Leon Hua 340

Appeel is the name of my organization, with the purpose of reducing food waste in the food and agriculture industry by half through the upscaling of food, food products, and food waste that is typically deemed unpalatable in a restaurant setting. In restaurants, it is estimated that half a pound of food is wasted per meal, and approximately 85% of the food that isn’t used in a typical American restaurant is thrown out while only a small percentage is recycled or donated. Learning from sustainable practices (especially those of other cultures), however, it is clear that there is much that can be done about this exorbitant amount of food waste, and Appeel seeks to mitigate those effects to build a world that is not only waste-free, but also food-secure. I am passionate about the work of Appeel first and foremost because I firmly believe in the mission. The world generates at least 3.5 million tons of solid waste every day, and our practices for handling that waste is far from ideal. Tack...

Reading through the quote, phrases like “shared accountability for common human values,” “extend the notion that all men are created equal to every human being on the planet,” and “global structures and products,” really spoke to me. There are few greater “common human values” than the desire to fill your stomach. A massive issue in the world, even with the advent of unfathomable agricultural technology, remains to be food security and access to clean drinking water. And yet, if I am not mistaken, there is more than enough food produced on a daily basis to feed every person alive, and there is ample clean drinking water in the world as well. Given that such is the case, what holds us back from providing adequately for the world? The agriculture industry, at large, is plagued with a plethora of sustainability issues (waste, pollution, water footprint, pesticides and aerosols, and many more) and prioritization of profit over fair distribution. In providing ample food for all, then, it wo...

Is it COVID or not? You wake up on a Friday morning, and you have a slight tickle in your throat that won’t seem to go away. You were supposed to go to class at 11, get lunch with a friend at noon, more class at 2, a club meeting at 7, and a party that night. But should you just cancel all of that now? Your sore throat might just be another sore throat, but remember your friend’s birthday get-together you were at two nights ago where no one was masked? What if it’s COVID? And now you run a very real risk of spreading it to others if you go to your scheduled events of the day. And if you spread it, you’ll be known as “that person that gave me COVID” to a number of people. And no one wants to be that. So you cancel your plans, avoid going to the party, and stay home the entire day, desperately hoping it’s not COVID, but you can’t tell for sure until you lie to TrojanCheck about your symptoms and get tested the next day. All to find out, you are COVID negative and the whole thing was a s...