Food waste in America is a terrible problem, that needs
to be addressed soon. In stopping food
waste not only will we stop losing 40% of our food supply,
but we will cut down on methane emissions which also causes global warming. I also think that we should not be so willing
to throw out food based solely on its expiration date; this date is an approximate
made by the store so that they know which products need to pushed to the front
of the shelves. As for solutions, the Department of Agriculture there
are a few programs that they are pursuing in order to cut down on our food
waste. Of course, one could say that the
Department of Agriculture started some of these problems themselves with
agricultural subsidies that shaped farmers choices on what they grew. One of these harms is the runoff of
fertilizer into the local water sources which the cities then have to treat in
order to make it safe for its residents to drink this also includes the harm
done to fishing and tourism business as well from fertilizer run off, not to mention
the health problems that occur as well. Of
course, the EPA
is trying to reduce food waste by holding summits and discussions it with leaders
in both the private and public sectors. This
will also help families that struggle to put healthy food on the table as well
by providing food that commercial suppliers don’t want to organizations that
help feed low income families. According
to some estimates 1 in every 8 Americans struggle to put food on their table,
which shouldn’t even be a problem with how much we through out everyday.
I have commented on Patrick and Ed's post this week, and I should have 13 points by now Dr. Oliver
I think that two of the biggest contributers to food waste are people ordering too much at restaurants, and people throwing away "expired" food or excess food at home. It seems that all that would be required to change that is a little education and fore-thought about how much we actually need.
ReplyDeleteI've never left food behind in a restaurant, but I see that many others do as a matter of course. I've never understood that mindset. Not wasting food (or anything else) should be fundamental to everyone's education, even if it does not serve the consumer mentality that profits our corporations.
DeleteAnother problem with food at home Chris, is to know when a food product has gone bad though. I say this because the food industry doesn't put an expiration date on their products, but a sell-by date in order to push fresher products at the customer.
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