WEBVTT - Food Waste is Solvable 0:00:15.076 --> 0:00:22.836 Bushkin. Okay, I'm just honestly opening my fridge. I've got 0:00:24.196 --> 0:00:27.716 a little thing of half and half. It's half full 0:00:27.876 --> 0:00:31.156 or half empty. There's another few days left in that 0:00:31.436 --> 0:00:35.076 very good. There's a bottle of wine in here. Oh, 0:00:35.116 --> 0:00:40.956 that's red wine. That's embarrassing. I've got vanilla mascapone cheese. 0:00:41.956 --> 0:00:48.276 I'll see if that's oh, oh, it's gone off. The stinks. Okay. 0:00:49.276 --> 0:00:52.356 Then I've got some beef short ribs that I have 0:00:53.076 --> 0:00:57.636 covered in aluminum foil that I mean to cook today. 0:00:58.276 --> 0:01:01.876 But I can kind of already feel myself like sliding 0:01:01.916 --> 0:01:08.476 out the door to go for dinner that was earlier 0:01:08.516 --> 0:01:11.876 in my kitchen, And now I'm here in the Solvable studios, 0:01:11.876 --> 0:01:14.556 and I'm wondering, is there anybody who can help me 0:01:14.596 --> 0:01:17.596 with this? I need a hero. If only one of 0:01:17.596 --> 0:01:20.916 the world's most innovative thinkers was dealing with what to 0:01:20.996 --> 0:01:24.516 do with rich people's food waste, I may have Higgins 0:01:24.516 --> 0:01:29.236 and you're listening to Solvable, Well, I think food waste 0:01:29.556 --> 0:01:32.316 is one of the lowest hanging fruit, and the great 0:01:32.356 --> 0:01:34.196 thing is that we can solve it by eating and 0:01:34.316 --> 0:01:37.476 enjoying food together instead of throwing it away and that's 0:01:37.516 --> 0:01:40.836 something that everyone can engage in in a way that 0:01:40.876 --> 0:01:46.396 saves money, reduces environmental impact, and can build companionship between humans. 0:01:46.916 --> 0:01:49.956 That is a vision that is not unattainable, and I 0:01:49.996 --> 0:01:54.516 find it very, very attractive. That's Tristram Stewart. He's an 0:01:54.516 --> 0:01:58.076 author and campaigner with a laser focus on the environmental 0:01:58.156 --> 0:02:01.036 and social impacts of food. You know, I actually heard 0:02:01.036 --> 0:02:03.796 of Tristram because a few years ago he put together 0:02:03.836 --> 0:02:07.356 this dinner for five thousand Londoners and meal was made 0:02:07.516 --> 0:02:11.196 entirely of food scrap that would have otherwise gone to waste. 0:02:11.516 --> 0:02:16.156 That's his solvable It's eliminating food waste. That's it. It 0:02:16.196 --> 0:02:20.076 may sound simple, but the problem is just gigantic. It's 0:02:20.116 --> 0:02:23.196 not just me. You know. Globally, we throw out about 0:02:23.276 --> 0:02:27.076 one point three billion tons of food a year. That's 0:02:27.076 --> 0:02:30.356 a third of all the food that we grow. Inequality 0:02:30.396 --> 0:02:32.996 plays a huge role in this. Of course. Very little 0:02:33.036 --> 0:02:36.476 food in poor countries is thrown out by consumers it's 0:02:36.476 --> 0:02:40.196 too precious. But in wealthy countries, especially here in the 0:02:40.276 --> 0:02:44.356 United States and in Canada, around forty percent of wasted 0:02:44.396 --> 0:02:48.836 food is thrown out by consumers. So what to do. 0:02:49.396 --> 0:02:53.556 The conversation you're about to hear, offers us guidance. Now 0:02:53.556 --> 0:02:56.756 you've already heard from three of our Solvable interviews so far, 0:02:57.156 --> 0:03:01.476 Malcolm Gladwell, Jacob Weisberg, and Ann Applebaum. Now we meet 0:03:01.516 --> 0:03:05.156 the fourth. It's Ahmed Ali Akbar. You might know him 0:03:05.196 --> 0:03:08.476 from his own podcast, See Something, Say Something about what 0:03:08.636 --> 0:03:12.076 America Muslims are talking about right now, and we are 0:03:12.116 --> 0:03:16.396 thrilled to have him Unsolvable. To begin, Ahmed asks Tristram 0:03:16.476 --> 0:03:20.916 Stewart about smart ways to avoid waste, from saying yes 0:03:20.996 --> 0:03:25.356 to ugly bananas to making beer from our kids breadcrusts. 0:03:25.396 --> 0:03:28.956 And listen out too for big changes he's helping to 0:03:28.996 --> 0:03:33.196 make in the entrepreneurial world, as well as transforming food 0:03:33.196 --> 0:03:36.716 waste legislation in the UK. Okay, here we go. It's 0:03:36.756 --> 0:03:41.116 Tristram Stewart and Ahmed ali Akbar. Welcome to the program. 0:03:41.156 --> 0:03:43.876 Welcome to Solvable, Tristram, thanks very much for having me. 0:03:44.316 --> 0:03:47.596 So let's start really big. Global food waste is a 0:03:47.636 --> 0:03:52.036 massive problem. Do you think that it's a solvable problem. Yes. 0:03:52.196 --> 0:03:57.436 So the problem, of course is a food production itself, 0:03:57.676 --> 0:04:00.756 and a large amount of the food waste that is 0:04:00.756 --> 0:04:05.596 being generated can be designed out can be eliminated through 0:04:05.596 --> 0:04:10.116 behavior change, through improved business practice, through better government policy. 0:04:10.396 --> 0:04:14.636 Those things are eminently solvable. So myself, as a consumer 0:04:14.676 --> 0:04:18.196 who is concerned with reducing my impact, what can I 0:04:18.236 --> 0:04:20.916 do you know in that process from going to the 0:04:20.956 --> 0:04:24.516 supermarket to bring it harm? And I will stop you 0:04:24.556 --> 0:04:26.756 in your tracks and say, the first thing that you 0:04:26.796 --> 0:04:31.196 could probably do to help yourself avoid food wastes not 0:04:31.236 --> 0:04:33.516 go to the supermarket at all if you possibly can 0:04:33.556 --> 0:04:37.156 help it. Okay. The reason for that, and I'm not 0:04:37.196 --> 0:04:43.356 being entirely flippant here, is that the supermarket grocery supply 0:04:43.476 --> 0:04:49.836 system has waste and surplus as a cornerstone of its 0:04:49.876 --> 0:04:54.756 business model. It's almost impossible for a supermarket to avoid 0:04:54.836 --> 0:04:59.356 waste entirely. The entire marketing model of a supermarket is 0:04:59.396 --> 0:05:05.956 to create a cornucopian display of plenty. And the reason 0:05:05.996 --> 0:05:08.436 why they do that is because, having invested billions of 0:05:08.476 --> 0:05:12.356 dollars in working out what we Homo sapiens, this very 0:05:12.396 --> 0:05:17.036 sophisticated great ape will respond to. We have evolved over 0:05:17.156 --> 0:05:20.676 two million years in an environment of scarcity, and we 0:05:20.756 --> 0:05:25.756 are hardwired therefore, when we see abundance to take to hoard, 0:05:26.396 --> 0:05:33.756 to glut to feast, and that hardwiring comes very powerfully 0:05:33.796 --> 0:05:37.156 into action when we walk down those supermarket aisles, and 0:05:37.276 --> 0:05:39.236 the result is that we buy more than we need 0:05:39.276 --> 0:05:42.036 and we throw a third of it away. I think 0:05:42.076 --> 0:05:44.116 for most of us, what we see as food waste, 0:05:44.236 --> 0:05:47.516 we can't envision that like massive picture you've given us. 0:05:47.796 --> 0:05:49.836 We just see that, you know, those things being wasted 0:05:49.876 --> 0:05:52.396 at the supermarket, and then we bring home vegetables and 0:05:52.436 --> 0:05:54.996 they rite the milk rats. That's what happens with me, 0:05:55.276 --> 0:05:56.876 and then we throw it out. Can you talk a 0:05:56.916 --> 0:06:00.316 little bit about how you effectively made that behavioral change 0:06:00.316 --> 0:06:04.396 and sort of business change as well that made led 0:06:04.476 --> 0:06:08.196 to that reduction. Well to address some of the business changes. 0:06:08.276 --> 0:06:10.836 I mean, one of the issues that we highlight is 0:06:10.876 --> 0:06:14.196 the issue of ugly fruit and vegetables, and we immediately 0:06:14.196 --> 0:06:16.516 affected a change on the part of the supermarkets who 0:06:16.556 --> 0:06:22.476 started stocking cosmetically imperfect vegetables, partly because they had been 0:06:22.556 --> 0:06:26.636 hurt so badly by the press around the campaigning on 0:06:26.636 --> 0:06:29.836 this issue. And once they'd seen that there was public demand, 0:06:30.156 --> 0:06:34.596 of course they responded and started supplying to that demand. 0:06:34.596 --> 0:06:36.316 Instead of saying, oh, well, you know the reason why 0:06:36.316 --> 0:06:39.036 we have these cosmetic standards is because people expect perfection. 0:06:39.556 --> 0:06:43.796 By changing public attitudes, we changed corporate policy and that 0:06:43.916 --> 0:06:48.196 massively reduced food waste in those supermarket supply chains. And 0:06:48.636 --> 0:06:50.836 as I say, that started here in the United Kingdom, 0:06:50.876 --> 0:06:53.716 but it has become a global phenomenon now pretty much 0:06:53.716 --> 0:06:58.996 every Western supermarket chain has in some way dabbled in 0:06:59.036 --> 0:07:01.956 the issue of fruit and vegetables that are cosmetically imperfect 0:07:02.476 --> 0:07:05.156 and try to kind of sell those to customers. And 0:07:05.276 --> 0:07:08.516 they're basically being stoked alongside, you know, the sort of 0:07:09.276 --> 0:07:12.076 supermodel fruit that makes it out there most of the time, 0:07:12.516 --> 0:07:15.916 Like they're just are are they being labeled separately? Because 0:07:15.916 --> 0:07:17.356 I think part of the issue here is like how 0:07:17.356 --> 0:07:20.996 does the consumer know to invest in things that are 0:07:21.476 --> 0:07:24.756 less wasteful. Well, that's a very good question. Of course, 0:07:24.796 --> 0:07:28.236 every supermarket chain has a different brand and a different 0:07:28.236 --> 0:07:30.876 approach to this issue. So if you go to Well 0:07:30.876 --> 0:07:33.356 in the UK, we have a supermarket chain here called Waitros, 0:07:34.196 --> 0:07:37.356 some more upmarket chain for people who kind of care 0:07:37.356 --> 0:07:40.796 about where their food is from, and they're absolutely the 0:07:41.596 --> 0:07:44.516 weather blemished apples will have a story about how it 0:07:44.636 --> 0:07:47.796 hailed in the orchards in the autumn, and that's why 0:07:47.836 --> 0:07:50.836 this russeting on. You know, they'll have all of that narrative. 0:07:51.116 --> 0:07:53.956 You go to Tesco, which is a completely different more 0:07:54.036 --> 0:07:58.716 like the warm Heart of the UK. They don't tell 0:07:58.756 --> 0:08:02.116 that story to their customers. They just sell those wonky 0:08:02.156 --> 0:08:08.236 carrots cheaper than the cosmetically premium carrots, and that's what 0:08:08.276 --> 0:08:11.236 their demographic is most interested in. So you can be 0:08:11.916 --> 0:08:15.476 helping to reduce that food waste without even necessarily knowing 0:08:15.476 --> 0:08:18.156 it in that store. So I think everyone, and quite rightly, 0:08:18.236 --> 0:08:21.196 has got a different approach to solving the problem. What 0:08:21.316 --> 0:08:24.916 are some policies that you want to see the world's 0:08:24.956 --> 0:08:30.396 governments and corporations implement in order to reduce food waste 0:08:30.396 --> 0:08:35.116 at a noticeable level over the next sixty years or so. 0:08:35.116 --> 0:08:37.276 So let me start by saying most of my work 0:08:37.316 --> 0:08:42.036 has been directed at the people directly. What is it 0:08:42.076 --> 0:08:45.716 that we humans need to do to reform our food 0:08:45.716 --> 0:08:49.316 system and our system as a whole to ensure that 0:08:49.956 --> 0:08:55.116 this environmental and social calamity that we find ourselves in 0:08:55.156 --> 0:09:00.956 the midstaff does not reach its logical conclusion, namely that 0:09:01.076 --> 0:09:05.796 the mass species extinction event that we are causing very 0:09:05.876 --> 0:09:09.076 largely through our food system. How do we galvanize human 0:09:09.116 --> 0:09:14.876 action directly through behavior change, through organization, through entrepreneurship. We 0:09:14.916 --> 0:09:18.836 can do almost all of it without the intervention of governments. 0:09:18.836 --> 0:09:22.636 I believe that said governments clearly have a role to play, 0:09:22.796 --> 0:09:25.676 and there are a number of things that governments should 0:09:26.356 --> 0:09:29.676 be looking at. The one I will start with is 0:09:29.756 --> 0:09:34.996 farm subsidies. At the moment, the USA and Europe gather 0:09:36.196 --> 0:09:42.276 massive budgets through levying taxes on their populations for farm subsidies. 0:09:42.836 --> 0:09:49.036 That money is currently being grotesquely misspent to support a 0:09:49.076 --> 0:09:55.076 commodity industrial agricultural system to produce exactly the kinds of 0:09:55.116 --> 0:10:01.276 food that are both nutritionally less than optimal and are 0:10:01.516 --> 0:10:06.036 environmentally harmful. That is not a good use of public money, 0:10:06.556 --> 0:10:08.796 and the government of the USA and the governments of 0:10:08.796 --> 0:10:15.276 Europe should delink their subsidies from such poor public service 0:10:15.596 --> 0:10:19.236 and instead should be paying farmers to farm the land 0:10:19.236 --> 0:10:23.036 in a way that regenerates the soil, that creates habitat 0:10:23.356 --> 0:10:26.956 that enhances the land's ability to take on and store 0:10:26.996 --> 0:10:30.916 water in the water table at the same time as 0:10:30.956 --> 0:10:34.836 producing healthy, accessible food for everyone. What is the best 0:10:34.836 --> 0:10:38.476 way to actually make an impact such that subsidies aren't 0:10:38.476 --> 0:10:40.996 having such a massive effect on our environment. Well, but 0:10:41.316 --> 0:10:43.836 the answer to that question is exactly why I tend 0:10:43.876 --> 0:10:47.956 to start with the using of blemish bananas to make 0:10:47.996 --> 0:10:51.356 smoothies and pancakes and other nice things. Is something that 0:10:51.396 --> 0:10:54.116 you can do without getting too depressed, and that tastes 0:10:54.156 --> 0:10:57.036 good and is fun. And so starting with a nice, 0:10:57.076 --> 0:11:01.476 hearty meal using all the food that you have. Moving on, 0:11:01.676 --> 0:11:05.116 if you feel so moved to changing your buying practices 0:11:05.756 --> 0:11:08.836 and maybe having good conversations with your friends about looking 0:11:09.236 --> 0:11:12.076 to planet Earth by making our choice, Yeah, that's a 0:11:12.156 --> 0:11:15.756 much nicer, easier way to start. How do we change 0:11:15.916 --> 0:11:19.036 a farm subsidy system that is deeply entrenched in which 0:11:19.076 --> 0:11:21.716 some of the biggest food corporations in the world, the 0:11:21.716 --> 0:11:26.116 biggest corporations in the world, have an enormous stake when 0:11:26.396 --> 0:11:31.756 our political system, to take the US political system as 0:11:32.116 --> 0:11:37.676 a quintessential example, is itself stitched up by that financial system. 0:11:37.996 --> 0:11:42.316 You know, the strong correlation between successful electoral candidates and 0:11:42.396 --> 0:11:44.396 the money they have at their disposal to spend on 0:11:44.436 --> 0:11:48.756 their campaigns, which is an absolutely inexorable correlation in the USA. 0:11:48.916 --> 0:11:50.996 You ask me, how do you change that? Well, You've 0:11:51.036 --> 0:11:54.436 got to start there and delink the amount of money 0:11:54.436 --> 0:11:57.196 a candidate has from whether or lot they get elected, 0:11:57.796 --> 0:12:00.156 and then you might start having free and fair elections, 0:12:00.756 --> 0:12:03.876 and you might start getting people in public office who 0:12:03.876 --> 0:12:10.276 are not completely indebted to the corporations who benefit the 0:12:10.316 --> 0:12:13.316 financial subsidies that are being dulled out by those people 0:12:13.356 --> 0:12:17.076 when they get into government. Difficult to achieve. I mean, ultimately, 0:12:17.116 --> 0:12:19.996 that's where we've got to go. But you ask the question, 0:12:20.036 --> 0:12:22.316 I'm afraid that's where the answer is, right. I mean, 0:12:22.356 --> 0:12:24.636 that's part of why we're having this conversation is because 0:12:24.636 --> 0:12:27.156 it can feel so daunting. And I think also one 0:12:27.156 --> 0:12:29.676 thing that really interested me in you was that you 0:12:29.756 --> 0:12:33.636 also have some sort of entrepreneurial endeavors that you've gone 0:12:33.636 --> 0:12:37.356 into around bread that would otherwise be wasted. Can you 0:12:37.436 --> 0:12:40.596 tell me a little bit more about your company that 0:12:40.676 --> 0:12:44.116 deals with leftover bread? I will, and I'll take a 0:12:44.156 --> 0:12:46.916 step back there, since we just touched on some of 0:12:46.956 --> 0:12:53.676 the really deeply pressing and occasionally depressing need to create 0:12:53.836 --> 0:12:57.876 dramatic and swift change on planet Earth if we're to 0:12:57.916 --> 0:13:01.396 avert catastrophe, and say that most of my work is 0:13:01.636 --> 0:13:06.996 focused on mobilizing and inspiring people to act in a 0:13:07.076 --> 0:13:10.796 way that both sustains planet Earth but also sustains us 0:13:10.956 --> 0:13:15.396 and sustains us through companionship. This is a word I 0:13:15.796 --> 0:13:21.316 absolutely love companion. Literally it breaks down Latin Colm is 0:13:21.356 --> 0:13:24.596 with and pan is bread. A companion is somebody who 0:13:24.676 --> 0:13:30.116 share food with and Wow, isn't that beautiful. It's also 0:13:30.156 --> 0:13:32.516 the nature of food to bring people together. I think. 0:13:32.556 --> 0:13:37.516 I think that's so. It is universal what you say 0:13:37.596 --> 0:13:44.316 is right, the universal human practice of building community through 0:13:44.396 --> 0:13:52.316 sharing food in families, in localities, and indeed internationally. We 0:13:52.396 --> 0:13:57.396 build companionship and friendship through the sharing of food and 0:13:57.996 --> 0:14:02.196 this powerful way in which we can bond with each 0:14:02.196 --> 0:14:08.316 other and also bond with the earth from which all 0:14:08.316 --> 0:14:13.036 this food comes. That is why I have used food 0:14:13.596 --> 0:14:18.516 as the principal tool to communicate how we humans can 0:14:18.516 --> 0:14:22.596 and must change our system as a whole. One of 0:14:22.636 --> 0:14:26.516 the most recent ones, which you just alluded to, was 0:14:26.756 --> 0:14:30.516 the beer that became known and is known as toast Ale, 0:14:30.676 --> 0:14:33.636 which we are now producing in several different countries in 0:14:33.636 --> 0:14:36.916 the US and the UK and elsewhere. And that is 0:14:36.956 --> 0:14:41.236 made in a very in fact an ancient way of 0:14:41.276 --> 0:14:44.076 making beer, which is to use leftover bread and other 0:14:44.116 --> 0:14:47.236 grains to make your beer. That is what beer originally was, 0:14:47.276 --> 0:14:50.996 for preserving the calories in grains that might otherwise be wasted. 0:14:51.636 --> 0:14:55.716 And we essentially have brought the beer industry back to it. 0:14:55.716 --> 0:15:00.076 It's ancient Babylonian roots. And I discovered that you could 0:15:00.076 --> 0:15:02.436 make beer with waste bread in twenty fifteen when I 0:15:02.476 --> 0:15:05.396 was in Brussels with the Brussels Beer Project. The brewer 0:15:05.436 --> 0:15:09.996 there Sebastia showed me and I said, my goodness, I've 0:15:09.996 --> 0:15:12.876 been around the world and I've seen industrial quantities of 0:15:12.876 --> 0:15:16.756 bread being wasted in every country. It's one of the 0:15:16.796 --> 0:15:19.076 most wasted products of all and it's being wasted one 0:15:19.116 --> 0:15:23.596 it is still perfectly good. It's kind of sandwich crusts, 0:15:23.676 --> 0:15:26.676 you know, the end slices of the loaves being wasted 0:15:26.716 --> 0:15:30.876 by the hundreds of thousands everyday day fresh bread. So 0:15:30.916 --> 0:15:33.996 that's going on all the world. Meanwhile, craft brewing has 0:15:34.036 --> 0:15:36.956 become a global phenomenon, and I've spent the last twenty 0:15:37.036 --> 0:15:39.716 years building a global food waste movement. So let's bring 0:15:39.756 --> 0:15:43.476 these three things together into a global brand called toast Ale. Obviously, 0:15:43.476 --> 0:15:46.476 we're toasting the end of food waste. We think that 0:15:46.516 --> 0:15:48.916 bread shouldn't be wasted and neither should use. So we 0:15:49.036 --> 0:15:54.116 encourage people to drink responsibly. And so we've created this company. Sorry, 0:15:54.316 --> 0:15:57.676 now you got that's a pretty good, pretty good tagline. 0:15:58.196 --> 0:16:02.076 Oh crumbs, the puns are going to come flying now 0:16:04.796 --> 0:16:07.196 now we'll we'll move on. It is the best thing 0:16:07.276 --> 0:16:10.236 since slice bread. But the the idea is that we've 0:16:10.236 --> 0:16:13.716 made this company. We're producing beer. It's on sale. People 0:16:13.716 --> 0:16:17.556 absolutely love it. It's one Craft Beer Awards on blind 0:16:17.676 --> 0:16:21.396 taste testing. So this is a really high quality product, 0:16:21.716 --> 0:16:25.916 quite independently of the nice story that we have at 0:16:25.956 --> 0:16:29.716 our backs. But then rather uniquely, as a company, a 0:16:29.756 --> 0:16:32.876 for profit company, we give all of our profits. One 0:16:32.916 --> 0:16:36.516 hundred percent of our distributor profits go to the charity 0:16:36.556 --> 0:16:39.836 that I founded and have spent most of my last 0:16:39.876 --> 0:16:45.036 ten years working four and that is a charity that 0:16:45.076 --> 0:16:47.476 campaigns on reforming the food system in all the ways 0:16:47.476 --> 0:16:49.996 that we're now talking about. And in addition to that, 0:16:50.036 --> 0:16:53.516 we also share revenues with other aligned not in profits 0:16:53.556 --> 0:16:56.676 in any country that we go and work in. That's 0:16:56.716 --> 0:17:00.596 six or seven countries so far. Well, I'd say I 0:17:00.636 --> 0:17:05.156 can't wait to try it, But I don't drink alcohol, 0:17:05.316 --> 0:17:07.916 so sorry, but I think it's really interesting that I 0:17:08.356 --> 0:17:10.836 have some good news for you. I have just been 0:17:10.876 --> 0:17:14.716 handed our first bottle of a collaboration brew of low 0:17:14.756 --> 0:17:20.756 alcohol beer, which so you may yet get to try, 0:17:20.836 --> 0:17:24.356 and you definitely deserve to. With a pun like that. 0:17:24.836 --> 0:17:28.716 Are there any other items, you know waste by products, 0:17:28.796 --> 0:17:30.556 or you know things that like the end of a 0:17:30.596 --> 0:17:33.836 sandwich bread that you wish somebody else would toastify that 0:17:33.876 --> 0:17:35.956 you don't have time to address something that's like a 0:17:35.956 --> 0:17:38.396 slammed sort of potential product that you don't have the 0:17:38.436 --> 0:17:42.756 time to do. Oh my goodness. A very large part 0:17:42.756 --> 0:17:47.756 of the last twenty years of campaigning has having created 0:17:47.796 --> 0:17:52.476 a massive noise around food waste. Yes, I changed the 0:17:52.476 --> 0:17:57.956 policies of some big corporations, got laws passed by governments. 0:17:58.116 --> 0:18:00.476 But one of the most exciting parts of my work 0:18:00.516 --> 0:18:06.236 has been helping many entrepreneurs, dozens of entrepreneurs create businesses 0:18:06.996 --> 0:18:11.196 that mine that got gantuan mountain of food waste, the 0:18:11.316 --> 0:18:14.436 one point three billion tons of food that are wasted, 0:18:14.716 --> 0:18:21.916 and turn that food into good products that run good businesses. 0:18:22.836 --> 0:18:28.076 So in California, there's a brilliant company that called Imperfect Produce, 0:18:29.236 --> 0:18:34.196 and that is a vegetable box scheme that delivers discounted 0:18:34.556 --> 0:18:37.996 fresh fruit and vegetables two people's doors, and exactly the 0:18:37.996 --> 0:18:42.316 way I was describing, but all using wonky product products 0:18:42.316 --> 0:18:45.316 that would otherwise have been wasted. A fantastic company. Here 0:18:45.316 --> 0:18:47.756 in the United Kingdom, we have a company called Rubies 0:18:47.756 --> 0:18:50.476 in the Rubble that makes chutneys and jams entirely at 0:18:50.516 --> 0:18:53.556 fruit and vegetables that would otherwise be wasted. The company 0:18:53.596 --> 0:18:57.236 that makes juice called Rejuice in the UK Misfit Juicery 0:18:57.676 --> 0:19:00.836 over in the USA. I mean, I could go on 0:19:01.076 --> 0:19:06.876 all evening, but just suffice to say that the entrepreneurial 0:19:06.956 --> 0:19:10.596 spirit tackling food waste is one of the most exciting 0:19:11.396 --> 0:19:14.316 parts of this work. So, as somebody who thinks about 0:19:14.316 --> 0:19:17.396 this all the time, how do you keep positive that 0:19:17.796 --> 0:19:21.356 this enormous global problem of food waste is actually solvable 0:19:21.716 --> 0:19:26.116 in our generation? Well, I think food waste is one 0:19:26.116 --> 0:19:28.436 of the lowest hanging fruit and the great thing is 0:19:28.476 --> 0:19:30.676 that we can solve it by eating and enjoying food 0:19:30.676 --> 0:19:33.756 together instead of throwing it away. And that's something that 0:19:33.836 --> 0:19:38.236 everyone can engage in in a way that saves money, 0:19:38.476 --> 0:19:42.356 reduces environmental impact and as I said, can build companionship 0:19:42.756 --> 0:19:46.556 between humans, and it starts in our own refrigerators, and 0:19:46.596 --> 0:19:50.076 it moves on to the shopping aisles. And it's a 0:19:50.196 --> 0:19:54.956 very kind of reassuring thing that we can make the 0:19:54.996 --> 0:19:58.316 lives of our fellow humans better and that of the 0:19:58.436 --> 0:20:01.556 natural system that we depend on simply by ensuring that 0:20:01.596 --> 0:20:06.436 all the food we have is eaten. I think where 0:20:07.116 --> 0:20:10.356 it's rather more challenging when one looks at the global 0:20:10.396 --> 0:20:16.436 trend and sees that environmental damage, deforestation, and global warming 0:20:16.436 --> 0:20:19.516 and species extinction and not just still going in the 0:20:19.556 --> 0:20:22.996 wrong direction. In some cases, they're still accelerating in the 0:20:23.036 --> 0:20:27.516 wrong direction. And I think we have to face the reality, 0:20:27.636 --> 0:20:33.476 which is that the probability of us putting a stop 0:20:33.516 --> 0:20:37.556 to this mass species extinction event is really quite low. 0:20:38.156 --> 0:20:41.956 For me, that doesn't mean we sit down and get depressed. 0:20:42.716 --> 0:20:45.716 For me, that means that the less likely it is 0:20:46.316 --> 0:20:50.196 that we'll win, the more energy and the more people 0:20:50.756 --> 0:20:54.876 who have to get engaged and dedicate themselves to solving 0:20:54.876 --> 0:20:58.756 this problem. And I believe that alongside all the negative 0:20:58.756 --> 0:21:02.636 tipping points that we are facing in this world, we 0:21:02.716 --> 0:21:07.956 may also be on a tipping point socially towards the 0:21:08.156 --> 0:21:11.996 ultimate realizing that we are one species, we have one planet, 0:21:12.356 --> 0:21:16.076 and we must act as one instead of vying with 0:21:16.116 --> 0:21:19.436 each other, between different countries to have the biggest slice 0:21:19.436 --> 0:21:22.156 of the cake, and between different corporations to have a 0:21:22.196 --> 0:21:24.796 bigger slice of the cake. At some point, I believe 0:21:24.836 --> 0:21:29.116 we will tip into a kind of global consciousness and 0:21:29.196 --> 0:21:33.716 a global governance of sort where we say, actually, this 0:21:33.836 --> 0:21:38.636 is not in anyone's interest to undermine the viability of 0:21:38.676 --> 0:21:44.516 our living planet through this wasteful and destructive way in 0:21:44.516 --> 0:21:47.676 which we're producing food. I believe that is possible, and 0:21:47.716 --> 0:21:50.436 I believe that the benefit that will bring in terms 0:21:50.476 --> 0:21:56.076 of bringing great, accessible, nutritious food that helps to regenerate 0:21:56.076 --> 0:21:59.796 our land. That is a vision that is not unattainable, 0:21:59.956 --> 0:22:03.636 and I find it very very attractive. So trust him. 0:22:03.676 --> 0:22:06.076 If somebody is listening into this and feels like very 0:22:06.116 --> 0:22:09.276 motivated to reduce the impact, what are five things that 0:22:09.316 --> 0:22:14.076 they can do today? Buy less? That is the first 0:22:14.116 --> 0:22:20.996 thing that everyone can do. Buy less stuff. Number two, 0:22:22.036 --> 0:22:28.236 when you've bought food, just make sure every morsel is eaten. 0:22:29.076 --> 0:22:32.716 Think of the value in that food, and is sure 0:22:32.796 --> 0:22:37.276 that you squeeze every last bit out of that. Number 0:22:37.316 --> 0:22:40.476 Three make it fun. My motto is, if you want 0:22:40.516 --> 0:22:43.396 to change the world for a better party than the 0:22:43.396 --> 0:22:47.276 people destroying it, that's such a good motto. I want 0:22:47.276 --> 0:22:54.156 to steal that. Number four, change where you buy your food. 0:22:54.796 --> 0:22:59.676 There are businesses and farms producing food in a way 0:22:59.716 --> 0:23:02.836 that looks after the health of the planet and looks 0:23:02.876 --> 0:23:07.156 after your health. Those are where we need to gravitate 0:23:07.516 --> 0:23:11.116 and give our money to, and not the massive corporations 0:23:11.156 --> 0:23:16.796 that are stripping the earth. Bear. Yeah. Number five, eat 0:23:16.916 --> 0:23:21.676 more plants and less meat and dairy products. That is 0:23:22.076 --> 0:23:25.996 a very simple shift that we can all do to 0:23:25.996 --> 0:23:30.436 our own degree, and that will massively increase the efficiency 0:23:30.756 --> 0:23:33.596 and reduce the harm that we do through our food 0:23:33.716 --> 0:23:39.156 production system. Is there anything else that I didn't ask 0:23:39.196 --> 0:23:41.796 that you'd like to say? You can wash that food 0:23:41.836 --> 0:23:47.436 down with a can of toastale and thereby help to 0:23:47.956 --> 0:23:50.596 fund the great work of all the NGOs that are 0:23:50.596 --> 0:23:53.636 trying to solve this massive problem on behalf of us. 0:23:53.676 --> 0:23:59.756 All the realization that we are in an extinction event 0:23:59.836 --> 0:24:02.436 and humans may be on the way out, well, that's 0:24:02.436 --> 0:24:07.156 obviously dark and frightening, But as Tristram says, the smaller 0:24:07.196 --> 0:24:10.356 our odds of making it through, the more people who 0:24:10.356 --> 0:24:12.956 will join in the fight, so we better make it fun. 0:24:13.476 --> 0:24:15.996 When I think about how best to help instead of 0:24:16.076 --> 0:24:18.756 hurt the environment, it's often something I need to stop doing. 0:24:19.196 --> 0:24:22.276 Don't fly, don't eat meat, don't buy fast fashion, and 0:24:22.396 --> 0:24:25.716 that's all good. But what I love about Tristram's philosophy 0:24:25.756 --> 0:24:29.916 is that it's so positive. Use everything, enjoy it, Support 0:24:29.996 --> 0:24:33.156 farmers where you can. And obviously he's speaking to those 0:24:33.196 --> 0:24:35.476 of us who are lucky enough to even have a 0:24:35.636 --> 0:24:39.556 personal choice, people who have an abundance of snacks everywhere 0:24:39.556 --> 0:24:42.636 we look. In future episodes of Solvable, we're going to 0:24:42.716 --> 0:24:45.956 look at food waste in less fortunate parts of the world, 0:24:46.476 --> 0:24:49.756 where food is lost not because people don't like brown bananas, 0:24:50.156 --> 0:24:53.796 but because of poor infrastructure. The food spoils before it 0:24:53.876 --> 0:24:57.196 even reaches them. But there's a solvable for that too, 0:24:57.276 --> 0:25:05.076 so keep listening. Solvable is a collaboration between Pushkin Industries 0:25:05.116 --> 0:25:08.756 and the Rockefella Foundation, with production by Chalk and Blade. 0:25:09.236 --> 0:25:14.036 Pushkin's executive producer is Mia LaBelle. Engineering by Jason Gambrell 0:25:14.156 --> 0:25:18.596 and the fine folks at GSI Studios. Original music composed 0:25:18.596 --> 0:25:22.636 by Pascal Wise. Special thanks to Maggie Taylor, Heather Faine, 0:25:22.996 --> 0:25:28.596 Julia Barton, Carlie Migliori, Sheriff Vincent, Jacob Weisberg, and Malcolm Gladwell. 0:25:29.076 --> 0:25:32.276 You can learn more about solving Today's biggest problems at 0:25:32.396 --> 0:25:37.756 Rockefeller Foundation dot org slash solvable. I'm Mave Higgins, Now 0:25:37.796 --> 0:25:48.316 go solve it. Oh are you still here? I wanted 0:25:48.356 --> 0:25:50.796 to leave you with this little gem that we found 0:25:50.956 --> 0:25:55.676 from a French campaign called Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables. This 0:25:55.916 --> 0:25:59.596 is the ugly carrot. I want you to ask yourself 0:26:00.036 --> 0:26:03.516 what defines you? Is it your taste? Is it your texture? 0:26:03.996 --> 0:26:08.836 Is it what you're made of? Potassium, iron, calcium, Vitamin ABC? 0:26:09.476 --> 0:26:13.756 Even kay you have them all. You have everything that 0:26:13.796 --> 0:26:17.276 other fruits and vegetables have. You can be whatever you 0:26:17.316 --> 0:26:21.516 want to be, juice, soup, stew, you name it. Who 0:26:21.596 --> 0:26:26.076 says you're not eligible for supermarkets? Who? You got to 0:26:26.116 --> 0:26:30.876 stop believing in yourself otherwise nobody else will when you'll 0:26:30.916 --> 0:26:33.716 be lined up in boxes that supermarkets. I want you 0:26:33.796 --> 0:26:37.716 to stand upright and feel proud but what you are, 0:26:38.236 --> 0:26:41.356 because there's nothing wrong in being ugly.