Teens are doing their part to deal with both food insecurity and waste at the same time, according to The Boston Globe.
Boston high school students Arianna Sun and Sofia Hennessy have been seeing runaway success in their young organization, NoVasta. It's a program where volunteers can keep stores from wasting food by getting it into the hands of the needy.
Over the course of two years, NoVasta has helped to provide over 15,000 meals, joined the national Zero Waste Coalition, and collaborated with Massachusetts legislators.
"It's given us a lot of hope to see that even though it's such a big problem, there are a lot of people — whether it's students or city councilors or people our age or restaurants — that are willing to work and find ways to contribute to this cause," said Hennessy, according to The Boston Globe.
Food waste is a big problem, and not just because so many people are going hungry in the face of disappearing SNAP benefits. For starters, food production requires a lot of resources. This includes land, labor, water, energy, and fuel. Being unable to deliver usable food to someone's plate means all of those production resources have gone to waste.
Downstream, there are even more consequences. When left to landfill, food produces methane as it decomposes. Methane traps heat in the atmosphere, which exacerbates a wide range of destructive weather patterns. Increasingly severe storms, floods, droughts, and wildfires incur steep humanitarian and economic costs.
Luckily, it's possible to curb these negative consequences with programs like NoVasta. Even on an individual basis, finding creative uses for leftovers and buying discounted food at the grocery store can put good food to use.
The NoVasta founders were excited to see their movement grow beyond the borders of Boston.
"Every single student we talked to noticed the same issue in their own city, and they've sort of just been waiting for a catalyst to start it. And so we're really happy that we were that catalyst for them," said Sun, according to The Boston Globe.
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