Public schools in the U.S. generate about 14,500 tons of municipal solid waste daily, and approximately 42% of that is food packaging generated by school foodservice, contributing significantly to the global packaging waste crisis. This literature review summarizes methods used to evaluate food packaging waste in school foodservice. This review has two objectives: first, to understand which methodologies currently exist to evaluate food packaging waste generation and disposal in school foodservice; and second, to describe the creation of and share a practical standardized instrument to evaluate food packaging waste generation and disposal in school foodservice. A systematic review was conducted using the following search terms: solid waste, school, cafeteria and food packaging, waste, and school. The final review included 24 studies conducted in school environments (kindergarten through twelfth grade or college/university), 16 of which took place in the U.S. Food packaging waste evaluations included objective methods of waste audits, models, and secondary data as well as subjective methods of qualitative observations, questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups. Large variation exists in the settings, participants, designs, and methodologies for evaluating school foodservice packaging waste. Lack of standardization was observed even within each methodology (e.g., waste audit). A new instrument is proposed to support comprehensive and replicable data collection, to further the understanding of school foodservice food packaging waste in the U.S., and to reduce environmental harms.

The Water is K’é program was developed to increase water consumption and decrease consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages for young children and caregivers. The pilot program was successfully delivered by three Family and Child Education (FACE) programs on the Navajo Nation using a culturally centered curriculum between 2020 to 2022. The purpose of this research was to understand teacher and caregiver perspectives of program feasibility, acceptability, impact, and other factors influencing beverage behaviors due to the pilot program. Nine caregivers and teachers were interviewed between June 2022 and December 2022, and a study team of four, including three who self-identified as Navajo, analyzed the data using inductive thematic analysis and consensus building to agree on codes. Five themes emerged, including feasibility, acceptability, impact, suggestions for future use of the program, and external factors that influenced water consumption. The analysis showed stakeholders’ strong approval for continuing the program based on impact and acceptability, and identified factors that promote the program and barriers that can be addressed to make the program sustainable. Overall, the Water is K’é program and staff overcame many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic to support healthy behavior change that had a rippled influence among children, caregivers, teachers, and many others.

We developed a culturally-grounded intervention to promote healthy beverage consumption among Navajo children aged 2-5 years. This study, which took place from 2021-2023, evaluated prepost changes in beverage habits and caregiver knowledge and attitudes. Prospective cohort study with prepost evaluation. Children attending participating early child education sites and their primary caregivers were enrolled. Survey data were collected at baseline, during the school year, and immediately after completion of the 4-month intervention. Average daily water intake increased significantly from 17.0 to 22.3 fl oz, P = 0.003. There was no significant change in consumption of other specific beverages, nor in the consumption of all sugar-sweetened beverages combined (P = 0.94). The proportion of caregivers who agreed or strongly agreed that they were knowledgeable about Diné traditions about water increased from 59.3% to 87.0% (P = 0.001). Similarly, those who agreed that Diné traditions about water influenced what drink they offered their children increased from 46.3% to 81.5% (P < 0.001). Our pilot study suggests that a culturally-grounded water promotion program for Navajo families may have a positive impact on strengthening cultural connections among caregivers and increasing water intake among children aged 2-5 years. Further research is needed to evaluate effectiveness.

Summary: Abrupt federal budget cuts and the elimination of select federal programs that support agroecology and value chain coordination have disrupted small-scale food producers and community stakeholders throughout the United States. In April 2025, regional food systems stakeholders in California’s Silicon Valley convened to discuss ways to sustain agroecology and food justice programming in the face of federal funding cuts. Two themes emerged: (1) Regional governments can continue to support entities through local food systems plans; and/or (2) Food system organizations can be equipped with skills to organize for local policy changes. In the long term, sustainable and localized initiatives are warranted.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 initiated a renewed conversation about the relationship between crises, gardening and food security. Through a narrative review, this chapter examines literature on crisis gardening to characterise gardeners, the contexts in which they operate, their motivations and the impacts gardens have on food security. Results for food security impacts, the chapter's focus, are presented at the individual and household level, as well as the community and food system. This chapter makes the argument that the concept of crisis gardening would benefit from considering both acute crises – which are the negative impact of and immediate response to pandemics, recessions, natural disasters and other disasters – and chronic crises, which encompass structural injustices in the food system, environment and society that produce prolonged periods of food insecurity and other forms of precarity. Considering both chronic inequities and their intersection with more acute disasters, this chapter concludes that food sovereignty is likely a more comprehensive framework for assessing gardeners' motivations and outcomes than food security. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->