading All You Need To Know About Soil Compaction
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odI7pQFyjso] I think we have all heard of the problem of palm oil production and its impact on rain forests in South East Asia. Campaigns such as this one by Greenpeace have brought the effect of the increasing use of palm oil in industrial (food) products, namely the widespread deforestation of Indonesian rain forests, to … Continue reading Palm Oil, Orangutans and the Complications of Conservation in Indonesia
The Union of Concerned Scientists has come out with a helpful infographic to bring the idea of agroecological production methods closer to interested citizens. Through a model farm that you can explore via a mouseclick, you can learn about the benefits of: Cover crops Crop diversity and rotation Landscaping approaches The integration of crops and livestock … Continue reading Visions for a Healthy Farm