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THE HUNGER INDEX
2018 Capstone Project for Interactive Media Arts
@ New York University Shanghai

An interactive web piece that raises awareness of the environmental impact of packaging in the food delivery industry 🛵 in China.

First, you answer some questions about your delivery habits, such as this 👇

Then you play some mini-games 🕹️

Lastly, you get a report about your environmental "foodprint" 🐾

At this point, you are probably thinking: okey it's all great, but why this topic?

There are at least 2️⃣7️⃣2️⃣ 0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣
delivery orders placed daily in China.
Source: 2019 Annual Financial Report by MEITUAN, one of the largest food delivery service provider.
Now suppose every order only comes with one plastic bag 🛍️

The energy it requires to produce these bags would still be enough for a car 🚗 to drive around Earth 7️⃣8️⃣0️⃣ times
Without an effective recycling system, this will soon become too much for planet Earth 🌏 to digest

The takeout-container trash the author collected during a three-week period. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
What do different groups involved in the food delivery process think about this?
To find out, I became a delivery rider 🏍️, because it will let me connect with restaurant owners, platforms and customers.
Here's what I found 👀: Some customers want to be environmentally conscious but can't resist the convenience.
Others think payment 💸 = not my problem anymore.

Some restaurant owners would love to use biodegradable packaging, but worry that customer won't want to pay for it.
For others, keeping cost down is everything 💰

Delivery riders are stuck in the middle with little negotiation power either way.
To them, it is more important that people keep ordering.
