Never Waste A Chance
by Chris Bednarz
In some places of the world, people struggle to find the food that they’ll eat each day. Unfortunately, people go days without eating anything, while we, as Americans, take advantage of the amount of food we have available to us. We do not respect the fact that food is something all humans need to survive, but not all humans have. If a piece of food is not up to our perfect standards we just throw it away instead of trying to find something else to do with it. Composting, selling the food to farmers to feed livestock or even giving the food to a food bank to give to those in need are just a few options. This is a cultural issue that we as Americans must fix as we just throw basically anything that is broken or not seen as the best of the best. Even though a piece of food may not be perfect, that does not make it inedible, even though we seem to think it does.
The food Americans waste in one week is an alarming amount that would shock most people. On average, the amount of food wasted in one year is close to 70 million pounds, and that’s just In America. We produce more than enough food for all Americans to be able to eat, but through our careless actions, there is still a massive amount of people who do not get to eat on a daily basis. In fact, 1 in 6 people face hunger, which comes out to be around roughly 49 million Americans with the need for a sustainable food source. At the same time 40% of the food produced is never consumed and simplify thrown away, which is an alarming statistic. This must be changed before these problems are allowed to get any worse, which is a scary thing to think about since they are already incredibly high.
Around the country people are trying to find things to do with the food that is not up to standards, rather than putting it in landfills. One of the simplest answers is to redistribute the food that is still edible, to the people who need it. With about 50 million people facing hunger, there is more than enough people to give the food to. With close to 50,000 agencies across the country, there is certainly a way for this food to get to people who need it. Selling this food at a discounted rate is better than letting it rot in landfills. We could then use the remaining food for other things such as composting. Composting creates cheap fertilizer that can be used in home gardens and on bigger fields as well. Another thing that we could do is to even bring our best food waste to farms. Not only would it allow us to get rid of the food waste, but it would also allow for us to raise healthier animals. Not to mention, it would be better for us when we have to eat those same animals.
Getting rid of the food waste we produce in any way possible is better than letting it rot in a landfill. We will always produce food waste regardless of what we do. Rather than letting this waste pile up, we need to find something to do with it. Whether it be composting, feeding it to animals, or even redistributing it to people who need it, anything is better than the landfill. If we use this food waste properly we could stop hurting of the environment and even help it significantly. Our cultural idea of just throwing away anything broken or not up to our standards must change. When it comes to issues like this we must think outside the box if we wish to accomplish anything, and trying any idea will not hurt. The American love for food will ultimately cost us greatly if we do not change our ways now. This is our chance to the save the environment, if not it will just rot away forever.
[Photo, compost MED SDIM0907, szczel licensed by CC BY-NC-SA 2.0]
by Chris Bednarz
In some places of the world, people struggle to find the food that they’ll eat each day. Unfortunately, people go days without eating anything, while we, as Americans, take advantage of the amount of food we have available to us. We do not respect the fact that food is something all humans need to survive, but not all humans have. If a piece of food is not up to our perfect standards we just throw it away instead of trying to find something else to do with it. Composting, selling the food to farmers to feed livestock or even giving the food to a food bank to give to those in need are just a few options. This is a cultural issue that we as Americans must fix as we just throw basically anything that is broken or not seen as the best of the best. Even though a piece of food may not be perfect, that does not make it inedible, even though we seem to think it does.
The food Americans waste in one week is an alarming amount that would shock most people. On average, the amount of food wasted in one year is close to 70 million pounds, and that’s just In America. We produce more than enough food for all Americans to be able to eat, but through our careless actions, there is still a massive amount of people who do not get to eat on a daily basis. In fact, 1 in 6 people face hunger, which comes out to be around roughly 49 million Americans with the need for a sustainable food source. At the same time 40% of the food produced is never consumed and simplify thrown away, which is an alarming statistic. This must be changed before these problems are allowed to get any worse, which is a scary thing to think about since they are already incredibly high.
Around the country people are trying to find things to do with the food that is not up to standards, rather than putting it in landfills. One of the simplest answers is to redistribute the food that is still edible, to the people who need it. With about 50 million people facing hunger, there is more than enough people to give the food to. With close to 50,000 agencies across the country, there is certainly a way for this food to get to people who need it. Selling this food at a discounted rate is better than letting it rot in landfills. We could then use the remaining food for other things such as composting. Composting creates cheap fertilizer that can be used in home gardens and on bigger fields as well. Another thing that we could do is to even bring our best food waste to farms. Not only would it allow us to get rid of the food waste, but it would also allow for us to raise healthier animals. Not to mention, it would be better for us when we have to eat those same animals.
Getting rid of the food waste we produce in any way possible is better than letting it rot in a landfill. We will always produce food waste regardless of what we do. Rather than letting this waste pile up, we need to find something to do with it. Whether it be composting, feeding it to animals, or even redistributing it to people who need it, anything is better than the landfill. If we use this food waste properly we could stop hurting of the environment and even help it significantly. Our cultural idea of just throwing away anything broken or not up to our standards must change. When it comes to issues like this we must think outside the box if we wish to accomplish anything, and trying any idea will not hurt. The American love for food will ultimately cost us greatly if we do not change our ways now. This is our chance to the save the environment, if not it will just rot away forever.
[Photo, compost MED SDIM0907, szczel licensed by CC BY-NC-SA 2.0]