Unit 4: Food and Sustainability

Food waste is a global problem, and in the U.S. we waste an estimated 103 million pounds of food a year. Wasted food means wasted land resources (about 30% of all agricultural land), energy and water, and contributes to environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions.

Dr. de los Reyes discusses in depth the wicked problem of human waste, how systems thinking is essential to understanding and addressing this problem, and how other disciplines and perspectives are also necessary to fully tackle it.

Biological and agricultural engineer Daniela Sofia Jones discusses how she and her colleagues use data analytics, and the growing potential of data analytics to help solve agricultural challenges.

How is NC State working to reduce food waste entering the landfill?

In this talk, NC State’s compost facility operator Matt Ball will dive into how compost is made at NC State, the challenges that come along with organics recycling and how compost is utilized across campus.

The current system to manage phosphorus is extremely inefficient. One major reason relates to the loss of phosphorus from the food chain, where it can transfer to animal wastes and run-off, which can lead to water pollution, algal blooms, eutrophication and fish kills.