After taking the carbon footprint calculator, I realized how much of an impact food makes upon our environment. I also began to think about how much food the average American wastes. According to the National Resources Defense Council, the average american throws away nearly 25% of all of their purchased food and beverages. I feel that the United States needs to implement some sort of policy in order to combat this unnecessary waste. I feel that there should be a tax for those that waste food because this will incentivize people to waste less food, because wasting food now more clearly translates to wasting money. Thus, people will begin to realize how wasteful wasting food is, and then they will end up buying less food so they don't waste food that they buy. This means that less food will end up in landfills leading to less of a carbon footprint, as well as a smaller demand thus making food prices fall because of how supply and demand works. Lower food prices will allow those who are barely able to afford food to now be able to afford enough food to get by.

I agree that food waste is a huge problem that the environment has to face. All this food is just thrown away adding to a constantly growing landfill. If this food that could be easily given to someone who can’t get food is just being thrown away, there is no point in making the food as it also increases the amount of carbon that is released. The main problem is when people throw away good food on their plates either because it is not particularly appetizing or they decide they don’t want more food and choose not to take a minute of their time to save the food for later. This pickiness causes so much food to go to waste and can easily be stopped since it is the result of a little discomfort. The concept of food waste is such a big deal but the thing is, it is also so easily able to be stopped. So much can be done but so little is getting done.

    If people just need a wake up call to how much food is being wasted, they can easily look it up and see all the facts. Did you know that three thousand tons of food are thrown away a day in New York City. However, New York isn’t  the only one wasting tons of food. New York City  is only one city, when there are thousands of more. In fact, the world throws away a third of the food made every day. In a year, that adds up to be 1.3 billion tons of food going to landfills. That weight equals the weight of 430,000 warships, the huge army ships you see in movies. To add, all this food waste totals up to be a huge part of the global carbon footprint with meat waste alone being 21% of the total global carbon footprint. With all this food being wasted, you have to make sure you don’t forget about the energy required to make the food. It takes 3.3 billion metric tons of carbon being pumped in the air in order to produce and transport the food we eat. The process of making our food plus the food that gets wasted adds up to be a huge part of the global carbon footprint. A lot of information can be found at fastcoexist.com where they share their idea on how to build a perfect city. They also share the ways we can help the environment by not wasting as much food.

    There is much that can be done about the food waste problem we face today. Many organizations have already made sure to reduce their food waste and the more organizations that follow will help tremendously. For example, in France, it is now a law that supermarkets cannot throw away food. They must donate the food to charities or food banks. Although, even with this step forward for France, all the food that is given to charities actually overwhelms them as there is still food that gets thrown away even after it goes to charities. That’s why other organizations like Les Confitures de Dominique take leftover food and reuse it to make jams, smoothies, chutneys, and soup. This system in France is a perfect way nations can try to reduce food waste but that isn’t something we can help with as students. The ways we can help prevent food waste can be very simple and can be a big help. First, when a family member goes to buy groceries, it’s a good idea to only buy the groceries you know you are going to use. The more you buy, the more likely you are going to throw out food. Another way we can help is by making sure to eat everything on our plates and that goes for little kids to. Even if you don’t particularly like a certain food, it hurts the environment more to throw it away than it would for you to just eat it and have a slight discomfort. Also, make sure to eat food in your house before it reaches it’s expiration date or gets moldy. All these little adjustments take that little bit of waste that gets thrown out every day and adds up quick reduces the total to very little. However, it might be harder for others to make these little changes to their everyday lives for their own personal reasons. It might be harder to not waste as much food but there is still something that can be done. Installing a in-sink food  waste shredder goes a long way. It takes leftover food scraps and turns it into a biogas that can be used as energy. In conclusion, the problem of food waste is growing bigger and bigger and if organizations and us, the people, work to prevent as much waste as possible, we can stop this problem. More information can be found at https://www.fastcoexist.com/3062959/how … te-problem