Sea Shepherd Conservation Society New process could allow any plant to serve as a food source Virginia Tech associate professor Percival Zhang is leading the research on the bioprocess Although the causes of world hunger are numerous, it certainly doesn’t help that factors such as arid conditions and limited land space make it difficult to grow food crops in certain places. If people in those areas could eat foods derived from plants that are hardy to the region, but that aren’t considered nutritious, it would go a long way towards addressing the problem. Cellulose is the most common carbohydrate on Earth, and is found in the cell walls of plants. In the new process, developed by a Virginia Tech team led by associate professor Percival Zhang, approximately 30 percent of the cellulose from any plant material (including agricultural waste) can be converted into a starch known as amylose – it’s a good source of fiber, as it isn’t broken down in the digestive tract. “Cellulose and starch have the same chemical formula,” said Zhang. Source: Virginia Tech About the Author
CrimethInc Navdanya Community Gardening: The Plot Against Hunger Christina Sarich, Contributor Waking Times What if you could grow more than 3 tons of organic produce, flowers and herbs annually for an entire community on less than an acre of land? Sound impossible? Not only do community gardens draw people to together from various backgrounds regarding their age, race, culture and social class, they also grow more than food – the involvement in social community usually leads to long term relationships among people that might not ordinarily ‘network.’ I recently spent an entire Saturday afternoon at one of my local community gardens, one of a dozen or more scattered throughout the city proper and one of literally a hundred or more spread throughout nearby suburbs. I was surprised to learn the other benefits of community gardening that weren’t so apparent upon first glance: Community gardening reduces crime rates . You can check out the American Community Gardening Association if you live in the US, and there are similar websites throughout the world.
ResistrⒶthens “To Horiatiko” and “Attika Bakeries” stink of violence against women and trafficking On Saturday March 15, we paid a visit to three bakeries of the franchising company “TO HORIATIKO” in Omonia square and “ATTIKA BAKERIES” in Euaggelismos and Monastiraki in Athens. We approached the bakeries, we used of stink bombs in order to sabotage the food production, whereas at the same time we distributed flyers inside the venue to inform customers and people passing by about the background of the owners of the bakeries and what lies behind these companies. In the following, we present the text from the flyers thrown into the bakeries: Bakeries “TO HORIATIKO”, owned by Giannakopoulos brothers, are the show case of a money-laundry network that washes money from forced women’s prostitution, from strip clubs and “massage parlors”. Bakeries “TO HORIATIKO” and “ATTIKI FURNI” stink of forced prostitution Continue reading »
350.org Australia Replacing food: An engineer's approach to body fuel There's a romance to food. It's one of life's great sensory and social pleasures. But a lot of us don't eat healthily, and a lot of us don't enjoy the process of preparing food, especially when we're eating alone. Furthermore, the way we eat today is incredibly wasteful throughout the entire production and consumption process, to the point where it actively damages our bodies and our planet. Enter Soylent: a food engineered to efficiently deliver 100 percent of the healthy body's needs with minimal waste, junk food-beating convenience and a very low cost, or, as the inventors put it, "creating an efficient form of fuel for humanity for the first time in history." Food has always been sexy, and this sounds about as exciting as artificial insemination. View all This is a tough project to look at objectively, because food ranks alongside sex and sleep as one of the great pleasures of life. Secondly, a lot of us aren't very good at it. And thus was born Soylent. Sounds exciting, right?
War On Society ANTaR Cheese waste can replace antibiotics in pig feed By adding probiotic bacteria to the whey permeate that’s left over in cheese production, the whey can prevent piglets from getting diarrhoea caused by E. coli bacteria. (Photo: Colourbox) If farmers feed their piglets with cheese waste with added health-promoting bacteria, they can make significant cuts in their use of antibiotics, shows new study. “My studies show that fermented whey permeate can help prevent the pigs from getting diarrhoea that comes from E. coli infections,” says Sarmauli Manurung, of the Danish National Veterinary Institute at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Vet). “It may also prevent domesticated animals from developing other diseases such as breast infections and breathing difficulties, according to studies which we have yet to test on live animals.” Manurung has just defended her PhD thesis, which shows that fermented whey fortified with so-called probiotic bacteria reduces the piglets’ E. coli infections. Bacteria against infections Sarmauli Manurung
a3yo See this turtle's miraculous recovery after getting caught in a piece of litter. When it comes to prioritizing environmental concerns, curbing litter isn't exactly at the top of the list. After all, when there are much bigger dangers like harmful emissions, overfishing, and climate change to worry about, how much harm are a few pieces of plastic on the ground really going to do? Just splitting a sixer of Strawberry Crush with my bros. What's the worst that could happen? But there's one turtle that would staunchly disagree with that mindset (or, at least he would if he could talk). Meet Peanut. The red-eared slider was found wandering the St. Peanut re-creating the fateful incident. Even after his rescuers snipped the plastic rings off, Peanut's shell was forever deformed into a figure-8, peanut-y shape (hence his name). These impairments made Peanut an easy target for predators, which meant he was unable to be released back into the wild. Today, Peanut has a home and a job with the State of Missouri. Peanut is ready for his close-up. Peanut rockin' out.
Light can reveal salmon fillet The study mapped causes of changes in the light spectrum. (Foto: Marius Fiskum) In recent years scientists have been aware that spectroscopic analyses may be used to determine freshness and shelf life. This is achieved by illuminating the salmon fillet and then studying how the light spectrum changes. The methods are non-destructive or, in other words, the fish may be used afterwards. Chemical or microbiological methods have traditionally been used to determine the freshness of fish. Research Fellow Izumi Sone at the food research institute Nofima has in her PhD thesis at the University of Tromsø mapped the causes of the changes in the light spectrum. The results point to the fact that the changes may be detected after only two days and may be attributed to degradation processes in the muscle. Iron bearing proteins “A primary source of the spectral changes is iron bearing proteins, known as haem proteins, in the muscle. Izumi Sone comes originally from Japan.