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The environmental impact of food waste essay
The environmental impact of food waste essay
Essay on food wastage
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Americans waste tons of food everyday, even though they may not realize it. Food wastage is a huge issue in America and in many other countries in the world. Not only is food wastage a problem, but it keeps growing. The percentage has grown each year and every year, it has been estimated that more than one third of what the world produces is being wasted. In Americans are throwing away too much uneaten food, a study warns, A student helps Americans fight food waste one click at a time,” and Food wastage footprint all show why food wastage is a problem all around the world. Although each author presents this situation in their own way, they all convey that food wastage is a problem and little steps can help improve the situation.
Food wastage is a problem the occurs all around the world. Americans are throwing out too much uneaten food and it could be eaten by
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In the Newsela article, A student with an idea helps Americans fight food waste one click at a time, “The study noted that Americans waste $165 billion every year on food destined for landfills.” A teenager named Maria Rose had saw a volunteer at her local food pantry throwing out boxes of mac and cheese because they were expired. The volunteer explains in the Newsela article, “We were throwing away all of this food just because we couldn't communicate.” Americans spend so much money on food, but end up wasting it, mostly because they aren’t able to consume it before it expires. Belding had then, realized that she could do something about it and came up with a solution. According to the article, “After years of research, Belding, 20, has founded an online network that connects thousands of food pantries in 24 states, allowing them to quickly share surplus food that might have otherwise gone to waste.” The author of this article has provided statistics and then used a personal anecdote to back the evidence
American society has grown so accustomed to receiving their food right away and in large quantities. Only in the past few decades has factory farming come into existence that has made consuming food a non guilt-free action. What originally was a hamburger with slaughtered cow meat is now slaughtered cow meat that’s filled with harmful chemicals. Not only that, the corn that that cow was fed with is also filled with chemicals to make them grow at a faster rate to get that hamburger on a dinner plate as quickly as possible. Bryan Walsh, a staff writer for Time Magazine specializing in environmental issues discusses in his article “America’s Food Crisis” how our food is not only bad for us but dangerous as well. The word dangerous could apply to many different things though. Our food is dangerous to the consumer, the workers and farmers, the animals and the environment. Walsh gives examples of each of these in his article that leads back to the main point of how dangerous the food we are consuming every day really is. He goes into detail on each of them but focuses his information on the consumer.
In order to bring about change in this misuse of food, Americans need to be conscious of the problem and their practices, the environmental effects, and ways they can reduce waste. In the first place, Americans need to be conscious of the problem and their practices. In her article, Eliana Dockterman states that the National Resources Defense Council has estimated that 40% of the food
Seifert travels around to different grocery chains and retailers in his area of the state of California and films his experiences. For example, Seifert and his team would find bags of fruit in dumpsters that would only have one or two spoiled pieces, but was still discarded. That’s two apples out of a bag of twelve being discarded, while wasting ten other apples that are still edible. Because stores are so carefree about what they throw away, it makes you wonder if production is causing an overload in food. Do they have the mentality that it will never run out? Seifert reaches out to chains such as Trader Joes Grocery to ask and they refused to answer these questions. However, they had locked dumpsters to prevent anyone from taking what they consider to be trash. Lots of foods and meats that Seifert and his team find are indeed salvageable. Seifert’s teammate explains, “if one egg is broken, take it out and save the rest.” This is the attitude that most dumpster divers have. There are so many people in need and if the food is not “good enough” to stock on a shelf, why couldn’t the food be donated to shelters or food banks if it were truly uncontaminated? The documentary film stresses this idea and just how much waste retail chains have at the end of every day and just how little they are willing to donate to the local homeless shelters and food banks. Seifert even
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
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.”
Many people believe that the problems associated with hunger are limited to a small part of society and certain areas of the country, but the reality is much different. In many ways, America is the...
As Americans, we waste more food than many countries even consume. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, “The average American trashes 10 times as much food as a consumer in South east Asia” (Hsu). That is about equivalent to eating 10 meals to a consumer in South East Asia’s one meal. We throw away our left over food just because we are done ea...
Each year about 27% of America’s food gets thrown out, with more than 300 pounds of food per person ending up in the waste stream. The disposal cost of such food exceeds one billion dollars in local tax funds annual...
According to Roni Neff, Marie Spiker, and Patricia Truant, up to 40% of all food produced in America is thrown away (Neff, Spiker, & Truant, 2015, p.2). This wasted food is worth hundreds of billions of dollars that is lost each year in the United States alone, and creates many threats to our country. Food waste is an important and widespread issue in the United States because most of the food thrown away is perfectly fine, it could be used to feed the hungry, and the waste hurts the environment.
It is hard to believe that more than 49 million Americans don’t get enough to eat when there is data proving that we are producing more food than need it and at least half is going to waste. The lack of consistent access to enough
The world that we live in is inevitably problem stricken. There will always be a challenge that we are given to overcome, may that be a natural disaster, war, poverty, hunger, etc. As a whole we need to come together to find a ‘solution’ for all of these issues that are so detrimental to this world and those living in it. Some may be more preventative than the others, however, we must work together in times of distress to rebuild. I will be addressing the problem of hunger and food insecurity in America. Food security is define by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as access by all people at all time to enough food for an active, healthy life. On the other hand, food insecurity is outlined very well by the National Research Council.
The amount of people in America that struggle to get enough to eat is staggering. While there are government agencies that provide assistance to some, many do not meet the income qualifications that are required. Even with a two-person income, the high cost of housing and other living expenses often leaves little left for spending on groceries. Because of this, many organizations have started up food pantries to help. But, they have long lines and strict requirements too. And, much of what they have to offer consists of expired canned products, moldy fruits and vegetables, and stale bread. What people really need is an easy way to get healthy, fresh food for their families. So, to help, one woman decided to start a new kind of food pantry that
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.
Food waste is defined by food that is lost, wasted, or discarded and is caused through a few different processes. Food is wasted through many different ways at farms, grocery stores, and in homes. Over 40% of the food in the United States, specifically, goes to waste and 97% percent of this waste goes straight to landfills. The main issue with food waste is that the majority of food is being wasted unnecessarily. In stores, food is often thrown out because it does not meet specific standards that dictate what may be desirable to consumers. This issue of food picking is important as foods are not always being thrown away because they have gone bad, but because they have appearances that do not seem attractive. If we hope to lessen the environmental impact we have as a result of the mass
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