Food Waste and Climate Change: How Your Leftovers Can Save the World. I tried to eat only food waste for a week. Food Waste: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (8) Food waste is the world's dumbest problem. Half of all US food produce is thrown away, new research suggests. Americans throw away almost as much food as they eat because of a “cult of perfection”, deepening hunger and poverty, and inflicting a heavy toll on the environment.
Vast quantities of fresh produce grown in the US are left in the field to rot, fed to livestock or hauled directly from the field to landfill, because of unrealistic and unyielding cosmetic standards, according to official data and interviews with dozens of farmers, packers, truckers, researchers, campaigners and government officials. From the fields and orchards of California to the population centres of the east coast, farmers and others on the food distribution chain say high-value and nutritious food is being sacrificed to retailers’ demand for unattainable perfection.
“It’s all about blemish-free produce,” says Jay Johnson, who ships fresh fruit and vegetables from North Carolina and central Florida. “What happens in our business today is that it is either perfect, or it gets rejected. At This Free Food Festival, All The Ingredients Are Food Waste. At the Feeding the 5000 food festival in New York City, the first thing people walking by may notice is that all the food is free.
It isn't obvious, though, that all the offerings are made from food waste. A torte is made with trimmings and peelings from a food distributor; a "quick pickle salad" is made with surplus greens and vegetables. Dan Barber, head chef and co-owner of Manhattan's Michelin-starred Blue Hill, will offer a limited number of cookies made with the almond flour left over when manufacturers make almond oil. Other chefs will also offer cooking demonstrations with food that might otherwise be thrown out. "I like the idea of changing people's habits and minds through pleasure and hedonism and enjoyment," says Barber. Feedback, an environmental organization focused on ending food waste, has hosted similar day-long festivals in Paris, Amsterdam, and other cities in Europe and Australia. The festival will be on May 10 at Union Square Park in Manhattan, and May 18 in D.C.
Feedback - Putting a stop to global food waste. Infographic: How Much Food Nearly 7 Billion People Waste. Intermarché - "Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables" Food Waste - A Story of Excess. Food wastage footprint. Gardeners Sharing Their Harvest With A Community Food Pantry. LeftoverSwap. Turning Wastes Into Resources. Virtual Water - Discover how much WATER we EAT everyday. The good news is that each one of us can also make the world a little more water secure, ready to face the needs of our peak population future.
How? The answer lies in our shopping baskets. The amount of meat in our diet is crucial! The average daily water consumption of a meat-eating person is 5000 litres of water per day. The average for a vegetarian is 2500 litres. The type of meat we consume is crucial! The food we waste is crucial! So, do not forget: one meat-free-day a week choose meat raised on grass. Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Feeding the 9 Billion: The tragedy of waste By 2075, the United Nations’ mid-range projection for global population growth predicts that human numbers will peak at about 9.5 billion people.
This means that there could be an extra three billion mouths to feed by the end of the century, a period in which substantial changes are anticipated in the wealth, calorific intake and dietary preferences of people in developing countries across the world. Such a projection presents mankind with wide-ranging social, economic, environmental and political issues that need to be addressed today to ensure a sustainable future for all. One key issue is how to produce more food in a world of finite resources. Today, we produce about four billion metric tonnes of food per annum. Read the Global Food report [PDF, 1MB] Where Food Waste Happens Fully developed, mature, post-industrial societies, such as those in Europe, characterised by stable or declining populations which are increasing in age. Water Usage 1. Tristram Stuart: The global food waste scandal.