Food Democracy

Describe your idea and concept of your work in relation to the festival outlines:

My campaign focuses on food wastage as part of food democracy. The campaign is for an event hosted by a zero waste cafe in Melbourne called “Silo by Joost”. The campaign items consist of a printed and online event invite and a poster design. The event will encourage locals living in inner city Melbourne to start thinking about their own food wastage and show them the possibilities of composting within an urban city environment. As part of the month long event, the cafe will host several free cooking classes to teach people how to cook from scratch and thus reduce their waste in the kitchen. The cafe will also encourage local residents (only) to bring in their organic waste to be turned into fertilizer using their on site dehydrator - this process will hopefully open discussion about the benefits of composting and will help give people ideas about starting their own compost at home. During the month there will be other events which will help educate people about the importance of reducing waste, both for environmental concerns and humanity issues. The cafe acts as a perfect example for reducing waste and shows people and other businesses that it is something achievable.

What kind of communication approach do you use?

For my campaign I use socially responsive advertising to communicate the message of food wastage. The cafe that is hosting the event isn’t just promoting the issue of food wastage but is also demonstrating it through daily operation, so it made sense to pair this business with the issue of food waste.

What are in your opinion concrete benefits to the society because of your communication?

On a basic level my communication is informing people about the issue of food wastage, but its main purpose is to encourage people to attend this waste free event. My communication isn’t simply static information on a page, it is a means for greater action and participation in the community. Encouraging interaction between the cafe and the local residents, establishes greater discussion on the topic and creates a back and forth relationship for exchanging information.

What did you personally learn from creating your submitted work?

This project really did open my eyes up to the issue of food democracy, a topic I really hadn’t given much thought to. Food is definitely something I take for granted and I think this assignment has really made me think about how I consume. I was really interested in the topic of food wastage, and like many other people around the world, I am guilty of wasting my food, but had never really thought about the consequences. After completing this project I have learnt just how much of an impact food waste has on the environment. One major concern is the amount of resources that are wasted getting the food from paddock to plate, including water and fuel resources. Another thing I learnt was where the food ends up after it is thrown out. All food waste is put in landfill and creates a toxic greenhouse gas, Methane, which is 25 times more potent then carbon pollution. This is really scary when you consider just how much food the world wastes.

Why is your work, GOOD communication WORK?

I believe my communication can be regarded as GOOD communication as it is both beneficial for the community and for myself, the designer. By using socially responsive communication within my work I have been able to design something that goes beyond commercial advertising. By raising a message/cause within my communication, I am able to educate, inform and help people with this issue and ultimately make some kind of difference within the community, which has a positive effect on me as the designer.

Where and how do you intent do implement your work?

The printed invites would be delivered to local residents and businesses in the area, this invite would also include a voucher to allow them to bring one bag of organic waste to the cafe to be turned into fertilizer. The online invite would be emailed out to people on their mailing list and would also be available as a download online. The posters would be put up within the cafe and around the local area to help promote the event and reach those people who may not have received an invite. Further information about events would be available on the cafe’s website, along with the option to reserve places in their cooking classes.

Did your intervention had an effect on other Media. If yes, describe the effect? (Has other media reported on it- how? Were you able to change other media with your work- how?)

No