In the News: November 2021
Mapping Food Costs
Two atmospheric scientists created a tool for estimating greenhouse gas emissions caused by every phase of food production — from planting crops to managing livestock manure. They found that food production accounts for more than one-third of human-made greenhouse gas emissions and spotlight some of the biggest contributors, such as beef and rice.
Source: The Conversation, September 13, 2021
Lab-Developed Beef
The Dutch startup Mosa Meat made the world’s first cell-based hamburger, and Israel’s Aleph Farms produced the first cell-based steak. Cultivated beef — which involves growing only the parts that consumers will eat, rather than an entire cow — is developed from cells and not from methane-producing cows.
Source: Axios, September 22, 2021
Minneapolis Energy Storage
Natural gas is currently the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Minneapolis, according to the city’s greenhouse gas emission inventory. The Towerside Innovation District in Minneapolis is creating a new type of district energy system for heating and cooling buildings. A net-zero plan has been studied by the Towerside partnership since 2012, as part of a slate of neighborhood- scale sustainability and resilience projects.
“The Towerside district energy project demonstrates the power of a community vision for urban redevelopment,” says Diane Rucker, board chair of the Towerside Innovation District.
The aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system uses aquifers deep underground as a thermal “battery,” storing heat in the summer to be used in the winter and vice versa. ATES is used extensively in Europe.
Source: towersidemsp.org, lims.minneapolismn.gov/RCA/8539
Reading Suggestions
Foodtank.com offers a list of “20 Books About the Food System to Read This Fall.” One of the books listed is “Plenty: A Memoir of Food and Family,” in which food writer Hannah Howard travels globally to talk to women who have carved a place for themselves in a male-dominated industry.
This is also a personal journey — a memoir that explores food as a point of passion and as a way to create community and make a family.
Source: foodtank.com, September 2021
