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Lesson Plan April 27, 2016

Lesson Plan: Getting the Word Out About Food Waste

Grades:

Author:
SECTIONS

Resource 1: “Wasted USA”

  1. According to the article, what percentage of food in the U.S. does not get eaten?
  2. What are different ways that food gets wasted in the U.S.?
  3. How much food is wasted annually in American households?
  4. How does the transportation of food lead to food waste?
  5. What does the article argue as a role grocery stores play in food waste?
  6. True/False: All food is not safe to be consumed after its expiration date.
  7. What are some of the barriers to companies donating food?
  8. What does the Good Samaritan law state?
  9. True or false: Food is the number one product in American landfills today.
  10. How is food waste connected to air pollution?

Resource 2: “The Big Waste: Why do we throw away so much food?”

  1. 1 in _______Americans are food insecure
  2. According to Food Cowboy founder Gordon, why does food go to waste?
  3. What does Manna Food Center do?
  4. What percentage of food from independent farms gets wasted?
    1. Why is that food wasted?
  5. How many meals does D.C. Central kitchen send out daily?
  6. According to those interviewed in the film, what would it take of Americans to reduce food waste?

Reflect:

  1. What new information is introduced in the video?
  2. What do you think is the author’s purpose for presenting this new information?
  3. What is the impact of focusing on organizations addressing food waste in D.C.? What do you think is the author’s purpose for including this information?

Resource 3: In South Korea, an Innovative Push to Cut Back on Food Waste

Text questions:

  • Profligancy- a lot of something, great abundance, reckless extravagance
  1. How much of the food produced in the world is thrown away or rotten?
  2. What city is the focus of the film “wasted”?
  3. How has the city innovated to address food waste?
  4. What has been the impact of this innovation?

Reflect:

  1. What is one question you have about the innovation based on reading this article?
  2. Does the description make it sound like this is a solution that will succeed in the U.S.? Why or why not?

Video:

  1. Why is food waste important to Buddhist monks?
  2. Why do the educators feel that less food is wasted in South Korea?
  3. How does the government determine if food is being thrown away properly?
  4. How does the population of Seoul compare to NYC?
  5. True/False: The government has a way of identifying how much food waste individual homes are disposing.
  6. Why did the country begin isolating food waste on its own
  7. What percent of food waste goes to creating animal feed?
  8. How else is food waste used?
  9. How much has food waste been reduced in homes
  10. How much has food waste been reduced in restaurants?

Reflect:

  1. What benefits of this system most appeal to you?
  2. What additional work does this system require?
  3. What might be some of the barriers to implementing this system in the U.S.?

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