You're Getting Warmer...

Food waste is a problem. I feel as if I have made this pretty clear on a number of levels by now in each of the blogs I have posted. Yes, it may be a problem because we don't have unlimited resources and at some point with the rate we're going we may see those resources speedily dwindling. However, there are other reasons it's a problem, other reasons that seem more immediate and definite. These reasons are more threatening than the guilt of waste itself.

Food waste has an impact on climate change.

This article, on Treehugger.com, puts food waste and the amount that is wasted into context, but it also mentions something that's kind of scary. The methane that food waste produces as it rots is much more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas; 25 times more potent, to be exact. Each ton of food wasted is equal to 4.2 tons of CO2. When we toss our leftover food into the trash, it ends up in a landfill. It's not just that there's smelly food taking up room there. It's the harmful amounts of the chemical it produces when it rots.

There are many other factors contributing to climate change, but food waste is a big one, especially being that about half of the food that is produced is wasted anyway (Just think about all that methane).

Graph of the rising temperatures, from EPA.gov

The consequences of climate change aren't just the world getting a little warmer, though, which I have to say I wouldn't mind all that much during these biting New England winters.  It's a lot more serious than that.

The impacts of climate change vary for each area. I found a website, here, that details the impact climate change would have for us, here in the Northeast. The impacts include:

• Worsened air pollution due to very hot days leading to situations of compromised health

• Elevated levels of rain that increase the risk of waterborne illnesses

• The rise in sea level that would lead to flooding

• The increase in the population of mosquitoes 

• The ruin of fertile land to grow certain crops, like apples or, my favorite: cranberries

• Reduction of milk yields and meat production

• A compromise to tree health

Climate change would also negatively impact winter recreation, but I'm sure you'd consider it more important to maintain the growth of healthy and stable crops than Ski. 

This article talks about how much food waste impacts the environment. 34% of all methane emissions come from landfills. A lot of this is rotting food. In fact, The University of Arizona says that if we cut our food waste by 50% percent that we will reduce our impact on the environment by 25%. That's quite a large cut.

This article also talks about The Uk's Waste and Resources Action program. WRAP thinks that if we ceased the disposal of perfectly edible food, that it would be the equivalent to taking 1 in 5 cars off the road.

Knowing all this makes me wonder: what can I do?