FOOD WASTE AND YOU - TOURISM’S IMPACT ON THE DEVELOPING WORLD

October 26th, 2018

On Friday, October 26th, Dr. Jamie Murphy Adjunct Professor and Research Fellow for the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Western Australia. Dr. Murphy has been focusing his research in the past couple of years on the importance of sustainable practices in the Tourism industry, doing research across the globe and learning what techniques are working and which techniques are falling short.

Dr. Murphy has given invited/keynote presentations on six continents and taught tourism/hospitality at Essec, Florida State University and the Lausanne Hotel School and taught marketing at the University of Western Australia. Prof Murphy’s diverse industry background includes European Marketing Manager for PowerBar and Greg Lemond Bicycles, Lead Academic for the Google Online Marketing Challenge, dozens of New York Times and Wall Street Journal stories, restaurateur and F&B manager in Yellowstone National Park.

In his presentation, “The Quest to Research and Reduce Food Waste in Events, Hospitality, and Tourism” we brought up the topics many don’t think about when planning events or booking a stay in a different destination. Food Waste has become one of the most prominent issues across the globe as our facilities are not capable of processing, sorting, and reusing of this disposed material. Through the use of various recycling efforts, composting, and public policy, slow changes will come to the sustainability part of the Tourism industry, but we each need to do our part!

This brown bag seminar reviews Professor Murphy's sustainability passion, food waste in hospitality, events and tourism. The United Nations’ 12th of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, responsible consumption and production, has led the UN, the United States and Australia, among others, to target halving their food waste--about $2.6 trillion a year globally in economic, social and environmental costs--by 2030. Hospitality, events and tourism have a major role in reaching these ambitious goals, particularly as the United Nations designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. Personally and professionally, discover how industry and academia can tackle four food waste priority areas for a better future--policy support, business improvements, market development and behavior change--to research and reduce food waste in events, hospitality and tourism.