You can not take any breaks, you are constantly on your feet and during the holidays your workload doubles. Watch an interview for the world’s most difficult job and four other videos that inspired us this month
Tag: youtube
This Video Shows Precisely How Much Food We Waste and Why We Do it
It goes without saying that Americans throw away a lot of food. In fact, roughly 40 percent of the food in this country is completely wasted.
In an effort to drive home this startling fact, YouTube channel MinuteEarth teamed up with families, farmers and YouTube stars to create this video below that shows precisely how much food is wasted in the United States.
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So why do we waste so much food? It’s not just because we hate to eat leftovers. As the video points out, due to industrialized farming practices, food is sometimes left in fields to die because it costs more to harvest than what it’s actually worth. Other times, food is accidentally damaged, spilled or contaminated. And when food gets sent off for packaging and distribution, sometimes it’s rejected solely because it’s not pretty enough — like when a perfectly edible banana is tossed away because it has a few bruises.
It’s also because food in America is actually really cheap compared to the rest of the world. “Part of the problem is that on average, I spend a smaller fraction of my household budget on [food] than in any other country or any other time in history,” says YouTube star CGP Grey. “My spending is spread out over days or weeks so I don’t notice the cost of wasting [food]. But my lack of noticing adds up.”
MORE: This Sandwich Shop’s Ridiculously Small Amount of Waste Will Shock You
Across the country, millions of people (about 1 in 6) do not have enough money for a meal. Imagine how many people would no longer go hungry if we were smarter about uneaten food. At a particularly poignant moment in the video, a man sitting behind a table full of cereal, milk, fruits and vegetables casually shoves half of the food off. “I throw away almost half of you,” he says, “Enough calories to feed 150 million people.”
Wasted food also uses up an incredible amount of natural resources. In the video’s accompanying issue brief, authors Alexander H. Reich and Jonathan A. Foley from the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota write, “Tremendous resources are used to produce uneaten food in the U.S.: 30% of fertilizer, 31% of cropland, 25% of total freshwater consumption, and 2% of total energy consumption.”
And if that didn’t already leave a bad taste in your mouth, as NationSwell previously mentioned, Americans waste 36 million tons of food annually according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which leads to $165 billion in wasted costs.
We must be smarter about the way we eat, and there are many things we can do from eating leftovers and buying food we will actually eat, to food recovery programs. Maybe then, everyone on the planet will know what it’s like to have enough food.
ALSO: New “Mobsters” Are Feeding the Hungry and Cutting Food Waste
This Awesome Dad Uses Special Effects to Turn His Kid Into an Action Hero
Daniel Hashimoto is a dad who thinks his kid is incredibly special. While a lot of parents think that about their children, in this case, it’s kind of true. After all, can yours disappear into a puddle of water or summon fireworks at will?
Hashimoto is actually a Dreamworks Animator who’s created a nifty bunch of YouTube videos starring his son as Action Movie Kid, who can jump across lava and destroy a toy store with a lightsaber. “My 3-year-old kid is awesome,” he writes on his YouTube page. “He gets into some epic situations which remind me that life is an adventure.”
MORE: This Special Comic Book Makes Autistic Kids Feel Like Superheroes
As a post from Uproxx puts it, Hashimoto is the “world’s coolest dad” for making these videos, but there’s just something about watching these clips that strike a chord — and it’s not just because the special effects are impressive and the little boy is inexplicably cute. It’s because we just don’t hear enough about regular dads who love their kids and like to watch them jump, play and destroy. We read so many stories of deadbeat dads, drunk and angry dads, and dads who leave home. But it’s fathers like Hashimoto who should be getting the attention — the hardworking, everyday ones who think their kids really are real-life action heroes.
Donations Pour in After Video of Homeless Man “Winning” the Lottery Goes Viral
Earlier this month, we shared with you the touching story of Eric, the selfless man without a home that “won” the lottery.
A video of the heart-touching event, created by popular online prankster Magic of Rahat, has been watched nearly 15 million times — provoking both grown men and women to cry. Rahat wrote on his Facebook page that he was flooded by so many messages and emails asking how they could help Eric that he set up an online fundraiser where people could donate money.
In less than three weeks, more than 2,600 people donated in excess of $42,000 to the online campaign — a massive $22,000 more than the original goal.
MORE: How You Can Help the Homeless with a Push of a Button
“I’m honestly blown away by your generosity. Stay tuned for a follow-up to see what this money will do for Eric,” Rahat wrote on Facebook. He added, “Regardless if you contributed, your viewership and sharing of this video have helped change a man’s life, and you should feel proud! Thank you!”
After the initial video went viral, Rahat answered questions on a Reddit Ask Me Anything, sharing that he’s taken Eric out to dinner at Olive Garden and even put him up in a hotel for two weeks. He also explained why he set up such an elaborate scheme instead of just giving away the money. (Rahat arranged for a store cashier to pretend that the lottery ticket given to Eric was a $1,000 winner. Eric could barely hold back his disbelief and after counting his money, he turned to Rahat in the most heartwarming way, “I would like to share it.”)
“I wanted to create a moment of magic with him winning the lottery,” Rahat wrote. “I could’ve just went up to him and gave him $1,000, but I wanted to do it in a unique way.”
This Waiter Serves Meals on a Silver Platter to the Homeless
Across this country, millions of people do not have money for food or a home.
While both hunger and homelessness are problems that won’t soon go away, a group of homeless people had their bellies and their hearts filled for a day, thanks to 21-year-old YouTube star DJ Sennett.
Sennett, the creator of popular YouTube channel Public Prank, didn’t just hand out cold cut sandwiches. He went the extra mile of dressing up as a waiter and presenting hearty meals like chicken with green beans on a silver platter. The most touching moment? After DJ presents a chicken dinner to a man down on his luck, the man responds, “I used to eat like this. This will get me through the day.”
MORE: Not Even Brain Cancer Could Stop This 10-Year-Old From Caring About the Homeless
The vlogger — better known for sillier fare such as drinking Windex and scaring the bejesus out of a friend Paranormal Activity-style — has quite the following (more than 500,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel) and receives hundreds of thousands if not millions of views for each of his uploads. And now, as Sennett told Good Morning America, he’s turned over a new leaf and plans to use his clout for good.
ALSO: What These D.C. City Workers Are Doing Will Make You Smile
“When I started the channel in high school it was just kind of messing around doing stupid stuff, but it’s turned into something now where I realize I have an audience and I have a voice with it,” Sennett told GMA. “This one has led me to realize I can do something more with it than just be silly on camera.”
“It’s inspired me to come up with creative things that are not only funny to people but that have a message behind them,” he added.
By the looks of his most recent work, it appears he’s off to an amazing start.
Watch a Month’s Worth of Inspiration in 2 Minutes
With a Lego kit, a thumbtack and a few supplies from Home Depot, 12-year-old Shubham Banerjee built a budget-friendly Braille printer to help the visually impaired read. Watch this and four other amazing videos that inspired us in this month.