America's Growing Social Consciusness

The New Age of Helping

Yesterday I wrote a bit about how McDonalds is losing favor with the American public due in part to it's poor treatment of employees. But I believe that this is just one small piece in a new and growing trend in our society. It appears to me that in a large sense, Americans are beginning to care about one another. You may not believe me or see this yourself yet, but I think this is just the beginning.

Sometime around 2008 something really fundamental changed here in the United States. For the first time in many decades financial hardship hit Americans and it hit them hard. Almost nobody was immune from the effects of the financial crisis. People who had worked hard for their whole lives saw their retirement savings dry up, people watched their neighbors forced out of their homes through foreclosure and many who never thought they would have to worry realized that they suddenly did.

It Really Changed Us

As so many Americans felt the ground shift beneath their feet, they began to realize, whether consciously or not, that they were perhaps more fortunate than they had ever thought. Those whose lives were not destroyed by the crisis realized that perhaps it was not money that determined someone's social value. Instead of building walls of class stratification higher and higher to hide behind, Americans have just started looking over the walls. 

Even as the economy has rebounded, news coverage still focuses on the less fortunate. Instead of ignoring the problems that plague poor Americans, we have begun to really look at them more critically. Restaurants such as Panera have experimented with "pay what you can" models and many other businesses have begun looking for ways to contribute more actively to society. At the same time, many states and even individual cities are pushing to raise the minimum wage so that more Americans can live with dignity.

At the same time, as was the case with McDonalds, Americans have begun to shy away from companies that treat workers unfairly. Fast food sales are dropping and customers are staying away from these stores in protest. Companies such as Walmart which are known for poor employee practices are also suffering in this country. Americans are demanding more equality and fairness. 

The Sharing Economy

One other sign of this growing trend is the rise of the "sharing economy." Essentially this means that people are opening up their personal lives a bit more to strangers around them. There are many companies that provide examples of this. Airbnb, for example, allows people to rent out rooms in their homes for short periods of time for vacationers. Aside from homes, people are sharing cars, food, space and even clothing with one another. 

Just the Beginning

This trend is only beginning to take root in America, but it has the potential to really shape the way that we exist in the world. We could end up becoming more like the socially inter-dependent countries of Northern Europe. But no matter what actually happens, we are in an exciting time where we have begun to think about some of the issues that matter the most.

Mealku: Urban Food Sharing

Mealku Food Sharing Application

As a sign of just how interconnected we are becoming, New York City has an ambitious new company called Mealku that is striving to promote the sharing of food among strangers. In the past we have seen other somewhat intimate forms of sharing. ZipCar allows strangers to share cars, Airbnb allows strangers to share their homes and decades old consignment shops allow strangers to share clothes. Many of these ideas have seemed controversial at first but have proved to be extremely beneficial to all parties involved. Meal-sharing brings the amount of trust and concern to a whole new level, but it will likely still be a great new innovation.

How Mealku Works

Before discussing why Mealku is such a great idea, we should look at exactly how it works. Right now, the company exists only in New York City but has plans to expand to other cities in the near future; food sharing can only reach it's niche market in large cities. The concept behind Mealku is that most people prepare more food than they can eat at once. Inevitably that leaves the average person with leftovers. You are then faced with a choice. Do you keep eating the same meal for several days and get sick of it, or do you throw away the leftovers? 

What if there were another option? Rather than throwing away those extra tacos or eating them for days, what if you could give them away? That's the idea behind Mealku. When you have made extra food, you can display it on the Mealku app for other users to see. You earn points for the food that you put onto the app.

Now the other side. You are a busy person and you are very hungry. There are plenty of places to get fast-food but you would much rather cook a healthy meal for yourself. But you just don't have time. The Mealku app allows you to choose fast-food like speed options that have been home prepared by other people. You see the tacos and think wow I would love a taco and so you order one.

Mealku delivery staff bridge the gap between the cook and the consumer by picking up the food from one location and delivering it to the next, free of charge. The cook earns points by cooking and the consumer spends points to buy food. You don't need to cook to earn points, you can also use money. The point system is intended to reward cooks. Another note is that Mealku will inspect your kitchen before allowing you to cook, this is intended to provide a quality control.

Mealku's Benefits

As people start to use Mealku, we begin to as a society realize great benefits. First and foremost we reduce food waste. Every year millions and millions of tons of food that could be eaten are just thrown away. Companies like Mealku can cut into these numbers and increase the efficiency of our food distribution system. On a large scale, bringing alignment between food supply and demand could help to control food prices and ensure that everybody gets fed. This is so important but until now it has been hard to achieve.

The large scale gains translate into economic benefits for everyone involved. It costs extra money to purchase and cook food that you ultimately throw away. It also wastes your precious time. Assume 20% of your food is extra and becomes wasted. If you spend $100 per week on groceries you are essentially shredding $20 per week, $80 per month, $1040 per year! Now you can recuperate these losses because someone else is paying you for these excesses. 

Finally we should look at the health benefits. By engaging with a company like Mealku we reduce our reliance on fast-food. Rather than eating quick unhealthy food from McDonalds, you now have the option of getting quick healthy food via Mealku. Think about how much healthier we could be if everyone stopped eating at fast-food restaurants. Even if you were the type of person to avoid fast-food, you may sometimes be stuck eating leftovers. It is important to have a balanced diet and so removing repetition from meals is a great way to make sure that all food groups are being covered.