food waste

They were abruptly cancelled by the Israeli Prime Minister after Washington did not veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Also: UN investigators accuse the Burmese military of being behind an online hate campaign against the Rohingya minority ahead of a brutal crackdown in 2017, and Bruce Springsteen becomes the first international songwriter to be awarded a UK Ivors Academy Fellowship.

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Bestselling author Michael Easter returns to The Drive to discuss his new book, Scarcity Brain. In this episode, Michael explores the evolutionary backdrop that molded human beings, a setting characterized by scarce food, limited information, and few possessions. He contrasts that with the modern era, marked by abundance and comfort, and the ensuing repercussions on our physical and mental well-being. Michael introduces the concept of the “scarcity loop,” a three-part behavior cycle which helps explain modern challenges such as overeating, addiction, gambling, and materialism, and offers practical strategies to break free from its cycle. The episode culminates in a thought-provoking exploration of happiness, drawing on Michael's experiences with monks and underscoring the value of boredom, exploration, and discomfort as transformative elements that elevate awareness, presence, and the will to live.

We discuss:

• Inspiration for Michael’s latest book, Scarcity Brain [2:15];
• Evolutionary adaptations to the scarcity of food contrasted with the modern obesity crisis [4:00];
• Lessons learned about diet and nutrition from living with hunter-gatherers [9:30];
• The impact of ultra-processed foods on energy balance [20:30];
• Michael’s experience with attempting the hunter-gatherer diet at home [27:30];
• The roots of excess: factors that contribute to overeating and the varied vulnerabilities among individuals [34:00];
• The scarcity loop: how components of the scarcity loop are illustrated in gambling and addiction [39:45];
• Using knowledge of the scarcity loop to break the cycle [50:45];
• The evolutionary drive to acquire material possessions [58:15];
• The benefits of boredom and value of exploration [1:07:00];
• The consequences of an attention economy driven by negativity bias [1:16:30];
• Navigating the world of endless information and the value in “slow information” [1:23:00];
• Defining happiness, and the downward trend in reports of happiness [1:33:00];
• Purpose, austerity, self-reliance and other missing elements of happiness gleaned from the study of monks [1:38:30];
• The value in uncomfortable activities that increase your awareness, presence, and will to live [1:48:45]; and
• More.

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Collaboration is the new competition: that was French entrepreneur Lucie Basch’s philosophy when she approached a group of Danish founders who happened to be working on a similar food waste reduction app. 

Before long, Lucie and her new co-founders joined forces to create Too Good To Go, an app that enables restaurants and grocery stores to sell leftover items in ‘surprise bags’ at a significantly reduced price. Since launching in 2016, Too Good To Go has raised over $30 million dollars and has expanded to 17 countries, including the U.S.

This week on How I Built This Lab, Lucie talks with Guy about her company’s work to leverage the ‘horizontal power’ of consumers to collectively chip away at global food waste. She also discusses the emergence of social enterprises like hers, that fill the gap between charitable and purely profit-driven organizations.

This episode was produced by Sam Paulson, with music by Sam Paulson and Ramtin Arablouei.

Edited by John Isabella, with research help from Lauren Landau Einhorn.

Our audio engineer was Neal Rauch.

You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Millions of Americans don’t have enough to eat — a startling fact considering 40% of the food produced in the U.S. gets thrown away. And a lot of that food… from restaurants, supermarkets, office buildings and more… is perfectly safe to eat. What’s worse is that this discarded food waste produces harmful methane emissions that contribute to global climate change.

Jasmine Crowe-Houston is an entrepreneur who became obsessed with these problems. In 2017, she founded Goodr, which works with businesses to take unused food and deliver it to those who need it. Instead of paying waste management companies to throw surplus food into landfills, businesses can work with Goodr to deliver that food to local nonprofits that get it to people in need. 

This week on How I Built This Lab, Jasmine talks with Guy about solving the logistical challenge of delivering surplus food to people experiencing food insecurity. Plus, the two discuss Jasmine’s decision to launch Goodr as a for-profit organization, and the growing corporate focus on sustainability that’s led to Goodr’s rapid growth.

This episode was produced by Katherine Sypher and edited by John Isabella, with music by Ramtin Arablouei. Our audio engineer was Neal Rauch. 

You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Millions of Americans don’t have enough to eat — a startling fact considering 40% of the food produced in the U.S. gets thrown away. And a lot of that food… from restaurants, supermarkets, office buildings and more… is perfectly safe to eat. What’s worse is that this discarded food waste produces harmful methane emissions that contribute to global climate change.

Jasmine Crowe-Houston is an entrepreneur who became obsessed with these problems. In 2017, she founded Goodr, which works with businesses to take unused food and deliver it to those who need it. Instead of paying waste management companies to throw surplus food into landfills, businesses can work with Goodr to deliver that food to local nonprofits that get it to people in need.

This week on How I Built This Lab, Jasmine talks with Guy about solving the logistical challenge of delivering surplus food to people experiencing food insecurity. Plus, the two discuss Jasmine’s decision to launch Goodr as a for-profit organization, and the growing corporate focus on sustainability that’s led to Goodr’s rapid growth.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Since Sartre classified things that make us happy into the categories of having and doing, science took up the investigation into materialism and experientialism. The results have been in for a while: experiences win by a wide margin, but why exactly?

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