But for some, in fact many, New Yorkers, there is often not enough to go around—at least when it comes to the last of those things: food.
The food charity Feeding America estimates that 1 in 8 New York City residents suffer from hunger. For children, that number is 1 in 5.
But one app is trying to change this.
Transfernation, which brands itself as "NYC's first tech-based, on demand food redistribution system," has been making significant strides to tackle the pernicious issue of food insecurity—by taking it online.
Their online platform allows corporate and social institutions to easily donate excess food from large events to local feeding programs.
Global Citizen spoke with Transfernation Co-Founders Hannah Dehradunwala and Samir Goel to see what's new with Transfernation, and how their work is changing communities for the better:
Transfernation
It's been over two years since you last spoke with Global Citizen. How has Transfernation changed over time?
Our mission, of course, is still the same, but we've almost completely changed the way that we operate. Two years ago, we were using volunteers to complete our pickups and a manual system of communicating with them. Our pickups are now completed by paid, independent contractors instead of volunteers, which allows us to partner with existing transportation networks, work outside of the confines of a 9-5 work day, and facilitates our on-demand pickups.
We also launched our app for iOS! The app works like Uber, but for food instead of passengers. Food donors are able to reach our base of contractors in real-time and schedule pickups on-demand and contractors receive push notifications for pickups in their vicinity. It completely removes the middleman and all of the manpower it takes to coordinate logistics.
Transfernation
Has the app succeeded at bringing excess food to more people in need?
The number of people requesting food pickups has spiked since our app was introduced. Many food donors don't want to go through the hassle of having to call or e-mail to schedule pickups. Using the app, it takes less than 5 minutes to send out a pickup request.
The app has helped paid opportunities to do good and reach populations that we could not have reached manually. Many of the individuals completing our pickups on a regular basis are people who have experienced homelessness or major financial setbacks and are actively trying to re-enter the workforce.
The massive amounts of extra food in cities isn't just an opportunity to fuel shelter feeding programs, it's a valuable economic opportunity.
Transfernation
How many people have you been able to feed over the last few years?
This past year Transfernation has seen exponential growth compared to any priors years. Through our new automated system we have rescued more than 165,000 pounds of food in a single year and provided approximately 140,000 meals in 2017. This is more than triple than what we were able to accomplish between 2015 and 2016 combined! Moving forward we to aim to maintain a similar growth rate.
Transfernation
How much do you pay contractors?
Today our independent contractors make between $30 and $45 dollars per hour. Many of our independent contractors or "food rescuers" are people that work at or rely upon the New York City shelter system. Transfernation has become an important source of income for them and empowers them to play a critical role in fixing a problem they've experienced first-hand. As a result, we received one of our favorite nicknames at Crossroads Community Center: the People Who Bring the Good Stuff. In total we work closely with eight local New York City shelters of which three rely entirely upon donations from Transfernation.
What have been some of your biggest challenges to growing, and how have you overcome them?
Every phase of growth comes with an entirely new set of challenges. The upside is that these challenges help us think critically about how we can continue to scale in a financially sound, sustainable way.
We recently transitioned our operations from being entirely manual to be being entirely technology-driven. Our approach was to test the app with a small beta group who were part of Transfernation's core contractor base. We've been testing for about six months and it's given us valuable feedback on what works and what doesn't without risking our entire operation.
Lastly, balancing the logistics of an on-demand pickup service has always been tricky. Because we are currently the only service in NYC that picks up food donations on-demand, we've found that the best way to do it is to partner with existing transportation infrastructures. That way, we can ensure that if a donor requests a pickup, we can be there within the hour to take it to a local shelter.
What's next for Transfernation? Do you plan on expanding even further?
Right now, we're in the process of launching a marketing campaign for our app, building our food donor base and exploring partnerships with existing transportation companies. As we grow our team, we are looking to expand into other cities where the population and business density and shelter networks can support this model—in short, nearly every urban market globally. As short term next destinations, we're looking at Washington DC and Chicago.
Reposted with permission from our media associate Global Citizen.
That's a question that baffled Karissa Lindstrand, the fisherman who spotted the uncanny image during a lobster haul, according to the Guardian. Lindstrand happens to drink up to a dozen Pepsi sodas a day, but she was struck by the image's unusual dimensions.
It was pixelated, she told the Guardian, and far too big to be seen on a soda can—theoretically debunking claims that the lobster grew up in a can. She's not the only one to question how the logo got there. Since the image went viral, it's sparked a debate on how a lobster became an unwitting mascot of a soda giant, the Guardian noted.
Lindstrand, for example, thinks that ink from a piece of paper somehow fused to the lobster's claw.
One thing, however, is clear to everyone—plastic pollution in the world's oceans has reached a crisis level.
Each year, an estimated eight million metric tons of plastic enter the oceans each year, which is like emptying a garbage truck of plastic into an ocean every minute.
This pollution affects marine life in a number of ways, according to experts, by poisoning animals, choking them, entangling them, causing deformities, and through other consequences.
Because these problems are taking place in the oceans, they're largely out-of-sight. Until, that is, a strange or grotesque image that distills the issue goes viral.
That's what happened with the Pepsi lobster. And that's what happened to these other animals.
1. Turtle With Straw Stuck in Its Nose
Billions of plastic straws are used each day and the vast majority are thrown away, never to be reused. A lot of this waste gets washed into the oceans, where it threatens marine life.
One of these straws got stuck in a sea turtle's nose, causing pain and impairing its breathing.
2. Otter With a Cable Tie Around Its Neck
This #otter was spotted in a #Dorset river yesterday - the cable tie is not a fashion accessory. Discarded waste ca… https://t.co/7jaOPEQoxk— UK Wild Otter Trust (@UK Wild Otter Trust)1511710965.0
Cable ties can be hard to loosen if you don't have the right tools or the right knowledge. Otters are probably not savvy enough to manipulate cable ties, so when this otter was spotted with one tied around its neck, it caused concern that the creature was endangered. People feared that either the cable tie could get stuck on something, causing the otter to drown, or it could unintentionally tighten, causing the otter to suffocate.
Either way, the cable tie should never have been in Britain's River Stour in the first place.
3. Turtle Tangled in a Net
WWF / Michael Gunther
When fishing nets are discarded in oceans, they don't stop catching creatures. In fact, up to 300,000 small whales, dolphins, and porpoises get entangled and killed by discarded nets each year. The single biggest threat to sea turtles, according to the World Wildlife Fund, is bycatch, including discarded nets.
Many creatures get entangled in nets while they're young and become deformed or injured as the net constrains their growth later in life.
This turtle was severely entangled but was lucky enough to be cut free.
4. Birds Feeding on Plastic Waste
Greenpeace UK
As the world's oceans get simultaneously plumbed of fish and filled with plastic, many creatures that depend on oceans for food eat plastic waste by mistake.
While David Attenborough's "Blue Planet II" team was filming, they captured a sad sight—a bird feeding its young a piece of plastic.
Birds throughout the world die from consuming plastic because it can clog their stomachs or leach poisons into their bodies.
5. Whale With Plastic Bags in Its Stomach
Creatures of all sizes can accidentally ingest plastic as they search for food. When a dying and emaciated whale was found off the coast of Norway, scientists and locals were shocked but not surprised to find more than 30 plastic bags in the whale's stomachs. The bags were thought to have obstructed the whale's digestive system, causing it to starve.
vladeb / Flickr
In fact, the number of world heritage sites—places of supreme natural splendor and biodiversity—threatened by climate change has nearly doubled in the past three years, going from 35 in 2014 to 62 in 2017, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
The threats facing these places are many—invasive species, logging, fires, tourism, urban sprawl, water pollution and more.
But the threat with the greatest potential for harm is climate change, according to the report.
"Protection of World Heritage sites is an international responsibility of the same governments that have signed up to the Paris agreement," said Inger Andersen, IUCN Director General, in a press release. "This IUCN report sends a clear message ... climate change acts fast and is not sparing the finest treasures of our planet."
The report was released during the third round of international negotiations for the Paris climate agreement, held in Bonn, Germany.
World Heritage Sites are a designation created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Out of more than 220,000 potential sites, only 221 places have received the special distinction.
Serengeti National ParkAnita Ritenour / Flickr
Of the sites, 64 percent have a positive conservation outlook, according to the report by IUCN. These include many places that have rebounded from endangered status, including the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and the Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia.
Some places, such as Thailand's Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex, have benefited from international agreements designed to stem to illegal logging and bolster conservation efforts, according to the report.
Romaine Smith / Flickr
The Comoé National Park in Côte d'Ivoire has also rebounded because of an international effort to contain poaching and illegal gold mining and better manage agricultural practices, the report noted.
This trend of regional cooperation is growing around the world, especially in relation to marine environments. For instance, the number of marine reserves and no-fish zones has skyrocketed in recent years. As of the end of 2016, more than five percent of the world's oceans were under formal protection, compared to one percent in 2007.
Throughout the world, North America remains the region with the best conservation outlook, followed by Oceania and Asia, where the majority of heritage sites are in a good state. The worst conservation outlooks are in Africa, South America, Mesoamerica and the Caribbean, where less than half of heritage sites are adequately protected.
Global Citizen campaigns on the Global Goals, which call for the effective management and conservation of the natural environment. You can take action on this issue here.
While invasive species remain the greatest threat to heritage sites for their ability to crowd out native species and undermine ecosystems, climate change is the most rapidly growing threat.
Rising sea levels from global warming temperatures is pushing saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean into the Everglades, which is killing off large sections of wildlife, including mangroves.
Mangroves in the EvergladesDaniel Hartwig / Flickr
The Great Barrier Reef off Australia, however, may be the clearest example of climate change's destructive capacity.
Rising ocean temperatures have caused nearly 100 percent of the reef's coral colonies to begin bleaching, which is the stage before death, when microscopic algae that provide sustenance and give the plants color are shed.
The Great Barrier Reef is home to thousands of species and is one of the most vibrant ecosystems on Earth.
Richard Ling / Flickr
And its destruction, just like with other World Heritage Sites, would have myriad consequences.
As Tim Badman, Director of IUCN's World Heritage Program, said in a statement:
"Their destruction can thus have devastating consequences that go beyond their exceptional beauty and natural value. In Peru's Huascarán National Park, for example, melting glaciers affect water supplies and contaminate water and soil due to the release of heavy metals previously trapped under ice. This adds to the urgency of our challenge to protect these places."
Reposted with permission from our media associate Global Citizen.