Preventing food waste begins in the fridge

A new online campaigns from Sustainable America gives eaters information and resources to waste less food – and less money. 

|
Eric Gaillard/Reuters/File
The inside of a refrigerator in Nice, France. I Value Food, a new campaign from Sustainable America, gives eaters actionable articles and resources, from tips on hosting a salvaged dinner party to a list of helpful waste-countering websites.

Sustainable America recently launched I Value Food, an online campaign to publicize the weighty facts of food waste in the United States. The campaign, which links everyday food purchases and home cooking habits to a larger narrative about overconsumption, helps food lovers waste less food—and less money.

I Value Food uses interactive design elements to creatively communicate its message. A portion of the webpage breaks down the amount of food wasted by each meal of the day. A photo of a hearty breakfast elides into easy-to-read food-waste statistics; for instance, one glass of orange juice requires 45 gallons of water to produce. The site also includes an informative video and a waste quiz to help consumers understand the impact of their choices.

I Value Food exemplifies Sustainable America’s approach to sustainability—to not only advocate for less consumption, but to also pioneer the alternatives. The campaign does not shame consumers, but rather supports a more economically and ecologically sustainable purchasing ethic.

“I Value Food addresses the need for a consumer-facing website that lets people know the size and scope of the problem, and it also provides viewers with the tools to take action,” says Sustainable America’s executive director, Jeremy Kranowitz.

In addition to the dynamic presentation of food waste facts, I Value Food gives eaters actionable articles and resources, from tips on  hosting a salvaged dinner party to a list of helpful waste-countering websites.

Sustainable America’s focus on food waste stems from its larger mission to address overconsumption in two interlinked industries in the U.S.: food and fuel. After shelter, food and transportation are the two largest expenses for Americans. These systems are very fragile—if food and fuel systems were more efficient and resilient, all Americans would benefit, especially those lowest on the economic ladder. 

In conjunction with educational campaigns like I Value Food, Sustainable America works to create viable, ecologically-minded alternatives in the food and fuel industries. To do so, the organization funds seed or angel  investments to socially responsible businesses creating innovative alternatives to large-scale agriculture and fossil fuels (a principle known as “impact investing”). As a 501(c)(3) public charity that invests in for-profit companies, the organization demonstrates a unique model. According to Sustainable America, it must balance the risk-taking necessary for the advancement of sustainability with proper stewardship of capital.  

“I firmly believe that impact investing is going to be one of the fastest-growing sectors in the investment world,” says Sustainable America founder Nick Tiller. “There’s an enormous appetite for investments which earn strong returns and accomplish something good in the world at the same time.”

In 2014, Sustainable America, with partner organizations, pledged US$10 million in impact investments over a five-year period. With this growing investment budget, Sustainable America will push for an investment portfolio of 15 companies by the end of 2015, and act as a catalyst for sustainable impact.

“If you’re running a mutual fund and trading GE and IBM and Mega Cap stocks, you don’t have time to look at a company with half a million in revenues a year,” says Kranowitz. “We are looking at about 200 companies a year and selectively investing in four or five.”

Given this opportunity to select companies that best support Sustainable America’s mission, Kranowitz highlights the organization’s ability to help consumers, donors, and other investors discover companies that value long-term ecological health, but might otherwise fly under the radar.

By supporting a shift in personal food choices with campaigns like I Value Food, and by publicizing their impactful investments, Sustainable America addresses the need for a drastic change in the culture of consumerism in the United States.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Preventing food waste begins in the fridge
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Bite/2015/0410/Preventing-food-waste-begins-in-the-fridge
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe