The following is the process book for Shannon Claire Hickman’s thesis project of Spring 2015, titled “WasteLess”. Shannon’s chosen major is Digital Design, with a focus on User-Experience/User-Interface Design. This is why she chose to make her thesis project an interactive experience, that challenges human behavior and addresses issues of sustainability; both of which are major concerns of hers. http://shannonclairehickman.com/
OVERVIEW To say that a lot of food goes to waste in the United States is putting it lightly. In fact, an estimated 40% of the food produced is tossed right into the garbage, equating to about 20 pounds of food wasted per person every month. It’s not just food that’s being wasted, there’s money that’s being tossed as well, and the amount is shocking. According to Jonathan Bloom’s book “American Wasteland”, a combined $165 billion are spent on food that becomes trash, which costs the average 4-person household up to over $2,200 a year. From an economic perspective, these figures make sense when the process of growing, transporting, selling and buying come into the picture. There are greater repercussions when it comes to food waste than simply money. Some of the main problems are world hunger, climate change from carbon emissions, water waste, and ethical problems including animal exploitation and landfill usage.
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These are all issues that most Americans are well aware of, yet they have difficulty in realizing how they are contributing to these problems daily. The purpose of this proposed solution is to make people aware of the repercussions of food waste and to recommend ways to make more responsible decisions in the future.