Jessica De Simone

While my boyfriend and I were searching around for something to watch on a boring
Sunday night, we came across Just Eat It. After I was able to convince him to watch it with me,
we were both immediately interested in the challenge that documentarians Grant Baldwin and
Jenny Rustemeyer were about to embark on with each other. We were informed at the beginning
of the film that 40% of everything that is raised or grown is never eaten (Peg Leg Films, 2014).
These numbers did not seem fathomable to us, but as we continued to watch the film, we were
exposed to the large amounts of food waste that are generated by households, restaurants, and the
food supply industry. As Baldwin and Rustemeyer committed themselves to their experiment,
they were exposed to the extreme amounts of food waste that are generated. It was an eyeopening film that showed the amount of food waste that could be used to feed so many starving
people worldwide.
I read through some articles and listened to a podcast that emphasized the problem of
food waste and the need to take action sooner rather than later. Randy Bell (2012) explained
how food waste occurs throughout the food system from the farm through processing and finally
by consumers. Eliza Barclay (2012) talked about food waste in restaurants and the fact that
restaurants generate 15% of all food waste that go into our landfills. This becomes a problem
because food rots so quickly and begins to generate methane, which is a greenhouse gas that is
twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide (Barclay, 2012). Rob Greenfield, an
environmentalist and food waste expert, emphasizes three ways people can begin to reduce food
waste: reducing food amounts through better inventory management, donating food to nonprofits to help those in need, and promoting composting (Wisely, 2014).

Composting is a solution that struck me as logical, environmentally friendly, and very

achievable. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (2014) website provides a very
basic overview and step by step process on how someone can begin composting at home by
simply using the food that they can no longer eat. There are some strong benefits to composting
that should encourage more people to begin doing this at home and in restaurants around the
globe. Composting enriches the soil and helps suppress diseases in plants and pests (EPA, 2014).
It reduces the need for chemical fertilizers, which are harmful to our environment (EPA, 2014).
Composting also reduces methane emissions in landfills, which as Barclay (2012) described in
her podcast, is twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide. Since learning about how simple
this process can really be and understanding the amount of food we waste as a human race, I
have begun the process of composting at home. Although I am only in the beginning stages of
planning and strategizing, I am very excited to take a step in the positive direction when it comes
to sustainability and protecting our environment.
Arthur Potts Dawsons TED Talk really brought to light the intense commitment that
needs to be made in order to actively reduce food waste and increase ecological intelligence.
Dawson begins by talking about a simple potato and all the energy and resources that go into
making a potato accessible to restaurants and homes. He explains how the potato must be
planted, nurtured, harvested, distributed, sold/bought, prepared, and consumed (TED, 2010).
There is a lot of time, energy, and resources that ultimately gets wasted when food is discarded.
Dawson has taken his passion for ecological awareness and begun working towards making the
world a better place through sustainable restaurants. The one restaurant he discussed, Acorn
House, has been put together with recycled and discarded materials that have become his tables,
chairs, benches, cushions, etc. (TED, 2010). He uses wind energy to light the restaurant and

water power to heat and cool the restaurant when necessary (TED, 2010). He focuses on
minimizing food waste and stores it when he can, before eventually composting the inedible food
sources (TED, 2010). Everything about Dawsons plan and vision is so dedicated to eliminating
food waste and ensuring that the environment would ultimately improve if enough people
believed in his vision. If we look back at Greenfields recommendations in the Wiselys (2014)
article, Dawson is meeting his recommendations and beyond by not only focusing on food waste,
but also creating entirely sustainable restaurants.
This experience has made me more aware of the food waste problem and how digital
education can be used to learn, teach, and share information and knowledge about this topic as
well as other ideas and concepts. I was able to include a wide variety of resources (articles,
video files, audio file, images) into one collective resource because of the advancements that
have been made in digital education. Thinglink alone has inspired so many ideas in my head on
how I could incorporate technology and digital education into my classroom for my students. I
believe this would be a great resource to help young students (PK-4) perform a guided research
project with links and resources provided for them, which they would still need to explore on
their own. I feel like digital education has endless opportunities for teachers and students if
utilized appropriately in the classroom.

References
Barclay, E. (2012, November 20). For restaurants, food waste is seen as low priority [Audio
file]. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?
action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=165907972&m=165978759
Bell, R. (2012). Reducing food waste has economic, environmental and social benefits:
Concerns for the environment and economic costs, hunger and resource conservation
increase awareness of food waste. Retrieved from
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/reducing_food_waste_has_economic_environmental_and_so
cial_benefits
TED. (2010, December 3). Arthur Potts Dawson: A vision for sustainable restaurants. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ89At9Xxws
EPA. (2014). Composting at home. Retrieved from http://www2.epa.gov/recycle/compostinghome
Peg Leg Films. (2014, March 18). Just eat it - a food waste story (trailer) [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkASAZGIuu0
Sustainable Food Waste Symposium. (2012). US food waste disposal data. Retrieved from
https://savoiaonline.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/us-food-waste-disposal.jpg
Wikimedia. (n.d.). How compost happens. Retrieved from
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/How_Compost_Happens.gif
Wisely, J. (2014). Dumpster diving: Environmentalist fights food waste. Retrieved from
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/31/environmentalist-raisesawareness-about-food-waste/14912301/