News

Skim our quarterly newsletter here (March 2021) for the most recent research in all four of our focus areas, including research on the relationship between food waste and obesity, nutrient reduction in the Mississippi River Basin, and COVID-19's impact on renewable energy. Also included are updates and the recording of the third mini-talks webinar. 

The Mini-talks are on our Youtube channel! Access the full recording below or jump to a specific speaker here.  

Speakers

Economists and urban planners generally agree that local pollution sources disproportionally impact racial minorities in the U.S. The reasons for this are largely unclear, but a University of Illinois study provides new insights into the issue. 

“Our work finds experimental evidence that racial discrimination in the home-renting process actively sorts minority renters into neighborhoods with higher levels of pollution,” says Peter Christensen, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE) and an affiliate in Center for the Economics of Sustainability at University of Illinois.

Christensen and co-authors Ignacio Sarmiento-Barbieri, U of I, and Christopher Timmins of Duke University conducted an empirical study to investigate racial bias in residential sorting.

Indiana ranks in the top ten producers nationally for blueberries, as well as corn, soybeans, peppermint, processing tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, snap beans, and cucumbers. It ranks similarly in meat production because of its rich soil, topography, and favorable rainfall and temperature patterns. Climate change, however, is bringing new challenges for farmers in the region. 

Over 20 people from stakeholder groups joined a dozen CEOS researchers on December 11, 2020 for the first CEOS Stakeholder Roundtable. The group discussed current efforts related to sustainable food and agriculture (SFA) and issues that need more work in the months and years ahead.