Clear your plate and spare the planet
Digg
del.icio.us
Facebook
Reddit
Google
Stumble Upon
Fark
Newsvine
YahooBuzz
Bebo
Twitter
Independent Minds
enlarge
Wasting food is wreaking havoc on the environment, scientists say. According to new research, food waste is one of the main reasons why the United States is such a big consumer of fossil fuels. Food waste also uses up excess amounts of freshwater and affects climate change with increased methane and carbon emissions from decomposing food, they say.
Researchers from the University of Maryland's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease analyzed average body weight in the United States between 1974 and 2003 to see how much food was being consumed compared to food available. The difference between calories available and calories consumed was food that was wasted, they said. Since 1974, per capita food waste in the US has increased by about 50 percent, totaling 1,400 kilocalories per person per day or a total of 150 trillion kilocalories per year.
"The principle of energy conservation implies that the energy content of food is closely related to the energy requirements for agricultural production as well as the methane and CO2 emissions produced by decomposition of wasted food," the researchers wrote in their report.
Increased food availability, coupled with intensive marketing, is also the culprit behind the country's obesity epidemic. Addressing the oversupply of food could help control the problem as well as reduce food waste, the researchers said.
Food waste accounts for over one quarter of the USA's total freshwater consumption and more than 300 trillion barrels of oil per year, the researchers estimated. Other statistics show that today's average consumer throws out nearly a half a pound of food a day.
Meanwhile to reduce food waste (and help the planet):
Plan meals carefully: make shopping lists and stick to them; buy only what you need and in loose (non-packaged) form when possible; prepare smaller portions.
Use leftovers: safely store food to keep it fresh and safe; freeze leftovers in individual portions for later use; combine them with other items.
Start a compost pile: To keep food from rotting in a landfill, begin a compost pile in your garden, which will also improve the soil.
Donate food:
Organizations like Second Harvest (in the US) or FairShare (in the UK) redistribute food to the needy, hospices and school lunch programs. Zoos and livestock farmers also use leftovers to feed their animals.
The report appeared November 25 in the Journal Public Library of Science ONE.
http://www.plosone.org
http://www.secondharvest.com/
http://www.fairshareinternational.org/
View all comments that have been posted about this article.
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP logged and may be used to prevent further submission. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by the Independent Minds Terms of Service.
- Print Article
- Email Article
-
Click here for copyright permissions
Copyright 2009 Independent News and Media Limited
Comments
would be helpful, but as you know, a lot could be done by all of us thru proper diet and
exercise. Staying away from all you can eat buffets certainly would be a start. Self discipline however can be tough. But if circumstances exist whereby medication is needed, I wanted to possible help some people out there by letting them know about a site that few people know about, but can help greatly in paying less for all their medications, diabetes
included. I have known as least 10 people it has helped, some diabetic, some with other
prescriptions they get, and hopefully this will help get the word out. The site is
www.medpap.ws and tho it's "free," the "catch" is that they want you in their store hoping you will impulse shop and pick up other items while you are there. One of the oldest marketing ploys in the world, but if you can just use the card....enjoy the savings, and don't buy anything else you don't truly need, you will beat the system.
There also is a short 1 minute video to explain how it works. It is a good program that
saves you money so I hope u take advantage of it. Take care and hopefully great health
will be a reality for all of us one day.
would be helpful, but as you know, a lot could be done by all of us thru proper diet and
exercise. Self discipline however can be tough. But if circumstances exist whereby
medication is needed, I wanted to possible help some people out there by letting them
know about a site that few people know about, but can help greatly in paying less for all
their medications, diabetes included. I have known as least 10 people it has helped, some diabetic, some with other prescriptions they get, and hopefully this will help get the word out. The site is
www.medpap.ws and tho it's "free," the "catch" is that they want you
in their store hoping you will impulse shop and pick up other items while you are there.
One of the oldest marketing ploys in the world, but if you can just use the card....enjoy
the savings, and don't buy anything else you don't truly need, you will beat the system.
There also is a short 1 minute video to explain how it works. It is a good program that
saves you money so I hope u take advantage of it. Take care and hopefully great health
will be a reality for all of us one day.