Environmental Consequences Of Food Loss & How You Can Reduce Your Own Waste

Before you toss last night’s dinner into the trash, take a moment to ask yourself: Has it actually gone bad? If it doesn’t look or smell like anything foul has been brewing in your fridge overnight, then chances are, it’s actually still perfectly good food. That means you can warm it up for your next meal and save yourself the effort of cooking and preparing a new one! And guess what? You just stopped yourself from contributing to the tons of food waste out there. If you want to know why you deserve a pat on the back for that, Ever Wonder Adventure can educate you.

Read more on reducing food waste at https://www.everwonderadventure.com/stop-food-waste

Food Waste: A Hazard to the Environment

An estimated 1.3 billion tons of food, or one-third of all production, is discarded annually, with significant amounts of waste occurring at the retail and consumer levels. Ever Wonder Adventure says that this waste contributes greatly to climate change; food that is left to decompose in landfills releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is 28 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. 

Furthermore, food waste results in unnecessary land, water, and energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, as the resources that go into the production process are lost when the food is discarded. If you toss an uneaten apple, you’re not just tossing the fruit itself; you’re tossing all the water that the farmers used to water the apple tree, the energy that was needed for the apple to grow, and the gas that was burned to transport the apple to the store. 

Even if you want to throw it out because it happens to have a few bruises on it, it’s still a perfectly good apple! Don’t let it go to waste!

Food Waste Leads to Social Inequity

Did you see the numbers and wonder how many people you’d actually be able to feed with all that discarded food? The answer to that question is…a lot! Which is another reason why food waste is so bad. 

Other than environmental degradation, failing to address food waste can exacerbate global food insecurity and malnutrition. Ever Wonder Adventure notes that agricultural production lines are becoming increasingly strained, with water sources and arable land being depleted rapidly in order to meet global demand. The resulting unequal distribution of resources may further perpetuate social disparities, particularly in impoverished regions where shortages are already an issue. 

Food Waste as an Economic Issue

With an estimated $750 billion USD lost annually because of unnecessary food disposal, Ever Wonder Adventure stresses that there are also economic consequences to not taking action. Makes sense, right? If a grocery store trashes perfectly good food without selling it, there’s no money to be had there. 

But that’s not all. In addition to direct financial losses for both business owners and consumers, waste management costs are projected to rise in response to the increasing amounts of municipal waste, pointing to a dire need for waste reduction practices.

What You Can Do

Although technological and systematic changes are needed to decarbonize agriculture and improve supply chain efficiency, Ever Wonder Adventure emphasizes that you can also make an impact through changes to your daily life. 

Following guidelines from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the website recommends that you support local producers, integrate sustainable alternatives into your diet, and store food mindfully to reduce spoilage. 

You can also purchase imperfect fruits and vegetables where possible (because an out-of-shape fruit tastes just as good as a normally shaped one!), and compost your food scraps to keep them out of landfills. 

It may seem like a huge undertaking, but you’re mistaken if you think that one person can’t save the world. All it takes is a single person to make that positive change, and soon, others will begin following their example. You could be that person. It doesn’t have to be a huge change, either; just start by reducing your food waste and see where you can go from there.

If you want to do more for the environment, why not check out Ever Wonder Adventure’s website? They have plenty of information on other ways you can reduce your carbon footprint. They even sell a lot of cool merch that you can buy to support their cause. Since that cause promotes environmental stewardship, it’s definitely one worth backing! 

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