What did you learn about dietary choices from using the footprint calculator? Now imagine that you could translate what you learned into an effective societal policy on food- what would it be? And how would this policy effect the need to alleviate world hunger?
925 million people on earth do not have enough to eat according to the FAO [Food and Agricultural Organization]. That's almost 1 in 7 inhabitants of our planet!
Food & Hunger >
The Normalization of Food Waste in America
For nearly 750 million people globally, the basic human right to adequate food is violated on a daily basis. Each day, 25,000 people die from hunger related causes. Meanwhile, Americans produce billions of pounds of food waste every year, affecting the environment and economy in which they live. The average American throws out more than 400 lbs. (181 kg.) of food annually, which translates to 30%–40% of the total US food supply. As a result of this food waste problem, large quantities of carbon dioxide and methane gas are emitted into the atmosphere, water supplies are wasted and contaminated, and economic opportunities are lost. The World Wildlife Fund estimates food waste alone in U.S. schools to reach 530,000 tons annually.
Most people waste food on a daily basis, and it has become extremely normalized to throw out perfectly good food if one is not satisfied with so much as the aesthetic of it. Over the yeas, this has become a huge problem in America. It is time to do something about it, and it starts with you and how you approach food within your home.
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I totally agree. Food waste, poverty are huge problems that many places around the world are having to deal with. Everyone who has more access to food than others usually take that food for granted. Many people in counties throw out food that they just don’t want for no specific reason at all. When this food is being thrown into the trash, it could be going to people who actually really need it to survive. Americans in general need to start thinking about their wants and needs with foods. Only take what they actually could eat and then the rest is available for people who actually need it. Another way people could help with food waste is composing their food. Even though this doesn’t necessarily totally help with food and hunger it could help with one of other problems of food waste in general contributing to climate change.