Ross Wishnick

Lance Liverman

Princeton University students, in a current online column in the Princeton Packet, are commended for their upcoming Truckfest, with proceeds from the event to go to nearby anti-hunger charities.

Civic activists Lance Liverman and Ross Wishnick also ask for volunteers and for donations “you may be able to spare” from the Princeton University community, so that the meals can be provided more frequently than just on Tuesdays.

Here’s more from Pam Hersh, in her “Loose Ends” column:

[Lance] Liverman and Human Services Commissioner Ross Wishnick were the brainstormers behind a new free meal program in Princeton. Mr. Liverman took the idea to his church, the First Baptist Church of Princeton, which connected with the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK), to produce a weekly (every Tuesday) free meal program, beginning May 5, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Everyone is welcome — no questions asked — to come to the church’s lower auditorium (at Paul Robeson Place and Green Street) to get a takeout meal that may be enjoyed on site or at home…

Lance encourages everyone in the neighborhood — whether or not they need food — to stop by and socialize and “get to know your fellow citizens. Also, we always could use volunteers and any donations you may be able to spare. It would be great if we could do this more than once a week, but that takes volunteer power and dollars. It would be great to get a group from the university to come by on a regular basis,” he said, praising the various volunteer services provided by Princeton University students…

Princeton University students are raising money Saturday for food security charities in Trenton and the region. All 11 of the Princeton University Eating Clubs on Prospect Avenue, in conjunction with the Pace Council for Civic Values, are hosting TruckFest from 2 to 6 p.m. on Prospect Avenue (which will be closed from Washington Road to Olden Street). Food trucks will be parked in front of each eating club and selling the specialties prepared by the eating club chefs.”

That last sentence, however, isn’t quite right. Yes, food trucks will be parked in front of the Eating Clubs, but they will be selling their own specialties, not items prepared by eating club chefs, said Jennifer Cohan, a volunteer publicist for the student organizers.

Artisan cheeses from Valley Shepherd Creamery.

Spring weather ruled for the beginning of the Princeton University Farmers’ Market, which will be on campus each Wednesday through May 13 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Vendors include Terra Momo Learning Kitchen, Valley Shepherd Creamery and Tassot Apiaries.

The market is co-sponsored by the High Meadows Foundation Sustainability Fund, the Office of Sustainability, the Graduate Student Government Events Board, Campus Dining, and the Office of Community and Regional Affairs.

Honey and NJ-made maple syrup from Tassot Apiaries proved popular at the Farmers’ Market.

Natalie Russano, of Terra Momo Learning Kitchen (in the Princeton YMCA), offered meals to go.

Illustration by Hannah Miller ’16

More than 15 food trucks will open for business along Prospect Avenue on Saturday, April 25 from 2 p.m-6 p.m., for Truckfest 2015, with proceeds going to support Send Hunger Packing through Mercer Street Friends and Meals on Wheels, two food security charities in the area.

The event is hosted by the 11 Eating Clubs, along with the Pace Council for Civic Values, Princeton Prospect Foundation, the Student Projects Board, edWeb, and Worldwide Learning Services.

Particularly enticing: Mausam Curry and Bites, El Lechon de Negron (Puerto Rican), BrazBQ (Brazilian) and The Feed Truck (breakfast and house-made jams).

Tickets will cost $2 each and will be sold in front of Robertson Hall on the day of the event. Tickets can be used to purchase food or can be entered into the raffle. Princeton undergraduates can buy tickets from noon-6 p.m. in Frist on Friday, April 24.

For more information, write princetontruckfest@gmail.com.

Eric Wood, Susan Dod Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Eric Wood, CEE, recently was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He was cited for “development of land surface models and use of remote sensing for hydrologic modeling and prediction.” From the Terrestrial Hydrology Research Group site: Research includes land surface – atmosphere interactions for climate models and watershed models; impacts of climate change on hydrologic and water resource systems; and remote sensing of hydrologic systems.

Rising appetite for meat likely to cause surge in antibiotic use in livestock, risking human health, said Ramanan Laxminarayan, senior research scholar in the Princeton Environmental Institute, in a study from Princeton University, the International Livestock Research Institute, the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy.

From the story by Andrea White for PEI: Antimicrobials are used routinely in large-scale livestock production as growth promoters and for disease prevention, particularly in chickens and pigs. In the United States, antibiotic administration to livestock currently represents up to 80 percent of total antimicrobial sales. Researchers of the study, which is the first gathering of such global data, forecast a surge of up to 67 percent, mostly from increased use in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. But they note a limiting factor to the study: the lack of data, whether from lack of surveillance programs or from political or legislative barriers.

“With this work we hope to trigger a momentum and show how useful such data could be to inform the design of global concerted policies against antimicrobial resistance,” said Thomas Van Boeckel, a lead author and a Fulbright research scholar in Princeton’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Research for the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also was conducted by Bryan Grenfell, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs, WWS; and Simon Levin, the professor of Biology and professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Food for thought:

SUNY-ESF students use Food Recovery Network, collect dining hall extras & deliver to shelters: “Composting is good but feeding people is better,” said organizer Katja Fiertz.

From the story:

The national Food Recovery Network (http://www.foodrecoverynetwork.org/) was founded in 2011 by Ben Simon. The University of Maryland senior wanted to help eliminate the amount of food that was thrown away at his college. Since then, his idea has grown to have over 110 chapters at colleges and universities in 31 states that collect food from dining halls and distribute it to people who need it.

The SUNY students went on its first run last October. It has since recovered more than 3,500 pounds of food, and it has grown to have 53 active volunteers.

“We talk a lot about all the food waste, like what’s on your plate at the end of the night, but not much about what’s left that still can be used,” Zach Spangler said. “Doing this has really shown me that we can use a lot of it still.”

For now, the three founders are in the process of training new officers to take over the chapter so it can continue after they graduate.

A federal law – the 1996 Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act – protects the students from any liability as long as they donate the food in good faith. Read the story here.

More on food waste:

• In the USA, organic waste is the second highest component of landfills, which are the largest source of methane emissions;
• In the USA, 30-40% of the food supply is wasted, equaling more than 20 pounds of food per person per month.

From an editorial in The New York Times:

The food discarded by consumers and retailers in just the most developed nations would be more than enough to sustain all the world’s 870 million hungry people if effective distribution methods were available.