continuing studies in SCIENCE
Food for thought: Moving toward Sustainable Dining
Thursday, January 18, 2007, 7:00 pm, Room 1400, Simon Fraser University Vancouver
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ABSTRACT:
As humans, we are exploiting our natural resources beyond
our global capacity and our energy demands far exceed a
sustainable level. As North Americans, we are responsible for
consuming the most energy in the world, on a per capita basis.
One of the less obvious contributions to our energy burden is
the type of food we eat.
Recently, the ecotoxicology group at SFU conducted a study
to address this issue. They asked the questions: What is the
ecological burden of the preparation of our daily meals? What
options are there to reduce the energetic cost of meal
preparation? How can the contaminant load in our daily meals
be reduced?
To answer these questions they prepared a meal and then
calculated the energy and contaminant burden associated with
preparing that meal. They then prepared a second meal and
this time the goal was sustainable dining. Here they focused
on lowering the energy and contaminant burdens as much as
possible while maintaining nutritional requirements.
Some of the findings of this study include: as transportation
and packaging is directly related to increased energy
consumption, locally produced, seasonal and organic products
are the best options; and, meat, seafood, and milk products are
energetically expensive and have more contaminants than
fruits and vegetables.
Lectures take place at Simon Fraser
University Vancouver, 515 West Hastings
Street, Vancouver.
In this lecture a panel of students will describe the study
and provide people with ideas on what products to buy
and eat and how to reduce their individual impact on the
environment and contribute towards building a healthier
and more sustainable planet.
The ecotoxicology group is comprised of undergraduate
and graduate environmental science students and faculty
of Simon Fraser University. Panel members for this
presentation include. Dr. Leah Bendell-Young, professor
of the course; Wade Brunham and Carlos Palomera,
graduate students; and Ian Hardin, undergraduate
student.
Other members of the group include:
Carolyn Allen
Paula Freedy
David Prevost
Kristin Batalha
Marriah Grey
Karen Rickards
Annthonet Bernales
Ian Hardin
Barri Rudolph
Erin Bolster
Melissa Hogg
Hanna Sander-Green
Wade Brunham
Peter Kickham
Jed Scharf
Ryan Campbell
Sarah Macdonald
Kirsten Shaw
Jacqueline Danisek
Krystal Newman
Janine Simpson
Lindsay Du Gas
Carlos Palomera
Rebecca Skucas
Carolyn Duckham
Christina Pedevilla
Jason Van Rooyen
Admission to all lectures is free but seating is
limited. To reserve a seat, please call 291-5100
or e-mail penikett@sfu.ca
To view previous and upcoming lectures visit
our website at:
http://www.sfu.ca/cstudies/science/science.htm
Sponsored by the Faculty of Science
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
If you wish to receive electronic announcements of upcoming lectures please e-mail your contact information to penikett@sfu.ca