food

A Permaculture Garden Pool

- Adam Clare

Permaculture is the idea of contained sustainable agriculture that requires no external inputs – all energy and required input is generated by the permaculture system. Some enterprising people have turned their backyard swimming pool into a permaculture setup that is based around aquaculture.

Watch the video for some neat views and an explanation of the system. You can also find out more from the garden pool website.

The garden pool combines:

solar power – harnessing and storing the sun’s energy
water conservation – using less water and recycling waste water
poultry farming – raising chickens
aquaculture – raising tilapia fish
hydroponic gardening – growing fruits, veggies, & herbs without soil
organic horticulture – using natural methods to control garden pests
aquaponics – the symbiotic cultivation of produce and fish in a recirculating hydroponic environment.
biofiltration – natural water filtration method using biochemistry and duckweed.

Cadbury Goes Fair Trade

- Fono 3 Comments

If you’ll excuse for a moment while I pander to corporate interests, I think it’s worth noting that Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bar will now be made from certified fair trade cocoa. This is great to hear, because this is a huge product from a huge company, and it’s another big step towards a world in which consumers have no excuse not to know about fair trade.

Cadbury and the Fairtrade Foundation today announced plans to achieve Fairtrade certification for Cadbury Dairy Milk, the nation’s top selling chocolate bar, by end of Summer 2009. This groundbreaking move will result in the tripling of sales of cocoa under Fairtrade terms for cocoa farmers in Ghana, both increasing Fairtrade cocoa sales for existing certified farming groups, as well as opening up new opportunities for thousands more farmers to benefit from the Fairtrade system.

The press release doesn’t indicate which countries the change will take effect in, but the UK and Canada are definitely included.

Read the press release on the Fairtrade Foundation website.

Foodprint Toronto

- Adam Clare

On July 31st in Toronto a one day conference thing is happening and it’s all about food and you. The even is Foodprint Toronto and it’s all about all your relationship to food in your life – from what you eat to where the food is grown.

This looks like it’ll be lots of fun so if you’re in Toronto and you eat food, you should go!

Foodprint Toronto is the second in a series of international conversations about food and the city. The first, held in New York City earlier this year, was a packed-out success, with a stellar line-up of speakers jumping to their feet to share their opinions on topics as diverse as food deserts and food printing, as well as tell fascinating stories about the role of protein in the city’s farmers’ markets and oysters in the city’s history. (You can still download videos of the event for free on iTunes U.)

Read a whole lot more at Edible Geography.

Seattle Law Makes Restaurants Waste Less

- Adam Clare

Seattle has become the first place in North America to require restaurants to use compostable or recyclable items that are meant for only one use.

Put into effect July 1, the ordinance requires restaurants, coffee shops, food courts, cafeterias and other food service businesses to stop throwing away single-use food-service ware and packaging including napkins, paper bags, wooden coffee stir sticks, clamshells and hot and cold beverage cups and lids among others.
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“With our requirement that food service packaging must be compostable or recyclable, Seattle has taken a big step toward a zero waste future,” said City Councilmember Mike O’Brien. “You have to ask yourself why we should make stuff just to throw it away. With compostable and recyclable food containers, we’re closing the loop.”

Keep reading at Earth 911.

Vegetarians are Smart

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

Today’s good news is about me being smart because I’m vegetarian, OK, that’s a stretch, but the higher your IQ the greater the chances are that your vegetarian. Smart people eat well and being vegetarian is a healthy diet for you and the planet.

British researchers have found that children’s IQ predicts their likelihood of becoming vegetarians as young adults — lowering their risk for cardiovascular disease in the process. The finding could explain the link between smarts and better health, the investigators say.

“Brighter people tend to have healthier dietary habits,” concluded lead author Catharine Gale, a senior research fellow at the MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre of the University of Southampton and Southampton General Hospital.

Recent studies suggest that vegetarianism may be associated with lower cholesterol, reduced risk of obesity and heart disease. This might explain why children with high IQs tend to have a lower risk of heart disease in later life.

Read more at Now Public.

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