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Dr. Christine Costello
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA

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0 Agriculture
0 Food Systems
0 Life Cycle Assessment
0 Sustainable Engineering
0 Nutrient cycling

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Research article
Published: 02 June 2021 in Environmental Science & Technology
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To accurately assess contributions of human activities to nitrogen (N) cycle disruption, we must consider how systems such as food and renewable fuel production are connected. N impacts of food and biofuel systems have been studied separately, but links between them have not been sufficiently considered. Since 2002, corn ethanol production in the United States has increased sixfold, and ethanol coproducts’ roles in animal diets have increased similarly. In this study, we estimated virtual N in ethanol fuel and animal products using the commodity-specific Net Anthropogenic Nitrogen Inputs (CSNANI) model, which uses national corn ethanol, crop, and animal production data to estimate animal diets and the corresponding virtual N inputs to agricultural commodities. Virtual N attributable to ethanol fuel was 30 to 35 g N per liter of ethanol. As ethanol coproduct inclusion in animal diets increased from 1997 to 2012, N per kilogram of beef protein decreased by 19% and N per kilogram of milk protein decreased by 13%. With allocation of virtual N between ethanol and ethanol feed coproducts, the virtual N of both ethanol fuel and products from animals consuming ethanol coproducts is reduced relative to estimates from studies that do not consider the connection between these systems.

ACS Style

Mikaela Algren; Amy E. Landis; Christine Costello. Estimating Virtual Nitrogen Inputs to Integrated U.S. Corn Ethanol and Animal Food Systems. Environmental Science & Technology 2021, 55, 8393 -8400.

AMA Style

Mikaela Algren, Amy E. Landis, Christine Costello. Estimating Virtual Nitrogen Inputs to Integrated U.S. Corn Ethanol and Animal Food Systems. Environmental Science & Technology. 2021; 55 (12):8393-8400.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mikaela Algren; Amy E. Landis; Christine Costello. 2021. "Estimating Virtual Nitrogen Inputs to Integrated U.S. Corn Ethanol and Animal Food Systems." Environmental Science & Technology 55, no. 12: 8393-8400.

Research article
Published: 03 February 2021 in Environmental Science & Technology
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In this work, nonrobust (average yield) and robust (varying yield) optimization techniques were applied to find the minimum radius required from the center of Chicago, Illinois, United States (U.S.) and land area by type to meet the population’s nutritional needs given yield data for conventional and urban agricultural products. Twenty-eight nutrients were considered, and land type availability was defined using satellite data. No mix of food items were able to satisfy the vitamin D, vitamin B12, and calcium needs within a radius up to 650 km. With vitamin D fortification, radii between 175 and 185 km (nonrobust) and 205 and 220 km (robust) were found across scenarios. The inclusion of urban agriculture reduced the radius by 10–15 km and increased the diversity of foods in the solution. When vitamin B12 was supplemented, the radii could be reduced to 105–120 km (nonrobust) and 115–130 km (robust). This work demonstrates the need to include a full list of nutrients when evaluating the feasibility of localizing food systems. Key nutrient fortification or supplementation may significantly reduce the land area required to meet the nutritional needs of a population.

ACS Style

Christine Costello; Zeynab Oveysi; Bayram Dundar; Ronald McGarvey. Assessment of the Effect of Urban Agriculture on Achieving a Localized Food System Centered on Chicago, IL Using Robust Optimization. Environmental Science & Technology 2021, 55, 2684 -2694.

AMA Style

Christine Costello, Zeynab Oveysi, Bayram Dundar, Ronald McGarvey. Assessment of the Effect of Urban Agriculture on Achieving a Localized Food System Centered on Chicago, IL Using Robust Optimization. Environmental Science & Technology. 2021; 55 (4):2684-2694.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Christine Costello; Zeynab Oveysi; Bayram Dundar; Ronald McGarvey. 2021. "Assessment of the Effect of Urban Agriculture on Achieving a Localized Food System Centered on Chicago, IL Using Robust Optimization." Environmental Science & Technology 55, no. 4: 2684-2694.

Journal article
Published: 30 June 2020 in Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
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Researchers use life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of foods, providing useful information to other researchers, policy-makers, consumers, and manufacturers. However, LCA is ill-equipped to account for desirable, often normatively valued, characteristics of food systems, such as redundancy, that could be considered more sustainable from a resilience perspective. LCA’s requirement of a functional unit also causes methodological bias favoring efficiency over resilience and other difficult-to-quantify properties. This efficiency bias results in favorable evaluations of conventional production techniques and plant-based foods since they typically have the lowest impacts per unit of output when compared to alternative agriculture systems and animal-based foods. Such research findings may drive policy-makers as well as consumers to prefer the more efficient options, with the possible outcome of diminishing resilience. This research and policy commentary explains why complementary assessment methodologies are necessary for comprehensive sustainability assessments that support researchers, policy-makers, and other relevant stakeholders in decision-making for food systems sustainability. In addition to LCA, researchers examining food systems sustainability issues should consider integrating other frameworks and methods such as life cycle sustainability assessments, sustainable materialism, backcasting and scenario building, and food systems assessments to help generate a holistic understanding of the systems being analyzed.

ACS Style

Andrew Berardy; Thomas Seager; Christine Costello; Christopher Wharton. Considering the Role of Life Cycle Analysis in Holistic Food Systems Research Policy and Practice. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 2020, 9, 1 -19.

AMA Style

Andrew Berardy, Thomas Seager, Christine Costello, Christopher Wharton. Considering the Role of Life Cycle Analysis in Holistic Food Systems Research Policy and Practice. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. 2020; 9 (4):1-19.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrew Berardy; Thomas Seager; Christine Costello; Christopher Wharton. 2020. "Considering the Role of Life Cycle Analysis in Holistic Food Systems Research Policy and Practice." Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 9, no. 4: 1-19.

Articles
Published: 11 March 2019 in Biofuels
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Cultivation of cellulosic biomass on marginal lands in the Missouri/Mississippi River Corridor (MMRC) could improve environmental performance for the watershed, e.g. nutrient runoff interception, erosion stabilization, feedstock for bio-based energy, and barge shipments could have net energy benefits. This work reviewed marginal lands literature to reach a generic definition that could be linked with publicly available land and soil quality datasets to quantify marginal lands in the MMRC. The definition developed is: Marginal lands are non-croplands and/or lands not suitable for long-term food crop production because of high erodibility (K factor > 0.4) and/or being prone to flood. The MMRC extends 161 km from the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, totaling 2.5 million km2. Bioenergy production potential was estimated using scenarios to explore the inclusion and exclusion of croplands, forestland and Conservation Reserve Program lands. Among the plausible scenarios a maximum of 189.3 billion liters and a minimum of 1.85 billion liters of bioethanol can be produced in MMRC. The maximum jet fuel production could meet all US demand and the maximum electricity production could meet 23% of current US demand. This work highlights the trade-offs associated with competing demands on land in relation to achieving bioenergy goals.

ACS Style

Nasser Ayoub; Christine Costello; Shibu Jose. Systematic application of a quantitative definition of marginal lands in estimating biomass energy potential in the Missouri/Mississippi River Corridor. Biofuels 2019, 12, 839 -852.

AMA Style

Nasser Ayoub, Christine Costello, Shibu Jose. Systematic application of a quantitative definition of marginal lands in estimating biomass energy potential in the Missouri/Mississippi River Corridor. Biofuels. 2019; 12 (7):839-852.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nasser Ayoub; Christine Costello; Shibu Jose. 2019. "Systematic application of a quantitative definition of marginal lands in estimating biomass energy potential in the Missouri/Mississippi River Corridor." Biofuels 12, no. 7: 839-852.

Journal article
Published: 26 April 2018 in Water
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Potential impacts of climate change on the hydrological components of the Goodwater Creek Experimental Watershed were assessed using climate datasets from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Historical and future ensembles of downscaled precipitation and temperature, and modeled water yield, surface runoff, and evapotranspiration, were compared. Ensemble SWAT results indicate increased springtime precipitation, water yield, surface runoff and a shift in evapotranspiration peak one month earlier in the future. To evaluate the performance of model spatial resolution, gridded surface runoff estimated by Lund–Potsdam–Jena managed Land (LPJmL) and Jena Diversity-Dynamic Global Vegetation model (JeDi-DGVM) were compared to SWAT. Long-term comparison shows a 6–8% higher average annual runoff prediction for LPJmL, and a 5–30% lower prediction for JeDi-DGVM, compared to SWAT. Although annual runoff showed little change for LPJmL, monthly runoff projection under-predicted peak runoff and over-predicted low runoff for LPJmL compared to SWAT. The reasons for these differences include differences in spatial resolution of model inputs and mathematical representation of the physical processes. Results indicate benefits of impact assessments at local scales with heterogeneous sets of parameters to adequately represent extreme conditions that are muted in global gridded model studies by spatial averaging over large study domains.

ACS Style

Sagar Gautam; Christine Costello; Claire Baffaut; Allen Thompson; Bohumil M. Svoma; Quang A. Phung; Edward J. Sadler. Assessing Long-Term Hydrological Impact of Climate Change Using an Ensemble Approach and Comparison with Global Gridded Model-A Case Study on Goodwater Creek Experimental Watershed. Water 2018, 10, 564 .

AMA Style

Sagar Gautam, Christine Costello, Claire Baffaut, Allen Thompson, Bohumil M. Svoma, Quang A. Phung, Edward J. Sadler. Assessing Long-Term Hydrological Impact of Climate Change Using an Ensemble Approach and Comparison with Global Gridded Model-A Case Study on Goodwater Creek Experimental Watershed. Water. 2018; 10 (5):564.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sagar Gautam; Christine Costello; Claire Baffaut; Allen Thompson; Bohumil M. Svoma; Quang A. Phung; Edward J. Sadler. 2018. "Assessing Long-Term Hydrological Impact of Climate Change Using an Ensemble Approach and Comparison with Global Gridded Model-A Case Study on Goodwater Creek Experimental Watershed." Water 10, no. 5: 564.

Journal article
Published: 14 July 2017 in Sustainability
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Collegiate sporting venues have been leading efforts toward zero-waste events in pursuit of more sustainable operations. This study audited the landfill-destined waste generated at the University of Missouri (MU) football stadium in 2014 and evaluated the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) and energy use associated with waste management options, including options that do and do not comply with zero-waste definitions. An estimated 47.3 metric tons (mt) of waste was generated, the majority (29.6 mt waste) came from off-site, pre-game food preparation activities; of which over 96 percent (%) was pre-consumer and un-sold food waste. The remaining 17.7 mt originated from inside the stadium; recyclable materials accounting for 43%, followed by food waste, 24%. Eleven waste management strategies were evaluated using the Waste Reduction Model (WARM). Results indicate that scenarios achieving zero waste compliance are not necessarily the most effective means of reducing GHG emissions or energy use. The two most effective approaches are eliminating edible food waste and recycling. Source reduction of edible food reduced GHGs by 103.1 mt (carbon dioxide equivalents) CO2e and generated energy savings of 448.5 GJ compared to the baseline. Perfect recycling would result in a reduction of 25.4 mt CO2e and 243.7 GJ compared to the baseline. The primary challenges to achieving these reductions are the difficulties of predicting demand for food and influencing consumer behavior.

ACS Style

Christine Costello; Ronald G. McGarvey; Esma Birisci. Achieving Sustainability beyond Zero Waste: A Case Study from a College Football Stadium. Sustainability 2017, 9, 1236 .

AMA Style

Christine Costello, Ronald G. McGarvey, Esma Birisci. Achieving Sustainability beyond Zero Waste: A Case Study from a College Football Stadium. Sustainability. 2017; 9 (7):1236.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Christine Costello; Ronald G. McGarvey; Esma Birisci. 2017. "Achieving Sustainability beyond Zero Waste: A Case Study from a College Football Stadium." Sustainability 9, no. 7: 1236.

Letter
Published: 28 October 2015 in Environmental Research Letters
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ACS Style

Christine Costello; Xiaobo Xue; Robert W Howarth. Comparison of production-phase environmental impact metrics derived at the farm- and national-scale for United States agricultural commodities. Environmental Research Letters 2015, 10, 114004 .

AMA Style

Christine Costello, Xiaobo Xue, Robert W Howarth. Comparison of production-phase environmental impact metrics derived at the farm- and national-scale for United States agricultural commodities. Environmental Research Letters. 2015; 10 (11):114004.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Christine Costello; Xiaobo Xue; Robert W Howarth. 2015. "Comparison of production-phase environmental impact metrics derived at the farm- and national-scale for United States agricultural commodities." Environmental Research Letters 10, no. 11: 114004.