Food waste is huge issue these days. It is a huge amount of waste that ends up in landfills and can have lasting effects on the environment. One of major issues of food waste is the greenhouse gases that it produces. Methane gas is the main culprit when it comes to the gases being released. This can absorb infrared radiation and heat up the earth’s atmosphere and cause climate change. Another issue that food waste causes is, water loss due to use for production of fruits and vegetables. The amount of food that is wasted in the world is astronomical, Finn states about 1.3 billion tons goes to waste annually. 40% of food goes uneaten just in the United States. The amount that is produced goes back to how and where it is produced and The …show more content…
If a producer knows they are over producing they can cut back on their production. There is also a food trade model that is being tested as well. Where we can get the over excess food to other countries who may be food insufficient. Munesue explains about “The Partial Equilibrium Agricultural Trade Simulation model, developed by the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (was adopted in this study to evaluate the effects of food loss and food waste reduction on food insecurity, natural resources, and GHG emissions through the international food market.” This will give an outlet for some of the food. With the food being able to be used it should reduce the emissions given off from rotting food in the landfills. There model is showing how to reduce food waste. They want to be able to start from before and after harvest to put a stop to the waste. Munesue also states “The present study involved simulating the effects of developed countries reducing food losses and waste by up to 50 % during the postharvest handling and storage, processing and packaging, distribution, and consumption steps in response to the food price crisis, with reference to the EU reduction target of halving food wastage by 2025.” If we can reduce the amount of food that is being produced while also combatting the hunger crisis that exists in so many places we can ultimately help the environment by reducing emissions, deforestation, and water loss from over
Shifting back to a more locally sourced food economy is often touted as a fairly straightforward way to cut externalities, restore some measure of equity between producers and consumers, and put the food economy on a more sustainable footing.” (source E). The long-distance transportation of food uses a profligate amount of fuel and exploits cheap labor in the process. It can greatly assist the environment to buy from local sources by making the carbon footprint of food production lesser and saving natural resources such as oil.
The book that I read for the required assignment is titled Food Justice, written by two authors. The authors of the book are Robert Gottlieb and Anupama Joshi. The book, in my opinion seemed to be a series of historical and somewhat current stories. The stories in the book discussed how different individuals were affected, whether it be farmers or consumers. Food Justice teaches us that growing and eating food are political acts that challenge a system that is neither good, nor clean, nor fair.
Much of the food is thrown into landfills, where it rots, which has very negative effects on the environment. According to John Oliver, the food left to rot in the landfills releases methane, an extremely powerful greenhouse gas (Oliver, 2015). Methane is a greenhouse gas, meaning it destroys the ozone layer and contributes to the warming of the earth. By refraining from throwing out so much food, or at least redirecting it to people who need it, food waste would be reduced, and so would its harm on the environment. Not only does the rotting food release greenhouse gases, the resources wasted to deal with the unwanted food are huge. According to Kevin Hall, Juen Guo, Michael Dore, and Carson Chow, “Food waste contributes to excess consumption of freshwater and fossil fuels which, along with methane and CO2 emissions from decomposing food, impacts global climate change” (Hall, Guo, Dore, & Chow, 2009, p. 1). America is essentially using resources like water and fossil fuels, that we could be directing towards a better cause, to dispose of perfectly good food that will then release harmful gases of methane and carbon dioxide. Food waste matters because it is a complete waste of valuable resources and food that is needed by many, while also contributing to the growing problem of climate
One of the big problems that came along with unsustainable foods is its terrible impact on the environment. The factory farms that have produced these unsustainable foods have caused a lot of pollution.
Michael Pollan makes arguments concerning the eating habits of the average American. Pollan suggests, in spite of our cultural norms, we should simply “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.”
Nutritionism and Today’s Diet Nutritionism is the ideology that the nutritional value of a food is the sum of all its individual nutrients, vitamins, and other components. In the book, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, he critiques scientists and government recommendations about their nutritional advice. Pollan presents a strong case pointing out the many flaws and problems that have risen over the years of following scientific studies and government related warnings on the proper amount of nutrients needed for a healthy diet. Pollan’s main point is introducing science into our food system has had more of a negative impact than a positive one, we should go back to eating more of a traditional diet. I believe food science has given us
There is much to be said about how exactly meat is being produced. In the present day, there are hardly any farms out there that still practice the traditional and environmental - friendly way. Animal agriculture is widely used all over the world and greatly contributes to climate change. Meat production leads to global warming because of the combination of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The process of raising animal is the major source to these harmful gases. It is vital to save the world from the worst impacts of climate change by reducing meat consumption. However stopping this meat eating system is extremely difficult, given that we had been consuming meat ever since our ancestors domesticated animals for that purpose. Over the decade Animal agriculture has been getting worse and worse. In 1973 when the Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz announced ‘’ what we want out of agriculture is plenty of food’’, overproduction was encouraged and lowering the price of meat was carried out; this originally started when there was a massive increase in corn (Wolfson). In order to keep up this mass production of meat, multiple pounds of grains are fed to livestock. Livestock industries depended on corn and soy based food and used over half of the artificial fertilizer used in the United States (McWilliams).
America is a capitalist society. It should come to a surprise when we live like this daily. We work for profit. We’ll buy either for pleasure or to sell later for profit. It should come to no surprise that our food is made the same way because we are what we eat. We are capitalist that eat a capitalist meal. So we must question our politics. Is our government system to blame for accepting and encouraging monopolies?
Food is a major part of everyone’s everyday life. It’s hard to imagine life without the chocolate cake on your fingers or a carne asada taco in your mouth. Enjoying delicious desserts and fast food seem extremely magnificent to eat and spend money buying them. Although, there have been many controversies in the United States on how it’s the largest country with the most obesity regarding children, which affects their health, many people are still going throughout their day snacking. Many people in America are having full course meals with thousands of calories in one sitting not knowing the short term or long term side effects that are going to take a huge toll on their lives. Food is delicious, but it comes with a secret behind the savoriness/sweetness.
A United Nations report states that land used for animal agriculture, both for grazing and production of crops fed to livestock, takes up an astounding 30% of land on Earth. ("Meat Production Wastes Natural Resources") To meet the industry’s demands, over 260 million acres of forest in the U.S. have been cleared to grow grain fed to farm animals. ("Meat Production Wastes Natural Resources") With that in mind, the meat industry also dumps disease-causing pathogens through animal waste that pollutes water and forces the need for waste lagoons to be constructed, which are susceptible to leaking and flooding. ("Facts about Pollution from Livestock Farms”) Scientists say that about 14% of the world’s greenhouse gases are released by said agriculture industries, which is a growing concern for climate change and global warming. (Silverman) The meat industry uses one-third of all the fossil fuels consumed in the United States. (Moore) There is no question that farming animals has a negative effect on the environment and steps should be taken to mitigate air and water pollution risks and future deforestation. If animal agriculture was phased out, land used for animal grazing could be returned to forest land and some of it converted into fields for cultivating crops for humans. A global shift toward veganism, resulting in the elimination of the meat and animal agriculture industries, would protect the environment from various detrimental effects.
Maintaining an at home composting system is a great way to reuse food scraps or recyclable products. Instead of leftovers food being taken to landfills, they can be used in a compost system. The EPA reports that, “Food scraps and yard waste currently make up 20 to 30 percent of what we throw away, and should be composted instead.” (“Composting At Home”, par. 1). Leftovers break down faster in compost systems and using them in compost systems is more eco-friendly because when discarded food is not in landfills, methane emissions are reduced and thus the carbon footprint is
I have chosen the topic of food waste and the impact on the environment. I will discuss the ridiculous amount of food that is wasted each year and the staggering amount of waste that could be avoided just by planning ahead, and purchasing from farmer’s markets and avoiding the main stream supermarkets who set such high standards on the aesthetic of produce that tonnes are wasted for no reason other then shape.
The ability to create an action plan that would provide enough “sustainability food for the future” gives off a very powerful message that we must change the way we perceive the world around us. To start viewing the earth as an “island” the natural resources the earth provides are slowly deteriorating right before our eyes. Population growth has exceeded the earth's capacity to sustain the growing demand for food. There have been warnings that seemed like “whispers” but now the earth, our island is speaking “loudly” and now is showing the damage our carelessness has caused. The Political of Sustainable Consumption and Production (PSC) has become more involved in the growing issues surrounding food consumption and production “because of its impact on the environment, individual and public health, social cohesion, and the economy (Reisch L., 2014).
...veryday foods require a lot of energy and release a lot of greenhouse gases to produce. This is the reason we should stop wasting the foods, consume less meat, and eat more locally grown food.
Firstly, the threat to the environment, as a result of factory farms poorly managing the waste produced, thereby contaminating the air, ground, and water in their communities is often not acknowledged. This is because the industry does not want to admit to the harmful environmental impacts created by Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). According to Daniel Imhoff, "100 acres of land for an animal food factory generates the same amount of sewage as a city of 100,000 inhabitants." (CAFO xii) This idea was exemplified in a study in the United States, where the waste was measured; it was found that 500 million tons of waste was produced per year, which is three times the amount of the population of the U.S (CAFO xii). Another study found that more than one ton of 'dry matter' of animal waste was produced for every c...