Month: October 2010

  • Biomass and biogas information

    During the question and answer session following Bina Agarwal’s talk at Noble Conference 46, several audience questions asked for more resources about biomass stoves in mentioned during her talk. As promised by the moderator, here are several links to websites that will serve as a good introduction to these topics. First, a good primer on…

  • Patenting Seeds: Conference Lecturers Weigh In

    Here are the first two responses we received to our query of the Nobel lecturers, regarding the matter of patenting seed life. Marion Nestle notes “I wrote about the patenting issue in my book, Safe Food, half of which is about genetically modified foods.” She also points to the film FOOD, INC., and the work…

  • Patenting Seeds: The Question Not Taken

    Shortly after the final lecture of the conference was completed, a woman approached me to ask “does Gustavus take money from Monsanto?” Is the college in the pay of the multinational agriculture biotechnology firm? She posed her sardonic question as offering the only explanation for the fact that I had not elected to read the…

  • “Farming Forward”: how to purchase a copy of the documentary

    Did you miss the Tuesday evening showing of “Farming Forward,”  the documentary film produced by Gustavus professor Martin Lang and student Ethan Marxhausen? Or did you see it and hope that you might have your very own copy? You’re in luck! For just $11, you can purchase a DVD. Follow this link to the Sustainable…

  • High-Fructose Corn Syrup: Is it or ISN’T it the same as other sweeteners, calorie for calorie?

    In the midst of the public debate about high fructose corn syrup (a.k.a. hfcs, but soon to be rebranded as corn sugar), many researchers have offered evidence to support the claim that sugar is sugar. That is, eat five hundred calories worth of beet sugar, honey or hfcs, and you’re eating five hundred calories. Your…

  • Frances Moore Lappe Day wraps up our week of Nobel eating!

    The MarketPlace is featuring feijoda, in honor of Frances Moore Lappe today. Feijoada (a Brazilian black bean dish) will be served with rice and green chili sauce and a harvest fruit crisp dessert. The Brazilian recipes are featured in Lappe’s book Diet for a Small Planet and the crisp gives a nod to farmers all…