How Ya Like Them Apples?

A few of you kind souls have sent this City Harvest PSA to me, all with the caveat that ‘no apples were wasted in the making of this ad.’

I was pretty skeptical. I mean, how’d they do it? By installing nets on the opposite subway track? By considering feeding rats not wasting?

Oh, right–CGI. There were no real apples, except the one the woman bites into.

It’s a neat use of technology to illustrate just how much food is wasted daily. The subway full of apples makes a powerful visual. And I won’t even complain about the perceived waste because I think City Harvest subtly uses this illusion to draw attention to their cause and NYC food wastage. 

I wonder: how many 747s would they have to digitally fill to depict America‘s daily food waste?

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On a separate note, as the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference enters its last day, what better time to look at the carbon impact of food waste. See page 7 of this newsletter for a piece by Prof. Jan Lundqvist, the senior scientific advisor at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and Josh Paglia, SIWI’s departing communications officer. Lundqvist and SIWI, you may recall, teamed up to publish a 2008 study estimating that we waste half of our food.

Also, let’s hope our leaders pull their acts together and get something done today!