Wasted food in Minnesota annually emits the same greenhouse gas emissions as over 685,000 passenger vehicles driven for one year. Nearly half of this food waste occurs in households — and, at the same time, about one in ten Minnesota households is food insecure.

At our first Second Monday of the 2019-2020 academic year, our panelists will discuss the issue of wasted food at the consumer level of the US food system. They will address how much food is wasted, the environmental and social implications of this waste, the intersection of excess food and hunger relief supply chains, and the opportunities they see for changing our food system to better serve all Americans.

The conversation will feature IonE Fellow Hikaru Peterson of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and Tracey Deutsch of the College of Liberal Arts, as well as representatives from UMN’s Food Recovery Network student group. Our moderator is Jennifer Schmitt, program director and lead scientist of IonE’s NorthStar Initiative for Sustainable Enterprise.

RSVP on Eventbrite*

Join us live on Youtube

*Registered attendees will receive a complimentary registration ($10 value) to the session “Keeping Good Food From Going to Waste” during Food Ag Ideas Week. 

About IonE Second Mondays:

The Institute on the Environment’s Second Monday series brings together a panel of experts – from within the University of Minnesota and beyond – to ask big questions, discuss collaborative projects, and dive into other cross-cutting sustainability issues. Visit our website, and stay tuned for details about our other Second Monday events this semester.