Another reason to hate food waste

We know it, biofuels aren’t a sustainable solution as they take food from a billion hungry people. Now here is another fact that literally infuriates me : “(the) food wasted by the US and Europe could feed the world three times over.”

This isn’t entirely new as I already tackled the issue. What is new is the importance of this phenomenon on climate change as producing this food produces carbon dioxide and as the waste produces methane.

I believe we truly need a paradigm shift on food. I also think that if people knew how much time and resources it takes to produce food they would waste much less.

To Next Generation Food :

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.

Every tonne of food waste prevented has the potential to save 4.2 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking one in four cars off the road.

(…) Reducing food waste is a major issue and not just about good food going to waste; wasting food costs the average family with children GBP£680 (750 euros) a year and has serious environmental implications too.

Additionally, to Scientific American :

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, landfills account for 34 percent of all methane emissions in the U.S.—meaning that the sandwich you made and then didn’t eat yesterday is increasing your personal—and our collective—carbon footprint.

Furthermore, researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) concluded in a 2009 study that each year a quarter of U.S. water consumption and over 300 million barrels of oil (four percent of U.S. oil consumption) go into producing and distributing food that ultimately ends up in landfills.

They add that per-capita food waste has increased by half since 1974, and suggest that the “U.S. obesity epidemic” may be the result of a “push effect” of increased food availability and marketing to Americans unable to match their food intake with the increased supply of cheap food.

Agriculture produces huge amounts of greenhouse gases. I really would like these emissions to have some use and their produce being eaten and not ending up in landfills…

This would have a strong impact on climate change and would provide a much more sustainable development.

To conclude, here is a great UK website : Love food, hate waste