ecospace
food waste
Did you know that out of all the food that's produced, close to 40% of it is wasted? That's nearly half! All of this discarded food represents is roughly 10% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. This is about four time greater than the emissions caused by the airline industry!
The good news is, it's not hard to change your habits to waste less food. You'll also save more money and lower your carbon footprint at the same time!
We buy too much.
The main reason for throwing things out is that we just have too much. In America especially, we've come to believe that more is better, and in turn portion sizes in restuarants have expanded- which skews how much we think we need when we shop. If you've made a habit of going to the grocery store without a shopping list, stop! It's easy to think you'll try something new or eat all of whatever before it goes bad, even though you haven't planned for it. Keep your eating and cooking habits in mind, and make a list beforehand. You don't need to know everything, but it helps to have a plan in mind especially when you can account for food you already have at home!
Another thing to note is that expiration dates aren't accurate, and the "best by" date typically refers to when it'll still be at its best quality, not if its still edible or not. Use your own judgement and observe whether it looks, smells, or appears moldy or rotten in any other way.
The Food System
Consumers are not the only reason food causes so much greenhouse gas emissions. A huge problem is the system itself and how we produce food. Our food system destroys more value than what is created. Agriculture and land use is one of the biggest threats to the environment; it's responsible for almost 60% of biodiversity loss as well as 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. It doesn't have to be this way though!
As this is a huge problem, there's a lot to talk about. If you'd like to learn more about the food system I reccomend checking out this Oxford article, the Food section of WWF UK's page, as well as your own additional research!
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