Learning about Sustainability by Reducing Food Waste – #readilearn

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This post is a little different from my usual post in that I am not sharing teaching resources for the first three years of school. Instead, I am sharing information about a food rescue organisation and a sustainability program for Years 5 and 6. While I don’t usually share resources for older classes, I thought this may be useful information to have and to share with your colleagues who teach upper primary classes.

OzHarvest

OzHarvest is an Australian food rescue organisation founded in 2004 by Ronni Kahn. I’m embarrassed to say that I wasn’t aware of it until I read Kahn’s book A Repurposed Life in 2020 and was blown away by her dedication to helping feed people in need by saving surplus food from going to landfill. (A Repurposed Life is a fascinating and inspiring memoir, and I am happy to recommend it.)

After reading her book, I began noticing bins for accepting donations of food in the local shopping centres. I was surprised that I’d never seen them before and wondered how many times I’d walked past them, oblivious.

A quote from the website explains the OzHarvest mission:

“We are committed to halving food waste by 2030, inspiring and influencing others to do the same, and transforming lives through education.”

You can read more about the OzHarvest story and Ronni Kahn on the website here.

This video gives a very brief introduction to Ronni.

Feast

What I really wanted to share with you, though, is the OzHarvest education program called Feast with the goal of ‘Inspiring kids to eat healthy, waste less and be change-makers in their local community.’

As I said earlier, the program is for Years 5 and 6. According to the website, it is a STEM project-based learning program that runs for 7-10 weeks. The program focuses on food and fibre and the cross-curriculum priority of Sustainability.

This video gives a quick introduction to the program.

Continue reading: Learning about Sustainability by Reducing Food Waste – Readilearn

29 thoughts on “Learning about Sustainability by Reducing Food Waste – #readilearn”

    1. Norah Post author

      It’s nice to meet you, John. Thanks for commenting. Your blog looks to have a lot of interesting, useful and life-changing information for readers. I enjoyed reading your about page. One of my fellow bloggers lives and works in Michigan. I’m not sure if you’re from the same part of the state. You could check her out at The Carrot Ranch. https://carrotranch.com/

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  2. calmkate

    So glad to see Ronnie given the long overdue press coverage Norah! This is a wise program for all ages, especially us adults, so it shouldn’t be defined in age brackets 🙂

    I’ve helped feed the homeless for years and Oz Harvest donates heaps, and it really does help! Loved the video giving the background, thanks

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  3. Pingback: Monday Musings…4th April 2022… | Retired? No one told me!

  5. CarolCooks2

    Thank you for sharing this, Norah…the food bins I knew about but it obviously not common practice everywhere it breaks my heart when I see or read about how much food waste there is and yet people are still starving…

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    1. Norah Post author

      It is an excellent organisation and program for kids, Patricia. I think the program for kids is just new, or I’ve just heard about it anyway. Ronni’s memoir is for adults but it would be good if a version was written for kids. I wonder is someone writing it.

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    1. Norah Post author

      Her memoir is wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway, but it’s for adults not kids. It would be good to write a kid’s version though. I wonder if it’s in the pipeline.

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  9. singlikewildflowers

    Wonderful resource! Thanks for sharing this valuable info with us. This would be good to cover with my kiddos. Food waste is a serious issue and teaching kids how to reduce it and to be creative with leftovers is a great life skill.
    Thanks Norah!

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    1. Norah Post author

      Esther, there are some wonderful resources for use at home on the website. Be sure to check them out. The ones for home are free, as far as I can make out.

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  10. petespringerauthor

    Great story, Norah! It’s such a simple concept to not be wasteful with food, but it takes people with forethought like Ronni to figure out solutions.

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