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 >
food,hunger, and global warming
Wasting food is a huge problem in the United states. Millions of people waste food each day. It is hard to realize when you actually do have food to eat everyday that some people don't. You go numb to the rest of the world because you have a good dinner to eat every day. According to the world health organization as many as 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021. Coincidentally one-third of all food produced globally by weight is lost or wasted. With that converted into calories that equates to 24% of the world's food supply going uneaten. The food that people are wasting should be donated to anywhere where people need food. For example when something is only a couple days expired you should at least donate it. Some people are hungry enough to eat that food that you are wasting. Wasting food also affects climate change dramatically. An article written by worldwildlife.org states that when you waste food, you also waste all the energy and water it takes to grow, harvest, package, and transport it. And if the food goes to the landfill and rots it produces methane- a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide. About 6-8 percent of all human caused greenhouse emissions could be reduced if we stop wasting food. It is going to be a long process to fix food waste, hunger, and global warming. Some food for thought to stop this could be: planning ahead and buying only what you need at the grocery store, using your freezer to preserve your food, blend, bake or boil your fruit that could look over ripe. People are dying everyday from hunger. You can help out by following these steps and letting people around you know them as well. Help your friends or family recycle more, and if you see someone wasting food call them out. If this trend continues, food loss and waste will double by 2050. There are plenty of organizations and apps like: Too Good To Go, Olio, Full Harvest and many more that want to help with food waste and loss. You can help you just have to act on it.
Fight climate change by preventing food waste | Stories | WWF.
The Global Benefits of Reducing Food Loss and Waste, and How to Do It
UN Report: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021.
Top 10 food companies that prevent food waste - FoodChain Magazine