C.1: "Waste = Food" and "Peecycling"

This diagram portrays the concepts of "Cradle to Cradle," "circular economy" and "closing the loop." With nature as a model, waste is viewed not as an end-product but as part of an ongoing cycle (hence the film title Waste = Food).

PREPARATION

1. Read this session all the way through. Scripted language in highlighting is offered as guidance; feel free to deviate as you see fit.
2. In advance, send reminder email to attendees. Here is a template for your email. Include the request for volunteers if this is your first session together and/or if you don't already have a volunteer for leading the table grace. Hopefully, you'll hear from at least one participant who is willing. Thank your selected volunteer, and thank any others for their willingness. (You may want to assign the others to lead the table grace in subsequent sessions.)
3. If any participants notify you of dietary restrictions, send out a follow-up email using this template.
4. Arrange for the necessary viewing equipment. Obtain the videos to be shown.
"Waste = Food" on DVD is sold here with a license for institutional use. It's also viewable on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pwCFH1LkCw
"Peecycling" is viewable here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCV3kWhjfI4
5. Do a trial run to resolve any technical difficulties in advance.
6. Obtain nametags or nametag-making materials (including low-odor markers).
7. Create enough signage to help participants find the meeting space. With a wide marker, add arrows pointing left, right, or ahead as needed.

8. On an index card, write the table grace provided below.

Welcome to the potluck!   (40-60 minutes)

Arrive early enough to post signage and set up your meeting space.
As participants arrive, greet them and invite them to make a nametag.
Give index card to participant who has volunteered to lead the table grace.
To the assembled group, say: Welcome [back] to DOVE! We're excited to be offering this series of potlucks and film discussions. Let's serve the food, say grace, and then while we're enjoying dinner, we can do introductions.

After everyone is seated, announce: _______ has volunteered to lead our table grace. 
The part we all say together is, “We give thanks.” 

For the many people, near and far,
who plant and pick and deliver our food,
We give thanks.
For the earth and rain and sun that sustain us,
We give thanks.
For this day, this meal, and this joyful time together,
We give thanks.


After grace say: Let's go around the table, introduce ourselves and say something about the food we brought. I’ll go first, to model.  My name is _____ , I’m participating in DOVE because ________   (take this opportunity to describe any background or qualifications you have that are relevant to your role as a DOVE facilitator) and tonight I brought ________ .
Let each participant take a turn doing the same.

When the meal is finished, announce: Let's get the movie started now so we'll have some time for discussion afterwards.

Waste = Food   (49 minutes)  Introduce this way: This 2007 documentary explores the "cradle to cradle" concept (as opposed to "cradle to grave") through interviews with its leading proponents, American architect William McDonough and German ecological chemist Michael Braungart. Sustainability is one of the values affirmed in the DOVE curriculum, and even though much of this film is not directly about food, it will inform our post-movie discussion about the ways we produce, package, and serve food.

Tell the group: Right after Waste = Food, we will watch a short ten-minute video called Peecycling and then discuss both afterwards.

Peecycling  (10 minutes)  Introduce this way: Peecycling makes a good companion piece to “Waste = Food.” The Rich Earth Institute is the nation’s first community-scale urine recycling program in Brattleboro, Vermont. In this video, released in 2015, we meet co-founders Abraham Noe-Hays and Kim Nace, who explain that pure urine is safe for fertilizing food crops, but they are conducting controlled agricultural field trials to study the effect of pharmaceutical residuals. 

Discussion   (30 minutes)

Invite participants to share initial thoughts/reactions. Consider using a timer to facilitate the discussion. You can say: Let's give everyone a turn to share your initial thoughts or overall reactions. Take up to two minutes if you like, and it's fine to pass. I'll give you a wave at two minutes. Who will go first?

To stimulate further discussion about Waste = Food, you can pose these questions:

1. Cradle-to-cradle design says that manufacturers' products, when discarded, should either be completely recyclable in the technosphere or become biodegradable food for the biosphere. Can you name ways this principle could be applied to the food sector?
   (Examples: compostable [or edible!] eating-ware or food packaging; waste-reducing stores where customers buy food in bulk; humanure or peecycling technology) 
2. Did you learn anything from Waste = Food that surprised you? Did any parts make you feel hopeful?
3. What factors might be keeping this congregation from becoming a zero-waste congregation, at least in terms of food and food packaging? What is one feasible next step this congregation could take to reduce waste or "close the loop"?

Questions about Peecycling:

1. What's your reaction to what Kim says at the end? She says, "We've just been trained to feel shame about what comes out of our body...we don't want to talk about it, we don't want to think about it. And we need to do both: we need to think about it and talk about it."
2. Has anyone in this group tried fertilizing a garden with urine? If you're interested in trying, this article provides complete instructions: http://www.goveganic.net/article217.html 

Image source: Rich Earth Institute

Next session reminder & check-out  (5 minutes)

Before we end our session tonight, let me remind you that our next meeting will be [date, time] 
Let's conclude now with a brief check-out, which we will do at the end of each DOVE session. How was this session for you? Any positives (things you especially liked)? Any deltas (things you would change)?

Take note of feedback, and thank participants for coming.