Presentation plans

Philosophy: Pragmatism 

1) I want the students to be active learners and use participation, ask any questions they have throughout the presentation. 

2) Students should have the knowledge and skills about global food waste in their daily lives.

3)Pragmatists believe that children should learn how to make difficult decisions by considering the consequences their actions might have on others; students should realize the effect of their food waste and how it does hurt a lot of people at the end of the day

 

How I Intend To Teach

I am going to start off my presentation with this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAFO2TKsRaI because it is informative and in my opinion a dramatic yet important way to start the presentation. I plan on making a PowerPoint filled with a lot of facts, charts, and important information. The information will include what is the solution, what is the cause, and what is global food waste. I want to discuss what is happening today, how this is connected to world hunger, and possibly discuss my concept map. At the end of the presentation I want to go around the room and have each person proclaim what THEY can do to stop themselves from wasting food personal, whether this is at home or at school. 

Summers Concept Map

Summer Takes Action

In order to take action on my topic I signed a petition called Commend Efforts to Reduce Global Food Waste. I signed this petition not because this is for a class project, but because I think that Global Food Waste is a continuing, terrible issue and the amount of people that go hungry each day is inhumane. This connects to democratic values because I can sign the petition if I choose because it is what I want to do. I may not be "voting" but I am choosing to take action on a cause that I believe is important. I think talking about Social Justice issues is important in a class, especially at an older age. I think its important to give your students something to stand up for, and a healthy debate on a topic you strongly believe in is something I think all students should have the opportunity to do. I don't think its write to personally throw your own opinions on the students, but I think that having discussions on Social Justice issues is a good tool to get kids to start standing up for what they believe in from a young age. Pertaining to the quote, I think that this is true. I think that this is always going to be a topic to talk about and I think that everyone is going to have their own thoughts on it.

Current News on Global Food Waste

This map just goes to show how much global hunger food waste has caused. The red sections show the parts of the world that are very highly undernourished, and the green sections show the places in the world that dont have much of as many problems with undernourishment. As you can see, there is more red, orange, yellow, and gold than there is green, this isn't right. We need to work globally to stop the spread of red and begin the spread of green.

What is happening today you may ask?

Currently, global food waste campaigns are suffering from data deficiency. This means that even though food waste has been identified as an issue that is worth addressing there is limited evidence on how much is really being wasted and where exactly should we begin to figure out how to reduce it. Until we can know for sure that the data that was created about how much food is being wasted it is going to be extremely difficult to get the public to really see this as an issue. 


Article: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/oct/28/global-food-waste-tesco-fao-data

Summers interview with Cj

I choose to interview my boyfriend Cj because I know that he doesn't know much about this subject. I also wanted to know his perspective because he is going to school in North Carolina and I am curious if his school has talked about Global Food Waste.

 

Q: Are you aware of what global food waste is?
A: No I am not.

Q: Do you know what causes global food waste?
A: People not eating the correct amount of food or taking too much causes global food waste.


Q: Do you think restaurants should give their left over food to homeless shelters? Would this make a difference?
A: Yes I think they should give their food to homeless shelters this would make a difference in society.

Q: Would you be willing to reduce food waste in your own home?
A: No because I think that I eat the right amount of food and I don't waste it.

Q: Do you think this issue is overlooked?
A: Yes I think this is overlooked because when you first asked me about what it was I didn't know and clearly it is a global issues.

Q: Do you think this subject should be discussed in the classroom setting?
A: I only think this should be discussed in a health class or a social studies class.

Q:What can YOU do personally to stop wasting food daily?
A: I can stop going to the dining halls and taking too much food.

Q: In the U.S alone we throw away almost $750 billion dollars worth of food while 870 million people go hungry each day. Is this right? Why or why not.
A: No this is obviously not right, that is wrong. It doesn't make sense and if we put our money where our mouth is no one would go hungry, $750 billion dollars worth of food can feed 870 million people.

Q: If this continues we wont be able to meet our future food demand and we wont have resources available in the future. Does this change your opinion on the subject knowing it could affect your family in the future?
A: I really don't think that here in the U.S we will run out of food so this changes the way I think but it will not change the way I act.

Q: Do you think your college dining hall should give its left over food to people in need?
A: Yes I defiantly do.

Reaction after interview:

After my interview with Cj I learned that he didn't know much about Global Food Waste and he was never taught about it in school. I don't think that he is educated enough on the subject and it made me realize that we need to put global food waste into our school systems because people need to be more educated on this subject.

What is global food waste?

Global food waste is the food that is discarded, lost, or uneaten around the globe. Global food waste is a huge issue and affects the world socially, economically, environmentally, and politically. These issues need to be taken into consideration in able to make certain that everyone has a sustainable future.  


What are some causes of food waste?

Most food waste occurs due to society throwing away leftovers and unused ingredients. Stores won’t sell produce that is unappealing and a few days old and they will dispose of their food. Also, farmers tend to dump 20 to 40 percent of their harvest because of this same reason, the consumers consider the food “ugly” therefore they won’t buy it so it is disposed of.  In developing countries wasted food will rot either in a field or food market for reasons such as insufficient refrigeration. In the United States alone we throw away almost $750 billion dollars worth of food alone, while 870 million people go hungry each day. Not only is this food waste a problem for the people but it affects things like land, energy, fertilizers, and water. All of these things are lost while producing food which will end up as waste in the end. All of this waste can’t continue because we won’t be able to meet our future food demands. This is an issue of sustainability and we need to have resources available in the future.

What is the solution?

The solution is quite simple- to feed the people. If we focus on taking the left over food from farmers markets, restaurants, or even places like college dining halls and reuse it than this problem wouldn't be as bad as it is. Also, we can reduce food waste in our own homes. There are many organizations that will volunteer to collect food from these places and give them to people in need. For example a food recovery organization, Gather Baltimore,  volunteer and collect 15 tons of fresh produce that would've otherwise been used as waste and give it away to those in need. This is just one way we can stop this rising global issue.

My view:

I think this issue is one that is overlooked. People think that throwing away and wasting food is a part of life, yet it is affecting our lives in many ways. I think that we are uneducated on this issue and it should be brought up in the classroom more often. I am interested on this topic because I think that it’s sad how much food goes to waste globally when there are billions of people going hungry each and every day. This isn’t how the world should be, we should be able to feed our people and no one should be starving to death

Sources: 
http://grist.org/food/global-food-waste-explained-with-five-tomatoes/
http://grist.org/food/the-solution-to-americas-food-waste-problem-feed-people/
http://www.imeche.org/knowledge/themes/environment/global-food
http://www.unric.org/en/food-waste?layout=default