"Waste to Food" revised

I would imagine that anyone who is in the environmental field, and especially those who are great fans of Bill McDonough, is familiar with the concept theory of "waste equals food." The idea is logical, practical and highly beneficial, not to mention "effective." Creating to reuse, throwing "away" our way to a more healthy planet and societal lifestyle.

However, this past week I was presented with a new, more direct way of perpetuating waste equaling food. Whilst sitting in class discussing law and the US Supreme Court for 3 hours of non-stop fun, I was became suddenly distracted and entranced by a strange phenomena taking place in the middle of the room. A fellow summer course student of mine evidently found himself quite hungry and unable to endure the 3 hour class without supplemental nutrition to his 12oz coffee and it seemed that his best and only option was to consume the very cup which had held his morning java.

I mean "why not?!" it's paper (mostly) and paper comes from trees which as we know are organic, living, natural species and thus edible.

The mid-class meal took place in 3 courses; the first was the cardboard-esque cup cozy designed to keep your hand from burning but, unbeknownst to me, also as a small antipasti, then for a change of texture he moved on to nibbling away at the plastic, less natural and highly toxic SOLO top. But after a few minutes of chewing and consuming, this did not satiate his hunger nor his zealous desire to recycle man made products back into the Earth's biological cycle. With 15 minutes left in the class period holding out for a quickly assembled PB&J back at home was out of the question, for the rim of the waxy white bleached paper coffee cup was surely too irresistible.

Needless to say I am without recollection of what material was covered by the brilliantly enthused law professor, but I was, without doubt, inspired by the devotion of my environmentally-driven brother-in-cause.