A new series of public lectures aims to give people a taste ofsustainable food and how it can make a difference.

Environmental staff and faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University have collaborated to produce six seminars on sustainable food systems.

The Robertson Seminars on Sustainable Food Systems will take place every
other Wednesday evening starting Jan. 21, alternating between Duke's
Love Auditorium and Room 116 in UNC's Murphey Hall. The series aims to
raise awareness and interest in food sources, and in the relative
economic, social and environmental costs and benefits of various food
production practices.

Each seminar will have a unique theme and will feature two or three
guest speakers, such as local restaurant, business and farm owners and
operators, as well as researchers, educators and non-profit leaders.
Refreshments will be provided following the seminars.

The Jan. 21 meeting at Duke, "Emerging and value-added industries," will
feature talks by representatives of Benjamin Vineyards & Winery, Sari
Sari Sweets and Chapel Hill Creamery. Other topics in the series include
retailing, food security and access, and education and research.

The seminars are supported by the Robertson Collaboration Fund. The
organizers are Elizabeth Shay, Ph.D., research associate, lecturer and
director of the UNC Institute for the Environment's Sustainable Triangle
Field Site, and Deborah Rigling Gallagher, Ph.D., executive director of
the Duke Environmental Leadership program.

UNC Institute for the Environment contact: Danielle Del Sol, (919)962-0965.