Dr. Lam Author of
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Climate And Obesity Connected To Food Waste
40% of America’s total food supply—equivalent to 1,400 calories of food per person per day—goes to the trashcan and affects the climate and America’s obesity problem. That bag of lettuce that rots in the back of the fridge, the uneaten bread rolls on the restaurant table, and how food companies do not donate their unused foods to food banks for fear of litigation all contribute to food waste.
Food waste has increased 50% since 1974, reaching around 150 trillion calories per year in 2003. Food waste impacts global climate change through over consumption of freshwater and fossil fuels and CO2 and methane emissions from decomposing foods. Food waste accounts for a quarter of USA’s freshwater use and 300 million barrels of oil—around 4% of the country’s total oil consumption.
The increase in food waste also points to an unwarranted amount of cheap food, which could clue us in to the rise of obesity. As marketing of cheap food pushes consumers to match their food consumption with increased supply of cheap, readily available food, obesity and food waste continue to have profound environmental consequences. If America would tackle the food waste problem, then both global and food shortage problems in other countries can be solved.
Source: The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impact”
A Big Fat Lie
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