Wasted+Food

Hunger

[|Spoiled Leftovers]

== What We Throw Away May == Help Fuel Hunger & Obesity =[|August 23, 2012] by [|colltales] = Technically, we already produce food enough to feed well all seven billion people on Earth. So how come there’s more hunger than ever before? That’s one of the reasons why starting a sentence with ‘technically’ almost always leads it to its opposite conclusion.

As a new report has shown, Americans throw 40 percent of their food in the trash, but it’s unlikely that we’re the only culprits; we’re just the fattest. Since we can’t always clear our plates, a lot of good stuff goes from there straight to garbage bins. It seems cruel that in the world’s richest country, so much food gets thrown away, while poverty is rampant and natural resources can’t recover as quick as needed to meet demand. Some studies put the number of American children going to bed hungry at over 40 million every night.

At the same time, there’s a rush to [|produce more food], almost never with the necessary ethical standards, respect for the environment, and care about the health of those who will be fed. The under-regulated market for development and trade of seeds already moves billions, and is driven by profits, not social concerns. []

America Trashes Forty Percent of Food Supply: Report == - Common Dreams staff Published on Wednesday, August 22, 2012 by [|Common Dreams] Americans throw away nearly one half of all food, causing massive environmental and fiscal damage, according to a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. (NRDC) According to the report 40 percent of food is wasted in the US amounting to a loss of $165 billion per year. That wasted food also represents one quarter of all freshwater consumed in the US, as it is needed for agriculture and food production. Food waste is also the cause of 23 percent of methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas. “As a country, we’re essentially tossing every other piece of food that crosses our path – that’s money and precious resources down the drain,” said Dana Gunders, NRDC project scientist with the food and agriculture program. “With the price of food continuing to grow, and drought jeopardizing farmers nationwide, now is the time to embrace all the tremendous untapped opportunities to get more out of our food system. We can do better.” The report, Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm To Fork to Landfill, pools data from case studies and government data. Its key findings also include: []
 * The average American family of four ends up throwing away an equivalent of up to $2,275 annually in food;
 * Food waste is the single largest component of solid waste in U.S. landfills;
 * Just a 15 percent reduction in losses in the U.S. food supply would save enough food to feed 25 million Americans annually;
 * There has been a 50 percent jump in U.S. food waste since the 1970s.