After week 4 in our sustainability class I had posted some thoughts on what it takes to make small steps toward change to better our environment. I was fortunate to receive great feedback from classmates about food waste. The feedback I received triggered ideas for this artifact. One of my classmates brought to my attention a film called Just Eat It. This film was about two filmmakers who challenged themselves to survive for 6 months only on discarded food. Another classmate brought to my attention a program called NYC Harvest. This is a program in New York that rescues food for NYs hungry. From the information provided from my classmates and my own thoughts I wanted to explore the food waste issue and ways to prevent it.I began to brainstorm ways that may be helpful for myself, to not waste food, and I realized that people need to become more educated and aware of what is happening. Along with being educated people need to have places or programs that they can join to donate food instead of wasting it. We also need positive examples of where and how this is happening. I think as soon as people realize that the food they waste could be feeding someone else in critical need is when change may start to happen. In an article I read Finn (2011), states that poverty is all around us even if its not always visible. It is major when trying to make a change that you are able to grasp that the change, even If you cant see it, that it may be affecting others. In this article, written by Finn, he also discusses some stats on hunger, poverty, and food waste in America. Some stats from 2008, that made me want to make change, were 39.8 million people live in poverty, 8.1 million families are in poverty, and 22.1 million people ages 18-24 are in poverty. With these numbers out there it is also estimated that 100 billion pounds of food is thrown away annually in the U.S. This is crazy, with all the people we have living in poverty, who cannot afford proper amounts of food to feed their families, most of us throw away pounds and pounds of food daily. I have learned in my research that 40 percent of all food produced in the U.S. is thrown out. Just in households it has been shown that 8.3 million tons of food is thrown away annually. This is not to mention how much food is thrown out by grocery stores, bakeries, and restaurants. Not only are we wasting food that can feed others we are also causing major harm to our environment. Finn (2011) states that food waste accounts for more than a quarter of freshwater consumption and 300 million barrels of oil per year. Food is the 3rd largest waste stream after paper and yard waste in the U.S. So what can we do? I began to research programs on what is out there to educate people on the problem of food waste. One that stood out to me was the Gates Foundation, funded by Bill Gates and his wife, and a program under this foundation was the Agriculture and Food Security Program. The programs funded under this foundation focus on policy because it has been proven to be extremely difficult to develop successful projects for hunger and poverty without ensuring that sound policies are in play. In programs funded under this foundation major themes such as hunger and poverty, agricultural poverty, resource and climate constraints on agriculture, and food agriculture policy are taught. The theory behind this foundation is that new ideas and exchanges are needed to meet the challenge of less food waste in todays world. It has been proven that programs like this can help facilitate that process and produce positive changes, Along with becoming educated I feel its necessary to see how some people and places have already made change. I also think we need to be aware of more organizations and how to become a part of them and start to help. A place I found through the film Just Eat It was a restaurant called Rub and Stub. This restaurant receives donated food from farmers, food cooperatives, local food stores, and bakeries. The food they receive is good food it is just the wrong size, shape, or color to be on shelves in stores. Rub and Stub has served 3.5 tons of food in 1 years that would have otherwise gone to waste. Most of the workers at the restaurant are volunteers except for the kitchen leader, floor manager, and project manager. The staff comes up with creative ways every day to make exciting and tasty recipes off of the food they receive. They have so much food that you can always ask for seconds at no extra cost. Along with this there was also a program in NY that was brought to my attention, NYC Harvest. This program accepts perishable and prepared foods maintained in safe temperature zones. They accept food from restaurants, caterers, wholesaler or bakery, grocers, farmers, corporate cafeterias, and manufactures. They also collect excess food from farmers at the end of local green markets. The New York City Harvest Program does research to see what areas in NYC need food the most and direct their resources to those areas. The program serves more than 500 soup kitchens, rescues and delivers food 7 days a week, and has gained 2,000 food donors over the last 14 years. In conclusion, I feel if we are better educated, and can make others aware of the serious problem we face in wasting food, small steps will be taken to make change. If we can become part of programs like the New York City Harvest and have successful programs like this in our states and cities it can cause a major reduction in the amounts of food we waste. I think the restaurant Rub and Stub is a great idea and feel that if there were more in the U.S. it would become popular quick as well as helpful in our effort to lower the amounts of food waste. If we learn and take the steps that some have already taken our world will be a greener place!

ReferencesDean, A., & Falcon, W.P. (2010). Program on Food Security and the Environment to Build a Global Education Network on Agriculture and the Environment. Institute for International Studies. Retrieved From: fse.fsi.stanford.eduFinn, S.M. (2011). A Public-Private Initiative to Reduce Food Waste: A Framework for Local Communities. Graduate Studies Journal of Organizational Dynamics, 1 (1).Rustemeyer, J. (Producer), & Baldwin, G. (Director). (2014). Just Eat It [Film].Severson, K. (2015, March 3). Starve a Landfill Efficiency in the Kitchen to Reduce Food Waste. The New York Times, pp.D1. Retrieved From: www.nytimes.com

Web sites used:www.foodrecoverynetwork.comwww.campuskitchens.orgwww.cityharvest.orgwww.youtube.comwww.feedingamerica.org