If America is a paradise of abundance and opportunity, it is also a cesspool of absurd waste. Any dining hall or Dunkin’ Donuts employee on trash duty can confirm this, but the enormity of our material surplus is difficult to fathom and its social repercussions resonate deeper than a bag of bagels tossed in a dumpster.

My 1990 Rand McNally Atlas of the World boasts, “In the opinion of many experts, the age-old scourge of hunger could, with global cooperation, be eradicated by the year 2000.” The logic behind this optimism remains sound; the Earth produces enough food to sustain its population, but cooperation among and even within nations is palpably low.

Witness America, where football stadiums full of fresh fruit, veggies and bread are dumped on a daily basis, where we toss enough lumber to build 300,000 homes in landfills every year. This waste of resources defies logic, but often goes unnoticed due to its absurdity.

Fair Foods, a Dorchester-based non-profit, has been working to provide sensible solutions for use and distribution of surplus resources for over 15 years. Six days a week, we ship truckloads of food from regional distribution centers to metro Boston’s poor, helping to feed thousands of families per day.

Through Friday, benches built by our Seats of Consciousness program will be on display at Marsh Plaza In keeping with Fair Foods’ mission of providing sustainable, grassroots service to the city, Seats of Consciousness transforms landfill-bound lumber and paint into tools of art and education. Local youths visit our workshop to learn carpentry, build sturdy benches and decorate them with unique artwork. The benches are then donated to community centers, auctioned or sold to offset our operating costs; selling 40 benches will provide enough to cover overhead for a month.

Fair Foods is no stranger to BU; the Student Food Rescue program delivers over 3000 lbs. of food for us every week, FYSOP sends crews every fall and students volunteer year round. We hope to continue this harmonious relationship by turning Marsh Plaza into a mini lumber yard and, with the help of student and faculty volunteers, process enough wood to build a house to ship to Louisiana — with many more to follow.

Harnessing America’s vast surplus is like pulling in the Leviathan with a fishook; it requires the hard work of many hands. We offer exceeding thanks to Boston University for giving us the time and space for our exhibit, and to the countless student and faculty volunteers who have helped us over the years.

Nancy Jamison

Jason Cammarata

Fair Foods