Wasted Food Hurts the Environment
Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel
Always Clean Your Plate
These well-known phrases are even
more relevant today when much of the world's population suffers from
hunger...and globally 1/3 of the food produced each year is wasted.
According to the United Nations, 1.3 billion metric tons
of food are thrown away worldwide.
SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and
Patti Kishel learned that the average American household throws away $640 of
food each year.
$162 billion of food is
wasted in the U.S. – every year.
Along with the harm this does
to our nation's society and the economy, wasted food also pollutes
the environment and uses up our natural resources.
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health determined that
wasted food:
Generates 2% of America's greenhouse
gas emissions
Consumes 35% of the
country's freshwater resources
Uses 31% of U.S. cropland
Accounts for 30% of U.S. fertilizer
usage
More than 20% of the disposed
material in the nation's landfills is wasted food - food that could have been
eaten, but was thrown away. Making the situation even worse, when the
food decomposes it gives off methane gas that causes global warming.
So,
what can we do to reduce this waste?
Buy and prepare smaller amounts of
food.
Store food properly so that it
doesn't spoil.
Use leftovers for other
meals and in sandwiches, salads, soups.
Share extra food with family,
friends and neighbors.
With the world's growing population
and increasing demand for food, we all need to cut back on the
waste. Otherwise, just like Old Mother Hubbard, when we go to the
cupboard we will find that it's bare.
Please post your comment below.
Comments will appear the next day.
Sunny
Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted
material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com
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as long as credit is given.
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