Each year in the United States, we spend $218 billion on the cultivation, transportation and disposal of food that ultimately is wasted. Moreover, while nearly 40 percent of all food is wasted, nearly one in six children in our region goes hungry.
At the next Ethics Table discussion, Michael Robinson, cofounder of Rust Belt Riders, will explain how the organization addresses the problems of food waste. The discussion will be held Friday, March 29, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Thwing Center’s Cleveland Room.
By viewing waste as a locally squandered resource that is valuable for a regenerative food system, the Rust Belt Riders organization says it keeps food waste out of landfills and creates healthy soils that prevent greenhouse gas emissions, sequesters carbon, increases water retention and provides valuable resources to create a more robust local food supply chain.
Partnering with organizations in Northeast Ohio, Rust Belt Riders seeks to embrace the ethics of reciprocity with the land that gives us what we need to survive by ensuring that we’re giving back to the land what the land has given to us.