7 Billion!!!

Sometime today, somewhere in the world, the 7 billionth person will  be born, and the world's population size will be larger than it has ever been before! An awesome video and article from NPR lets us visualize just how much our population has grown from 1000 C.E. to 2011 C.E.  Using tubes that look eerily similar to medical drip bags, dripping liquid for each continent (and the countries of Asia and India) denotes the population size, birth rate, and death rate. By patching holes in the tubes with a health sticker and food sticker, Adam Cole and Maggie Starbard, the producers of the video illustrate some of the reasons why our population has grown, resulting in fewer deaths but still large numbers of births. People's life expectancy has grown. The article continues on to say how before much of the population growth was occurring in India and China but now it has shifted to sub-Saharan Africa. Better health care programs and higher standards of living in many areas of the world has reduced population growth, but the population is still going to continue growing into the unforseeable future. With this in mind, there is no doubt that we are going to have to be very practical and cautious in the use of many of our resources (such as food!) to ensure that future generations will be able to live and have as high (or higher) standard of living as we have today.

Another Spotlight on Insect Cuisine

Recently, I went to an actual gathering where insects were being served as food. It was put on by one of UT's first year study classes whose topic was "A Bug's Life". As I ventured down to the room where everyone was gathered to begin their entomological feast, I promised myself I would try atleast one thing with a bug in it. After all, I had blogged about this exact thing not too long ago and what kind of true blogger would I be if couldn't live up to my claim that eating insects is healthy and good for the environment too? Well, after perusing all of my options, (here's just a sampling: mealworm apple pie, grub stew, and veggies with some other kind of insect thrown in) I focused in on the one option I thought I might be able to choke down: chocolate chirp cookies. A lone cricket fixed to the chocolate cookie by a dab of frosting - I mean, there's just so much chocolate that I won't even be able to taste it, right? Wrong. Well wrong in the sense that I'll never know the answer to that question because I just couldn't make myself bite down on that cricket. He just looked so sad. And crunchy. So unfortunately I cannot tell you guys first hand about my own entomophagic experience. But I can tell you more about how it's a new craze that just may become a more viable option in the future (if I can just get over my squeamishness). A recent article from San Francisco Weekly's website talks about how in San Francisco there is quite a movement towards the consumption of insects. Don Bugito, a new mobile street food vendor manned by Monica Martinez features insects being cooked in a Hispanic style. Her signature dish is waxworm larvae tacos! Danielle Martin, an entomophagist from the San Mateo district loves cooking bugs and aspires to host her own insect cooking show. Besides the claims that these insect dishes are delicious, there's also the fact that eating insects really may be better for our environment. A large amount of insects can be reared on the same amount of plant matter as one cow; they also don't release methane or consume large amounts of water. Plus keeping a bug farm would be relatively clean and efficient compared to meat farms. Some of the problems with eating bugs on a regular basis are that buying bugs can be pretty expensive (though if there were a higher demand for them then it makes sense that the price would start to lower), some exoskeletons of bugs can be very susceptible to accumulating biohazardous material such as lead or some other contamination. But the article points out, that the biggest obstacle may be with our own culture's deep seated revulsion to eating insects... and we're back to my inability to eat one chocolate chirp cookie. Until we conquer this idea that insects are nasty and gross to eat, then unfortunately they are not going to become a viable option anytime soon. :(

P.S. And if somehow my article miraculously managed to make you want to cook and eat your own insects then check out this awesome bug cookbook. I'm buying one (maybe, if I get up the courage)..

WASTE

Hello again blogosphere! I've been out of commission for two weeks due to an abnormally large amount of schoolwork and tests (I hate you Organic Chemistry)... but back to business.  This picture isn't just me trying to be artsy by showing a clear object against a dark background - it's about waste. This blog post is just a short preclude to my book review (which is coming soon!) about the massive amounts of waste we humans clog the Earth with. In this article from the NY Times a native New Yorker talks about the plastic food containers she sees other New Yorkers eating out of every day and the waste they must accumulate. These containers are going to have to sit in landfills for forever before they break down. She also goes on to talk about the bad recycling situation in New York! Unlike Knoxville where a plastic container or bottle with any number on the bottom can be recycled, New York only recycles jugs and bottles. Only 15% of the waste collected by the Sanitation Department is recycled. And due to the high amount of pedestrian traffic in the streets, there isn't alot of room (or money) to put in recycling bins. Lack of recyling bins is also a serious problem in the subway stations. No food scraps from residential homes or commercial food businesses is collected for compost either.  It's sad that New York City, one of the biggest and the most famous cities in the U.S., instead of leading the recycling movement has fallen behind. Hopefully some new initiatives such as building a new recycling plant in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, placing more recycling bins in the streets, and incorporating recycling and other sustainable practices in restaurants will make a difference. A cool restaurant called "Just Salad" in Manhattan charges people $1 for a reusable plastic bowl that once bought they can bring in and get free two toppings for their salad every time they use it! Maybe they can also take some tips from San Francisco where "everyone, including people in charge of restaurants and offices, must separate refuse among three bins: recyclables (paper, glass, metal and most plastics), compostables (food scraps, paper food wrappers and yard waste) and trash". And maybe Knoxville could take some composting tips as well...

Promotion of Biofuels Affects World Hunger

Indian corn. Corn mazes. Haunted Corn Mazes. Corn on the cob. All of these corn items make me think of fall. Besides these uses, corn is also used to make syrup, cereal, and even ethanol. According to the article I read today in the Guardian, a new 2011 Global Hunger Index report was released today that stated the U.S. needs to stop promoting the use of corn ethanol because it is raising the price of corn, and thus the availability of corn for people around the world. In 20 years, undernourishment and malnutrition conditions have improved somewhat but 26 countries around the world are still facing hunger issues; most of these countries are in sub-saharan Africa. The possibility of curtailing this world hunger is being affected by the rising prices of corn. The United States dominates the global production of corn, so they also have dominion over the price they charge for countries that have to import the corn. Since more and more corn is being used to produce ethanol, less corn is available for consumption and so the price rises.  Maximo Torero, co-author of the Global Hunger Index report said that biofuel mandates should be removed because they are increasing the volatility and price of corn. And if more biofuel policies and mandates are put into place in the future (as seems likely to happen) then this vicious cycle will continue. Overall it's hard to take a stance on this issue - corn ethanol is a biofuel that can help with environmental initiatives and cleaning up our atmosphere, but contributing to an increase in world hunger is very important too. I think a possible solution would be to try to increase the production of ethanol from other products such as switchgrass, (which we don't eat) or even algae. If we balance the production of these biofuels with the fact that we still need to keep food prices stable to aid hunger around the world, then hopefully we can benefit both sides.   

McDonald's being Mcethical?

For many UT students the recent opening of the renovated McDonald's on Cumberland Avenue was a big deal. I know several of my friends who stood in line for a really long time (one told me 6 hours!) just so they could get a year's supply of coupons that gave them one free value meal a week. While I admire my friends' stamina, I just feel a little surprised. Every time I venture into McDonald's to grab a chicken sandwich or a milkshake I feel a little bit on the grosser side when I walk out. Don't get me wrong, I think their food is pretty good if you're in the mood for that kind of thing - but McDonald's is not the food restaurant we think of when we think of healthy, or for that matter sustainable eating. Hopefully a new initiative by McDonald's chains in Europe will help us change that. As of this month, the McDonald's are putting a Marine Stewardship Council label on their Filet-o-Fish sandwiches. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a "British environmental watchdog" organization and their label means that the fish being used are caught in sustainable ways - ways that won't contribute to overfishing or harm the ocean. The problem with this is that the MSC can certify fisheries or other fishing organizations that may have some unsustainable practices such as bottom trawling. But, the MSC spokeswoman says that in order for the fishery or fishing industry to be certified they have to have an impact on the marine ecosystem that is sustainable. And she says there is hard evidence that the MSC's system works in preserving these ecosystems. Either way, it seems like knowing exactly where the fish for McDonald's sandwiches comes from will be a good move both environmentally and economically for McDonald's. And hopefully, it's something that can move to the United States as well.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15181350

Sustainable Soda

Have you ever tried a Jones soda? If not, you should - their flavors are delicious! And the Jones Soda Company uses sustainable practices in producing their sodas. Those two combinations are all you could ask for in a food product. Jones soda started as a distribution company and then transitioned into a manufacturing company who specialized in making soda with some unique flavors. Blue Bubblegum, Green Apple, Strawberry Lime, Pomegranate, and Vanilla Bean are just a few. Personally, Fufu Berry is my favorite. And of course their goal is to make their products as environmentally friendly as possible! The glass used for the bottles is 100% recyclable and 15%-20% recycled glass is used in the manufacturing. The glass is also domestically manufactured and shipped by rail. Additionally, they have decreased their cardboard usage by implementing a new lower profile design on the cardboard carrying cases and even in some shipments, using a shrink wrap carrying case. These shrink wrap carrying cases save over 40 lbs of carboard for each pallet shipped. Jones also is working on reducing their fuel and carbon emissions by reducing their truck miles driven annually and moving their co-packing network to certain strategic locations around the country. And as far as the employees of the Jones Soda headquarters in Seattle go, they are encouraged to not drive to work - anyone who does not receives a free monthly Seattle bus pass. Efforts to reduce waste in the workplace are also being encouraged. All of these changes and other similar changes are simple initiatives that other companies could put into place quite simply. Each small change anyone does, whether it is an individual or a business, can help our environment enormously.
Check out the Jones Soda Socially Responsible statement for yourself!

Less peanut butter sandwiches in the future? And watermelon ethanol??

Little may you know that there is a peanut shortage in the U.S. currently. But if you're not unlike many of the college students out there, a large part of your sustenance depends upon peanut butter. According to NPR's article it is likely we're going to see quite an increase in the regular price of peanut butter.  The causes of this shortage are drought conditions and the price of cotton. Alot of farmers planted less peanut plants because the price of cotton was higher and they would make more of a profit off of the cotton than the peanut butter. And the peanut plants that did get planted are having trouble thriving with the drought conditions of the southeast and southwest. For 2011 the projected amount of U.S. peanut supply is 5.1 billion pounds - which is the lowest it's been since 2003. This peanut butter shortage has arrived at an unfortunate time; since the economy has been in a recession the amount of peanut butter consumption has increased. People use it because it's high in protein and a cheap alternative to meat. Hopefully we'll all still be able to have our own peanut butter and jelly time in the future.

Also, an interesting article I read in National Geographic recently talked about making ethanol out of watermelon juice. What? When I was in Ecuador this summer, one of my favorite juices they served us was watermelon juice - it was delicious and it was pink! So the article talked about when farmers plant watermelons there are some that grow and are deformed or scarred - farmers don't want to sell these so they just leave them on the vine. When researchers were experimenting with different methods of extracting antioxidants from the watermelons they discovered that the waste sugary fluid could possibly be used as a biofuel. They moved their research to a laboratory and discovered that it could definitely serve as ethanol. Farmers could produce it and then use it to run things on their farm. Or they could try to sell it. The main researcher, Wayne Fish, who worked on the project said that he thought it would make the most economic sense to have a mobile brewery that traveled from farm to farm to make the ethanol. Either way, sounds like a sweet source of fuel to me.