Such genetic experiments — typically conducted in the laboratory in animal models such as mice and zebrafish — have been a mainstay of developmental biology research for decades. Much can be learned about a gene’s function in animal studies in which a gene is missing or overexpressed, but these experiments are also expensive and time-consuming.

In contrast, the newly developed software called CellOracle — described Feb. 8 in the journal Nature — can model hundreds of genetic experiments in a matter of minutes, helping scientists identify key genes that play important roles in development but that may have been missed by older, slower techniques. CellOracle is open source, with the code and information about the software available at this link.

“The scientific community has collected enough data from animal experiments that we now can do more than observe biology happening — we can build computer models of how genes interact with each other and predict what will happen when one gene is missing,” said senior author Samantha A. Morris, PhD, an associate professor of developmental biology and of genetics. “And we can do this without any experimental intervention. Once we identify an important gene, we still need to do the lab experiments to verify the finding. But this computational method helps scientists narrow down which genes are most important.”

CellOracle, which was included in a recent technology feature in the journal Nature, is one of a number of relatively new software systems designed to model insights into cellular gene regulation. Rather than simply identify the networks, CellOracle is unique in its ability to let researchers test out what happens when a network is disrupted in a specific way.

Morris and her team harnessed the well-known developmental processes of blood cell formation in mice and humans and embryonic development in zebrafish to validate that CellOracle works properly. Their studies, in collaboration with the lab of co-author and zebrafish development expert Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, PhD, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor and head of the Department of Developmental Biology, also uncovered new roles for certain genes in zebrafish development that had not previously been identified.

And in a related paper online in the journal Stem Cell Reports, Morris and her colleagues used CellOracle to predict what happens when certain genes are dialed up beyond their usual expression levels.

“We found that if we dialed up two specific genes, we can transform skin cells into a type of cell that can repair damaged intestine and liver,” Morris said. “In terms of regenerative medicine, these predictive tools are valuable in modeling how we can reprogram cells into becoming the types of cells that can promote healing after injury or disease.”

According to Morris, most laboratory methods for converting stem cells into different cell types, such as blood cells or liver cells, are inefficient. Maybe 2% of the cells arrive at the desired destination. Tools like CellOracle can help scientist identify what factors should be added to the cocktail to guide more cells into the desired cell type, such as those capable repairing the gut and liver.

At present, CellOracle can model cell identity in more than 10 different species, including humans, mice, zebrafish, yeast, chickens, Guinea pigs, rats, fruit flies, roundworms, the Arabidopsis plant and two species of frog.

“We get a lot of requests to add different species,” Morris said. “We’re working on adding axolotl, which is a type of salamander. They are cool animals for studying regeneration because of their ability to regrow entire limbs and other complex organs and tissues.”

A new paper studying terrestrial amplification focuses on how geochemical records of past climate on land and at the sea surface allow scientists to better predict the extent to which land will warm more than oceans — and will also get drier — due to current and future greenhouse gas emissions. “The core idea of our study was to look to the past to better predict how future warming will unfold differently over land and sea,” says Alan Seltzer, an assistant scientist in the Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the lead author of the paper.

“One reason why understanding terrestrial amplification matters is that under future global warming, the magnitude of warming that the planet will experience is not going to be the same everywhere,” says Seltzer. “Adding a firm basis to climate model simulations, that is rooted in observations of past climate and basic physics, can tell us about how the regional differences in ongoing and future warming.” Seltzer notes that terrestrial amplification (TA) is analogous to “polar amplification,” a prediction of climate models that higher latitudes will experience more warming than low latitudes.

Although modern observational records are noisy due to big year-to-year variations driven by other parts of the climate system, the prediction of greater warming over land surfaces is now apparent in climate data since the 1980s. The drivers of this terrestrial amplification have been linked to changes in moisture over land and sea, through a theory developed by climate scientists over the past decade. This new study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, “uses paleoclimate data for the first time to evaluate the theory for how land and sea surfaces will be impacted by future warming,” Seltzer says. “The research gives us more certainty in the way models predict regional changes in future warming.”

The paper investigates terrestrial amplification during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) — which occurred about 20,000 years ago — in the low latitudes, which they define as 30?S-30?N. It is in those latitudes, the authors say, where the theoretical basis for TA is most applicable. The authors drew on new compilations of paleoclimate records on land and from the sea surface to estimate the magnitude of TA in the LGM, to compare with climate model simulations and theoretical expectations. Efforts to better understand how cold the continents were in the LGM are an ongoing focus of Seltzer’s research at WHOI, and this new paper builds upon a recent study that used insights from dissolved gases trapped in ancient groundwater as a thermometer for the past land surface.

The authors extended a thermodynamic theory for terrestrial amplification that is based on coupled changes in moist static energy (the potential energy represented by the temperature, moisture content, and elevation of a parcel of air) between land and sea. In the LGM, when sea level was 120 meters lower than today due to the growth of large ice sheets on land, the sea surface was slightly warmer and more humid than it would have been without a change in sea level. By taking this effect into account and drawing on paleoclimate records, the authors were able to directly compare past terrestrial amplification to future predictions. The paper notes that while the mechanisms underlying TA are well understood to arise from fundamental thermodynamic differences between humid air over the ocean and drier air over land, a number of factors — natural variability, observational limitations, thermal lags, and non-CO₂ forcings — have previously precluded a precise estimate of TA from 20^th century warming. “Narrowing the range of terrestrial amplification will aid in future predictions of low latitude climate change, with relevance to both heat stress and water availability,” the paper states.

Co-author Pierre-Henri Blard says the paper is a “step forward for climate science,” and it will be significant for other scientific fields and the general public. “We show that a simple model, involving humidity and sea level changes, robustly describes the amplification of temperature changes over the continent — at low to mid-latitudes at any time scale — as being 40% larger than over the ocean. This result is important because, while most paleoclimatic archives are located in the ocean, the present and future of humanity crucially rely on our knowledge of continental climates,” says Blard, a Director of Research at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the Center for Petrographic and Geochemical Research (CRPG) in Nancy, France.

The research is important “because it helps us make sense of Earth’s past climate record and how to relate it to our models and expectations for the future,” co-author Steven Sherwood says. The paper “should clear up any misconceptions that land and ocean warm or cool at the same rate in different climates — we know otherwise and should use that knowledge. The implications for the future are that Earth’s continents will continue to warm faster than the oceans as global warming continues, until hopefully we reach net zero and bring this to a stop,” says Sherwood, a professor in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes in the University of New South Wales’s Climate Change Research Center, Sydney, Australia.

Co-author Masa Kageyama says she considers the paper important “because it touches on a feature which is ubiquitous in climate change projections, produced by complex climate models: continents warm more than oceans. In this paper, we analyze this feature for a climate change, from the last glacial maximum to present, the amplitude of which is of the same order of magnitude as the expected warming in the next centuries,” says Kageyama, director of research at CNRS’ Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory (LSCE) at the Pierre Simon Laplace Institute at the University of Paris-Saclay, France.

“It is remarkable that tropical temperature reconstructions, state-of-the-art climate models, and a simple theory relying on the coupled changes of moisture and heat over continents and oceans all converge to provide a robust estimate of terrestrial amplification,” says Kageyama. “In my view, this strengthens the projections for future climate change, and at the same time brings new understanding of past climate changes.”

Funding for this research was provided by a National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences award and by the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

While we can already feel the effects of climate change on our skins, the majority of the European population still does not consider climate change, the environment, and energy to be among the most pressing issues for national policymaking. Support from the public, however, is crucial to enable stringent and sustainable environmental policy in democracies.

To raise the motivation of the general population towards climate action, we need to know which factors drive concern in people for the climate and the environment. In a new study published in Global Environmental Change, Jonas Peisker, a researcher in the IIASA Population and Just Societies Program, addressed how environmental preferences in 206 European regions are shaped by socioeconomic, geographical, and meteorological circumstances.

“I wanted to offer a data-driven perspective on the determinants of environmental concern that highlights the relevance of individuals’ embeddedness in socioeconomic and environmental contexts,” explains Peisker. “While previous research has only considered a few contextual influences at a time, this study allows for a comparison of their relative importance, including also factors that differ mostly between regions, such as inequality, income level, or geographical features.”

To find determinants of environmental concern, Peisker used the method of Bayesian Model Averaging based on 25 Eurobarometer surveys conducted between 2009 and 2019 combined with measures of the regional economy, population, geography, environmental quality, and meteorological events.

The study found that favorable economic contexts, such as a relatively high income level and low inflation, foster environmental concern. This is likely related to the idea of a “finite pool of worry” in which more immediate issues like economic security crowd out less immediate issues like climate policy. Interestingly, rising energy prices only lowered environmental concerns up to a certain point at which environmental concerns started to rise as well. At this point, energy supply could become an issue which raises environmental concerns in itself.

The results showed that a more equal distribution of income and wealth had a positive impact on the prioritization of environmental issues, suggesting that social cohesion is beneficial for green concerns. Moreover, Peisker found that regions with greenhouse gas-intensive industries had lower environmental concern among locals. This could be related to worries about the potential effects of environmental policies on economic competitiveness in the transition from fossil to clean technology. While environmental factors, such as having a low-elevation coastline, also influence environmental concern, overall, the socioeconomic context proved more important.

“The results of the study emphasize that social cohesion and a just transition to carbon neutrality are key for the bottom-up support for environmental policy,” says Peisker. “Climate policy and environmental protection are likely to be unpopular if they are increasing income and wealth inequality, inflation, and unemployment. Therefore, a way to support climate action could be to emphasize the co-benefits of environmental policy, for instance, positive employment effects of the transition to renewable energy sources.”

The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes celebrates inspiring young people from across the U.S. and Canada who are making the world a better place. The young heroes we honor demonstrate that anyone can make a difference, no matter their age. We shine the spotlight on these dedicated young people to inspire countless others with their examples.

If you know a young person making a difference, be sure to encourage them to apply for our 2023 awards cycle. The online application is now open so young leaders can access it and begin compiling their materials. Applications are due April 15, with winners announced in late September.

Established in 2001 by author T. A. Barron, the Barron Prize annually honors 25 outstanding young leaders ages 8 to 18 who have made a significant positive difference to people or the environment. Fifteen top winners each receive $10,000 to support their service work or higher education.

Meet Recent Winners of the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes

Here are some of the fantastic things that recent winners are doing to help protect the planet, along with their encouraging and insightful words of wisdom.

Anna De Volld founded Promote Our Pollinators to raise awareness of pollinators’ importance and devastating decline and to provide ways to promote their population growth.

“Find something you’re passionate about, no matter how small, and see how you can use it to change the world,” says Anna.

Aseel Rawashdeh developed an inexpensive and environmentally friendly solution to mosquito-borne diseases, creating a larvicide that could be produced in industrial quantities.

“I’ve realized the power of dedicating myself to a cause,” says Aseel. “What kept me going was the prospect of contributing a solution to a global issue.”

Austin Picinich founded Save Our Salmon Through Art to create vibrant public art projects in the Greater Seattle area that engage, educate, and empower communities to restore salmon spawning streams.

“I’ve learned that the power of WE can start with one person — even if that person is just a high schooler who likes art,” says Austin.

Jack Dalton, known as the Kid Conservationist, works to protect critically endangered orangutans and their rainforest habitat, as well as to educate and inspire people to protect the environment.

“I’ve learned that I can take on challenging causes and persevere because it’s the right thing to do,” says Jack. “If you want something to change, you need to do something about it.”

Karina Samuel founded the Florida chapter of Bye Bye Plastic Bags, an international student-led nonprofit committed to reducing the amount of plastic on the planet.

“I believe those who have the power to fight for change have the responsibility to do so,” says Karina.

Laalitya Acharya invented Nereid, a low-cost, globally applicable device that uses artificial intelligence to detect water contamination within seconds.  Her hands-on educational programs, now offered online, have reached thousands of people in nearly a dozen countries.

“Our story has just begun and I’m so excited to see where it goes!” says Laalitya.

Lucy Westlake founded LucyClimbs to raise awareness of the need for clean water in developing countries by climbing the world’s highest mountains. She is the youngest American woman ever to summit Everest.

“I want to inspire a generation of young people to use their gifts and passions to make the world a better place,” says Lucy. “If not me, then who? If not now, then when?”

Luna Abadía founded the Effective Climate Action Project to increase awareness of solutions to climate change – especially the possibilities of systemic thinking and collective action.

“Youth have the strongest voice in this fight. We’re the ones with passion and the ability to view the world with hope,” says Luna. “No one is ever too young to raise their voice and make a difference.”

Sri Nihal Tammana created Recycle My Battery, a nonprofit that installs free battery recycling bins and educates young people and adults about battery recycling.

“Earth gives us so much – oxygen, food, water – so it’s important that we give something back when we can,” says Nihal. 

William Charouhis founded We Are Forces of Nature and its A Million Mangroves initiative to combat climate change and protect coastlines from the effects of sea level rise.

“Youth have a can-do attitude, says Will. “We don’t understand bureaucracy, so we don’t let it stop us.”

Do You Know a Future Young Hero?

The Barron Prize celebrates the efforts of youth who have demonstrated initiative, tenacity, courage, intelligence, generosity, and high moral purpose. We invite public-spirited young people across North America to visit barronprize.org for more information about the application requirements.

Come April 15, we’ll begin reviewing applications, a process that spans months and calls on the heads and hearts of our judging committee. It’s truly inspiring to review hundreds of applications from courageous and compassionate young people. And honestly, it’s a daunting task to choose just 25 young heroes from them. Still, after a great deal of deliberation and debate, we always arrive at a group of winners and honorees who embody so much goodness. It’s an honor to shine the spotlight on them so that their work and heroic ideals can inspire us all.

About the Author

Barbara Ann Richman helped launch the Barron Prize in 2001 and has served as its executive director ever since. With degrees from the University of Virginia and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she has taught elementary school in the Boston area, directed educational programming at a regional nature center in Colorado, and taught at Fort Lewis College. She has also developed curricula for the U.S. Forest Service and numerous environmental organizations.

A team of researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC have now begun to document the actual impact of electric vehicle adoption in the first study to use real-world data to link electric cars, air pollution and health. Leveraging publicly available datasets, the researchers analyzed a “natural experiment” occurring in California as residents in the state rapidly transitioned to electric cars, or light-duty zero emissions vehicles (ZEVs). The results were just published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

The team compared data on total ZEV registration, air pollution levels and asthma-related emergency room visits across the state between 2013 to 2019. As ZEV adoption increased within a given zip code, local air pollution levels and emergency room visits dropped.

“When we think about the actions related to climate change, often it’s on a global level,” said Erika Garcia, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and the study’s lead author. “But the idea that changes being made at the local level can improve the health of your own community could be a powerful message to the public and to policy makers.”

The researchers also found that while total ZEVs increased over time, adoption was considerably slower in low-resource zip codes — what the researchers refer to as the “adoption gap.” That disparity points to an opportunity to restore environmental justice in communities that are disproportionately affected by pollution and related health problems.

“The impacts of climate change on health can be challenging to talk about because they can feel very scary,” said Sandrah Eckel, PhD, an associate professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and the study’s senior author. “We’re excited about shifting the conversation towards climate change mitigation and adaptation, and these results suggest that transitioning to ZEVs is a key piece of that.”

Benefits for health and the climate

To study the effects of electric vehicle adoption, the research team analyzed and compared four different datasets. First, they obtained data on ZEVs (which includes battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell cars) from the California Department of Motor Vehicles and tabulated the total number registered in each zip code for every year between 2013 and 2019.

They also obtained data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air monitoring sites on levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), an air pollutant related to traffic, and zip code level asthma-related visits to the emergency room. Asthma is one of the health concerns long linked with air pollutants such as NO₂, which can also cause and exacerbate other respiratory diseases, as well as problems with the heart, brain and other organ systems.

Finally, the researchers calculated the percentage of adults in each zip code who held bachelor’s degrees. Educational attainment levels are frequently used as an indicator of a neighborhood’s socioeconomic status.

At the zip code level, for every additional 20 ZEVs per 1,000 people, there was a 3.2% drop in the rate of asthma-related emergency visits and a small suggestive reduction in NO₂ levels. On average across zip codes in the state, ZEVs increased from 1.4 to 14.6 per 1,000 people between 2013 and 2019. ZEV adoption was significantly lower in zip codes with lower levels of educational attainment. For example, a zip code with 17% of the population having a bachelor’s degree had, on average, an annual increase of 0.70 ZEVs per 1,000 people compared to an annual increase of 3.6 ZEVs per 1,000 people for a zip code with 47% of the population having a bachelor’s degree.

Past research has shown that underserved communities, such as lower-income neighborhoods, tend to face worse pollution and associated respiratory problems than more affluent areas. If ZEVs replace gas-powered cars in those neighborhoods, they could stand to benefit substantially.

“Should continuing research support our findings, we want to make sure that those communities that are overburdened with the traffic-related air pollution are truly benefiting from this climate mitigation effort,” Garcia said.

More to learn

While climate change is a massive health threat, mitigating it offers a massive public health opportunity, Eckel said. As one of the first studies to quantify the real-world environmental and health benefits of ZEVs, the research can help demonstrate the power of this mitigation measure, including possibly reduced health care utilization and expenditures.

The findings are promising, Garcia said, but many questions remain. Future studies should consider additional impacts of ZEVs, including emissions related to brake and tire wear, mining of materials for their manufacture, and disposal of old cars. The researchers also hope to study additional types of pollutants and other classes of vehicles, in addition to conducting a follow-up study of the effects of the ever-growing share of ZEVs in the state.

Moving forward, transitioning to ZEVs is just one part of the solution, Eckel said. Shifting to public transport and active transport, including walking and biking, are other key ways to boost environmental and public health.

This work was supported by the University of Southern California Office of Research Strategic Directions for Research Award and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [P30ES007048, P2CES033433].

The authors of the study are Rut Sánchez-Bragado and Josep Lluís Araus-Ortega, from the UB Faculty of Biology and Agrotecnio-UdL; Gustavo A. Slafer, ICREA researcher at the UdL School of Agrifood and Forestry Science and Engineering, and Gemma Molero, from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico, currently a researcher at KWS Seeds Inc.

A cereal that changed human history

The cultivation of wheat — a grass that became basic food — represented a turning point in the progress of human civilisation. Today it is the world’s most important crop in terms of food security, but EU data warn that the impact of climate change could significantly increase its price and modify its production process in certain areas of the world.

Throughout the domestication process of wheat, the plant phenotype has undergone both rapid (within a few hundred years) and slow (thousands of years) changes, such as the weakening of the rachis, the increase in seed size, and the reduction or disappearance of the awns. In particular, awned and awnless wheat varieties are found all over the world, although the latter tend to be abundant in regions with arid climates, especially during the final stages of cultivation in late spring, a condition typical of Mediterranean environments.

“It is important to conduct studies that show which wheat varieties are best adapted to different environmental growing conditions, especially in a context of climate change. Studying the past retrospectively can give us an idea of the evolution of wheat cultivation over the millennia since agriculture appeared in ancient Mesopotamia,” says Rut Sánchez-Bragado, first author of the study, who got a PhD at the UB.

“Awns are organs of the spike that have traditionally been associated with the plant’s adaptations to drought conditions,” says Josep Lluís Araus, professor at the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Biology.

“However, archaeological and historical records show that the wheat spike has existed predominantly with awns for more than ten millennia after the domestication of wheat. It is not until the last millennium that evidence shows in many cases the absence of awns, indicating a selection by farmers — probably in an undirected way — against this organ,” stresses Araus, one of the most cited authors in the world according to Clarivate Analytics’ Highly Cited Researchers (2022).

“The role of wheat awns in their performance remains controversial despite decades of studies,” says researcher Gustavo A. Slafer, corresponding author of the study.

Spike awns: beneficial for the plant?

Is the presence of awns on the spike beneficial for the plant and the crops? Although there is no scientific consensus, “everything suggests that in conditions where the plant does not suffer from water stress, the extra photosynthetic capacity of the awns does not compensate for other potential negative effects (reduced susceptibility to fungal diseases, limitation in the total number of large ones that an ear supports, etc.),” says Araus.

“However, in wetter climates the awns accumulate moisture and can promote the spread of diseases,” says Rut Sánchez-Bragado. “So, as the world’s population is continuously growing, it is necessary to investigate the role of the awned spikes in the changing conditions of our climate in order to meet the world’s demand for a primary food commodity such as wheat.”

In arid conditions, the spikes — including the awns — “have better physiological characteristics than the leaves. In addition, the awns allow the light captured by the crop to be more diffused, which facilitates a better distribution of light energy and allows the crop to photosynthesise more. Therefore, in arid conditions, the awns can still be beneficial for the crop, or at most, neutral,” concludes Professor Josep Lluís Araus.

Things to consider include a changing climate, costs and sustainability.

Dr. Haroon Mian, a Postdoctoral Research Associate with UBCO’s School of Engineering, says municipalities and water utilities all have drinking water management strategies to ensure the water they provide is safe and plentiful. However, a natural disaster, a breach in the supply or contamination at the treatment plant can put water supplies — and human health — at risk.

“Freshwater is essential to sustain ecosystem health and our survival,” says Dr. Mian. “But Earth’s once plentiful freshwater resources are now under increasing pressure due to population growth, urbanization and climate change.”

As water supplies become more threatened, not only is providing safe water a priority, but suppliers must also ensure that doing so will have low environmental and economic implications.

“The quality of drinking water is contingent on several important attributes such as water extraction, treatment, delivery, cost and the disposal of used water,” says Dr. Mian who conducts research in UBC’s Life Cycle Management Lab. “Those factors can all be impacted by climate change. And they have a significant environmental influence in terms of natural resource depletion, waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions.”

Dr. Mian and his fellow researchers have developed an integrated assessment framework that combines water quality with lifecycle assessment techniques. Working with data from small and medium-sized communities, they provided a way to assess the long-term applicability of water systems that can provide safe drinking water to people.

According to Dr. Mian, the framework provides a different lens into a more holistic view of drinking water management and its components.

“We measure factors such as water quality, changes to the environment and potential costs to determine performance data and benchmarking, thereby providing important tools to ensure these systems experience long-term effectiveness and sustainability,” he adds.

By considering these key factors, water can flow to a community at a reasonable cost while conserving natural resources and ensuring environmental protection.

The study evaluated the overall performance of several water distribution systems by combining the above-mentioned criteria. Water distributors can apply the framework to determine the best distribution management system that will provide safe drinking water to their consumers with minimal environmental and economic costs.

The framework continues to be tested to ensure it is flexible based on any setting, community or system.

“There are no perfect decision-making techniques. The results often vary based on the available data and assumptions,” Dr. Mian adds. “But this framework can be useful for all water distributors.”

The research was conducted in the School of Engineering’s Life Cycle Management Lab in collaboration with Universite Laval with funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. It was published in the January edition of the Journal of Environmental Management.

For some, adopting a gluten-free lifestyle is a choice. For others, like those living with celiac disease and non-celiac gluten intolerance, eradicating sources of wheat, barley, rye, and sometimes oats becomes necessary for health reasons.

When I was diagnosed with celiac disease in August 2022, I realized I had to make some big changes. I needed to rapidly adjust to a gluten-free lifestyle that can, directly or indirectly, require more water use and create packaging waste.

This created an ethical dilemma: How do I ensure I can take care of my health while avoiding unnecessary waste? Hopefully, this guide can help put you and your celiac loved ones at ease.

What is celiac disease?

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that causes the body to attack gluten — a protein in foods like bread, pasta, beer, and soy sauce — in the small intestine like an intruder. The resulting inflammation leads to various gastrointestinal and other symptoms.

Many celiacs experience reactions to gluten-containing foods or trace amounts of gluten, though some are asymptomatic. Health complications are generally more severe than for those with non-celiac gluten intolerance and gluten sensitivities.

How does celiac disease change your diet?

There is currently no cure for celiac disease. The only way to manage it is to eat a diet that’s as free of gluten as possible and to avoid gluten-containing non-food items like certain medicines, toothpastes, and lip balms. You’ll also need to take care when eating food that you haven’t prepared.

Not everything you buy needs a gluten-free label, but it’s important to check labels for gluten ingredients or listed trace amounts every time. Write to the manufacturer if you are unsure.

A 100% gluten-free diet is extremely difficult to achieve. Many naturally gluten-free raw ingredients like oats and corn contain trace amounts of gluten due to cross-contamination from harvesting or processing.

To display a “gluten-free” label, manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that their product contains “less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten,” though watchdog organizations sometimes dispute manufacturers’ claims. Products bearing gluten-free certifications like those from GFCO, BRCS, and NSF are the safest choice for processed foods. Many of these foods require packaging to avoid contamination.

Accidentally eating gluten is referred to as “getting glutened.” Symptoms can last days or weeks, and the only solution is to get back on the gluten-free bandwagon.

Can you eat out safely with celiac disease?

Due to cross-contamination risks, a celiac diagnosis makes home cooking an easier method to control your environment and ingredients.

With some preparation, it’s entirely possible to eat out with celiac disease. As I adjust to my diagnosis, I’ve experienced it all: attentive chefs who create safe experiences, “gluten-friendly” menus that aren’t celiac-safe, and getting outright glutened. The Find Me Gluten-Free app is a great resource, most often used by celiacs, the gluten-sensitive, and our family members to find and rate restaurants that are celiac-friendly (or not, as the case may be).

It’s important to feel confident that staff can cater to your needs. When you’re not eating at a 100% gluten-free facility, you may need to ask staff to clean food prep areas and change their gloves when preparing your meal. Unfortunately, these important accommodations can create more waste and water use on an individual level.

In responsible cafes, gluten-free pastries are individually packaged, usually in plastic, or kept in separate display cases to reduce cross-contamination. Gluten-free foods sitting beside conventional versions may be safe for the gluten-sensitive but are not celiac-safe.

There are many travel and food blogs written by celiacs. Legal Nomads is my favorite.

Can you live green while eating gluten-free?

Thriving with celiac disease means being adaptable. Once you learn to manage your condition, you can orient your lifestyle towards sustainability, though it may be challenging.

Living a sustainable life as a celiac can involve weighing the social element of your options, like going to a restaurant versus hosting a gluten-free dinner party. You’ll likely find yourself choosing between the benefits of convenience (like buying a gluten-free snack or trying your luck at a café) and avoiding waste (like prepping snacks from scratch or eating at home).

Plan ahead to keep clean and green

You may need to clean your kitchen more often to avoid gluten contamination, especially when there are gluten-eaters in your house. Rather than using disposable paper towels, upcycle old washcloths, towels, or T-shirts into rags. Or invest in reusable cloths that you wash regularly (wash your hands often, too!). If you have a dishwasher, use it instead of hand-washing dishes. Get in the habit of carrying reusable containers to bring your own meals or transport leftovers home without packaging waste.

Always bring snacks

Snacks are critical for hungry celiacs but they can involve more packaging waste. I’m never without three energy bars at any time, although the wrappers are hard to recycle. Instead of buying packaged food, try adapting gluten-free versions of energy balls and hummus, or your own favorites. I also carry whole fruits and roasted peanuts in a reusable container.

Buy in bulk

Big-box retailers like Costco and BJs stock many gluten-free products. Buy in bulk to reduce the packaging waste. When possible, pick products with minimal packaging that is made from recycled materials or is easily recycled, like cardboard and aluminum. Unfortunately, you’ll need to avoid package-free stores due to the risk of cross-contamination.

Meal prep with whole foods

Giving up beloved foods can cause distress, but celiac ultimately requires a mindset shift to focus on what we can eat. Look at it as an opportunity to shift to cleaner eating habits that focus on fresh produce and healthy grains, like gluten-free oats, brown rice, buckwheat, millets, and legumes like chickpeas and lentils. Remember to check labels for trace amounts!

Explore these allergy-conscious brands

Before my diagnosis, I didn’t think much about food allergies. Now, it’s critical to my daily well-being. There are a number of sustainability-conscious brands that make this aspect of my life easier, including Bob’s Red Mills, Schaer, and Oatly (currently gluten-free in the U.S. only).

Alert restaurants to your needs

Many restaurants are familiar with gluten sensitivities, but not celiac disease. For example, it’s common for restaurants to use the same cooking oil for breaded onion rings and naturally gluten-free French Fries, even when they are labeled gluten-free on the menu. You’ll need the staff’s help to make informed decisions. In my experience, 100% gluten-free restaurants typically feature vegetarian and vegan offerings, offering an extra reduction of your diet’s carbon footprint.

Restock your kitchen, consciously

A new diagnosis means getting rid of household items that harbor gluten, from semolina spaghetti to wooden spatulas. Look into food banks (or friends) who can use your non-gluten-free foods. Donate used cookware and utensils to thrift stores or charities. And before you throw out unwanted items, be sure to familiarize yourself with our recycling guides to keep useful materials out of landfills.