Writing Samples

Among the various functions I hoped this website would fulfill, using it as a central location for a collection of writing samples was important. As my career as a writer and creator expands, it makes sense to put lots of types of writing in one place so folks can get a sense of what I am able to produce.

The More Writing section of this website is designated for this purpose. The section includes several types of writing, including a monthly column I wrote while working for the Marquette Food Co-op, and a few academic papers on things like corporate sustainability, lab grown meat, and animal ethics. Finally, I have included a section for poetry and a letter to the editor which have been published online.

If you’re curious about my writing background, I encourage you to check them all out! Also, if you have further questions about these or other things I’ve written I would love to hear from you. You can message me on my LinkedIn Page or email me here.

Food Waste: A letter to the Editor

The following is a letter to the editor I wrote which was published in the Boulder Daily Camera on October 19, 2017.

Did you know that up to 40 percent of food in the U.S. is thrown away while over 40 million Americans struggle with hunger annually? Aside from hunger, the slower-moving catastrophe tied into food waste comes from the waste itself — as much as 25 percent of the nation's water use is tied up in wasted food, and the same can be said for greenhouse gas emissions. The issue of methane seep from rotting food in landfills exacerbates the issue further. The majority of this food waste comes from households, followed by commercial waste — mainly grocery stores and restaurants. Why, one may ask, do we not simply pass a law that enables businesses to donate this excess food to the needy? The fact is, we did already. President Clinton signed the "Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Act of 1996," which protected food donators from liability except in cases of gross negligence. What can we do? In addition to composting food waste at home and shopping more frequently and carefully to avoid overstocking and throwing out old food, we must start demanding that grocery stores and restaurants take advantage of the Emerson Good Samaritan Food Act fully. By patronizing and publicly praising food businesses whose practices include regular food donation, and avoiding and shaming those who simply throw food away (the worst) or dump it into compost (better, but ignores hunger), we as consumers can extend our impact beyond our own kitchen and mitigate the redundant horrors of food waste and local hunger.

Read the letter on the Daily Camera website here.

Locavore Delivery - Analysis

Analysis of Locavore Delivery Business Strategy

(This is an analysis of the business structure, marketing strategy, and operations of Locavore Delivery. For more background, check out their website and my interview with the Founder Craig Taber.)

The power of tapping into local food markets has become a mainstay of food innovators and  food giants like Wal-Mart and Whole Foods. On the other end of the spectrum, working directly with a farm through a local CSA is a great way to get fresh, local produce. But what about us carnivores who want to go local?

Locavore Delivery is bridging the gap between the local food scene and the meat lovers of the Front Range, through a dynamic and customizable home delivery system. According to their founder Craig Taber, the company has seen double digit growth in revenue over the past few years. The truly surprising thing about this figure? Locavore Delivery does almost no inbound marketing. In fact, Taber attributes the company's success to word of mouth.

This marketing piece fits well into the overall strategy of LD, that being a lean organization focused on consumer satisfaction and high product integrity. The key to the organization's functional strategy in keeping both customers and producers happy is based in their core values. Commitment to valuing and maintaining personal connection with both producers and customers and having high quality product that is rooted in animal welfare and environmentally responsible practices form the basis of the business.
 

Locavore Delivery is at its operational core a logistics business. By ensuring on-time delivery of product, positive and timely interactions with producers and processors, and careful management and maintenance of cold chain and food safety protocols, a baseline of reliability buttresses the company's primary selling point: great local meat. By offering a one-stop shop for local meat products at an affordable price, LD's differentiator is a combination of convenience, quality, and the extra special feeling of participating in a truly local transaction.

One of the interesting strategic decisions which Craig spoke to me about was the exclusion of any particular certification or labeling schemes in conjunction with his products. By eschewing the trendy, marketing-friendly labels such as USDA Organic or 100% Grass Fed
Locavore Delivery is making a statement. It is not as simple as valuing "Local" above all other considerations. Craig pointed to a specific example wherein a producer was ineligible for a certification due to what came down to a technicality. But this was incidental. Instead of relying on certifications whose integrity is potentially subject to political vagaries, LD has a personal relationship with each producer. The service's customers have the opportunity to physically visit the site where the animals were raised, which for a select but growing class of sustainability-minded consumers, is the only way to go.

Mad Ag - Analysis

Analysis of MAD AG Business Strategy

(This is an analysis of the business structure, organizational behavior, strategy, and ethics of Mad Agriculture. For more background on Mad Ag, read their website and my interview with the Founder Phil Taylor.)

Phil Taylor's Mad Ag non-profit is a unique non/for-profit hybrid as described by Phil himself. The capacity to rapidly pivot and spin off for-profit models based on the success of research and development fostered by the not for profit side of the organization is a core competency for Mad Ag. The strategy of diversifying revenue streams, which Phil mentions explicitly in the context of farming, is obviously also being implemented at Mad Agriculture.

The two technical innovations which may have a marketable potential are regenerative heritage grain cultivation and regenerative animal pasture supplement. [Check out this link if you're not familiar with the concept of "regenerative agriculture".]

Heritage and perennial grains have gained notoriety and buzz recently, and by partnering with the Noble Grain Alliance, Mad Agriculture is getting in on the grain train. The perennial grain kernza has been used in Patagonia Provision's Long Root Ale, a product whose appeal aligns with the regenerative agriculture movement. By choosing a perennial wheat instead of an annual, Patagonia is supporting agricultural practices which sequester carbon much more effectively in addition to reducing erosion. As interest in heritage and perennial grains grows, Mad Ag will be well positioned to help expand genuinely regenerative production alongside the Noble Grain Alliance.

The potential competitive advantage in forming a new category like "Regenerative Pasture Supplement" is a substantial incentive for innovation, alongside a substantial risk. The new product category's value chain is defined by sequestering carbon while avoiding negative externalities such as overfishing, soil erosion, and poor animal welfare. Additionally, by using food waste as a food source for the black soldier flies which eventually end up in the product, this innovation embodies the circular economy concept.

Learn more about this process at Mad Agriculture's website.

This ethics-driven product has the potential to radically change how we think about feeding animals. By redirecting the derivations of major inputs to socially and environmentally responsible sources, Mad Agriculture is poised to deliver high value to its customers while simultaneously laying the groundwork for reorienting two major sources of food-related environmental problems, namely GHG emissions associated with conventional grain production, and overfishing for fish meal production. It is innovations like this that will help us transition to the dynamic and sustainable food system we need in order to feed the world's growing population.

Author Background - MENV

In addition to producing this blog for my own interest and enrichment, I am using it to cover part of a class assignment as I pursue a Masters of the Environment (MENV) degree with a specialization in Sustainable Food Systems. The MENV program is a professional masters program, meaning the focus is on imbuing skills to be put to use in the professional world, as opposed to studying an academic subject from a purely research and analysis basis.

The centerpiece of the MENV program is a capstone project which is done in conjunction with an external partner, usually a local municipality, non-profit or business. At the moment my team of 3 and I are engaged in a capstone project with Boulder Organic Foods, a Boulder based refrigerated soup company which emphasizes organic and gluten-free ingredients and a passion for freshness and quality.

The MENV program includes 3 specializations in addition to Sustainable Food Systems, including Environmental Policy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy, and Sustainability Planning and Management. Other capstone project groups are working with diverse organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Rocky Mountain Institute, Boulder County Sustainability Office, Regional Transit District - Denver, Outdoor Industry Association, and many others.

Just about a year ago I was living in Michigan and working at the Marquette Food Co-op (read more about MFC), wondering what the future held for me. Today I am roughly half way through with my Masters program at University of Colorado Boulder. The transitions from worker to student (and soon, back to worker) and from the flat watery Midwest to the doorstep of the Rockies were swift and dizzying, but essential to my success.