Hacking Food Waste: Developing Climate Friendly Habits for a Better World

Are you interested in designing media solutions to reduce food waste? Consider hosting your own Food Waste Hackathon.

In 2023, we invited students entering grades 6 through 8 to participate in a Food Waste Hackathon in the Learning Games in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University.

Youth:

Immersed themselves in discussions about food waste.
Collaborated on design activities.
Used media design to propose solutions.
Played and evaluated games about food waste, climate change and other topics.

They also visited Taos Cafeteria on the NMSU campus to observe, hear from cooks and cafeteria workers, and experience their own decision-making around food waste.

This website includes resources from our event that we invite you to use in hosting your own Food Waste Hackathon.

For more information, please contact:
Matheus Cezarotto (matheus@nmsu.edu), Assistant Professor, Department of Innovative Media Research and Extension

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Check out the resources below:

Food waste - what you should know

How you can reduce food waste, save money and help the environment

A creative example of working against food waste

Canadian entrepreneurs are getting creative in trying to solve the world's food waste problem.

The extraordinary life and times of strawberry

Journey of a strawberry from the farm to the refrigerator to understand all that it takes to bring your food to you.

Food waste and the climate

Animation explaining why reducing food waste is good for the environment.

SavingFood Educational on food waste

Educational video tailored to children to help them comprehend the food waste problem and adopt environmentally and socially responsible behavior.

Food waste - how is it recycled

See how food waste is recycled and what it can be used for.

Food waste recycling - creating a circular economy

Explains the food waste recycling process and what we do with it once it has been collected.

What a waste: an animated short film about food waste

My senior year high school project about food waste.

Olympic peninsula how it looks under a mountain of food waste

Shrink food waste | Clallam county | Washington State

Aims to address the problem of food waste in North America. By educating youth on the impact of food loss and waste

Food Matters action kit

Contains over 70 activities to engage youth in preventing food.

Room full of people watching a presentation

Food waste hackathon Italy

Two high schools from Asti, Italy collaborated on a food hackathon to combine the design expertise of a technical high school with the practical know-how of an agricultural high school school.

4H Career Explorations: High school 4H students from across New York State gather outside Gates Hall

Climate change & youth

Provides resources and supports youth climate change education through the 4-H youth development program.

home page for website with abstract background

Get educated. Take action

Our Climate Our Future is an award-winning video experience that educates young people on the science of climate change and empowers them to take action.

Home page with title and phone showing the app

Meet Too Good To Go

Anti-food waste app

webiste home page with title and illustration of app on phone

Save money and fight against food waste

Get massive savings on fresh food items like meat and produce that are nearing their best before date at grocery stores across Canada and the U.S.

NASA, Climate Kids

Discusses how NASA satellite monitor the Earth’s surface and provide scientists with important data related to crop growing and ocean healt.

Follow the food

Explains how food is typically not being used (food waste vs. food lost) and highlights the Netherlands’ more sustainable food model. Includes interactive scrolling.

game interface with three different bins for sorting

Rethink Waste sorting game

Simple game on recycling waste. Sort items correctly to get fun items for your own Park!

Food waste reuse game

Well designed prototype for building recipes using items found in the house.

screenshot of game with character in vegetable garden

Hellmann's® new Animal Crossing island

Article on how virtual crops are turned into real food for people in need in the popular game Animal Crossing.

Too Good To Waste implementation guide and toolkit

Guide and toolkit to reduce wasteful household food management practices.

basket of vegetables on the cover for the report

Save food for a better climate

FAO discusses recent actions and global frameworks for addressing climate change, particularly how they have been incorporated into national priorities and targets.

A national strategy to reduce food waste at the consumer level (2020)

Understanding food waste, consumers and the U.S. food environment. A research agenda for improving interventions to reduce food waste and their implementation.

New USDA resources to promote reduction of food loss and waste

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced new resources to inform consumers on how to reduce food waste during the July Fourth holiday and beyond.

Fight climate change by preventing food waste

Containing useful information and tips on how to reduce one’s food waste and how food waste affects global climate change

website homepage with shopper at grocery store

The problem of food waste. FoodPrint issue

Almost half of our food is wasted in the United States. How does this happen? What can we do to solve our enormous food waste problem?

website homeage with plates of vegetables

Fighting food waste means fighting climate change

Published report constining scientific data (mainly from 2011) surmising the carbon footprint of global food waste, about how much CO2 each person typical emits, and predictions for C02 emission by the year 2030.

website homepage with child holding vegetables

Food and climate change curriculum

A curriculum that teaches students the effects of climate change with growing foods.

A new diet to combat the climate crisis

A web page/infographic that discusses the most recent data around food waste, the consequences of food waste, and how to lessen the environment impact on food waste.