Preventing Holiday Food Waste

• This podcast describes why food waste tends to increase around the holidays and proposes ideas for repurposing leftover holiday food into different inventive recipes.
• The environmental quality professionals discuss ways they quantify and analyze food waste in Oregon and describe the various campaigns they employ to encourage the community to prevent waste.
• The professionals also describe how food waste relates to greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and land use.

Positives

• The topic of food waste relates to most individuals and many people love talking about food, so this podcast could lead to a rich classroom discussion.
• The presenters discuss multiple reasons that food waste matters, so students can consider this topic from an economic, social, or environmental point of view.
• It discusses other effective ideas for reducing food waste including freezing and encouraging dinner guests to bring reusable containers to share leftovers.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should understand how food production impacts the environment.
• This podcast is available on most podcast apps or can be listened to on the site directly.

Differentiation

• Before watching the video, ask students, "Why might food waste be negative for the environment?"
• Consider having students discuss their favorite holiday dishes and anything creative they do with leftovers.
• Creating a pledge and brainstorming ways to reduce food waste at school lunches could be a fun way for students to take action year round.
• An art assignment could include students creating a comic or infographic showing how food waste impacts the land, air, and water.