Brie Berry

Outlines the challenges and opportunities for reducing food waste in Maine through five distinct, yet interrelated, case studies. Focuses on how Maine might create and support a more circular food system that can reduce waste and promote the use of surplus food in agricultural and industrial processes.

Draws upon findings generated during the first year of a five-year interdisciplinary, mixed-methods research project designed to explore the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of reuse in Maine. Findings suggest that Maine does, indeed, have a vibrant but underestimated reuse economy.

Examines the political and economic relationships between urban and rural geographies in the context of secondhand economies. Explores the relationship between rural and urban reuse economies and suggest how future scholars of rural North America might contribute to strengthening and supporting localized reuse practices.

Draws on an historical and ethnographic analysis of vibrant reuse practices in the rural northeastern state. Suggests that any effort to promote reuse would benefit from looking beyond purely economic rationales to attend to matters of place, sociality, and market relationality.

Describes our shared experience of building a writing community of graduate students. Weaves individual stories into our shared narrative to describe how writing matters to us and how it has changed our experiences and relationship with research.  Shows how narratives here have helped us re-encounter writing as a crucial research practice, and we hope that by interacting with these stories, readers will enrich their own sense of the role writing plays in their lives.

Initiates efforts to reduce food waste and address food insecurity in Maine’s K–12 school system, with an emphasis on food redistribution. indicates that schools produce substantial amounts of food waste, but little is known about strategies that schools employ to address food waste, either through formal policy or grassroots efforts. 

Discusses the production of wealth through distributive labor in Maine's secondhand economy. Argues that paying attention to the practices, politics, and value of distribution is critical for understanding wealth in communities perceived to have been left behind by global capitalist systems, particularly as wage labor opportunities and natural resources grow increasingly scarce.