After reading up on pollution, recycling and water quality during class I came across a health article that gave a little more detail as to just how much trash our country is producing. It was estimated that a quarter to half of the food produced in the United States goes uneaten whether it was left in the fields, spoiled by transport, thrown away in the grocery store, scarped off of dinner plates or just forgotten in the average household cabinet. People are wasteful, over 40% of all wasted food comes from peoples' homes. Many times people will buy foods and completely forget about there existence. They will be stored in the back of the closet or pantry for a lazy day and never actual end up being eaten. By the time people come across them or even think to eat it, it will have gone bad. Not only that but people are very consciously watch expiration dates on foods and are in constant fear of food going bad. People will throw perfectly good food away the day of the date on it or if they think for one second that it could be bad. Many times such as in the case of fruits and vegetables people will throw them away if the outside of the lettuce is a little brown or a couple grapes in the bundle have gone soft. The article refers too the author Jonathan Bloom who wrote the book " American Wasteland: How America throws away Nearly Half it's food". Mr.Bloom discusses just how wasteful we are but also interesting ways that the average family could help turn the epidemic around. He gives ideas such as downsizing your refrigerators because there is no need to harbor all of that food. People like to have there fridges well stocked but often reach for the same few items and disregard what they actually have stored in the back of there fridge and freezers. Another idea was plan out meals and buy only what you need for the meals that way you do not have access food left over. These ideas may also help when thinking of nutrition and portion sizes. The article was very interesting and gave a whole new outlook on just how much we are effecting the environment around us. To read more about the topic click the link below. Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Just how wasteful are we?
After reading up on pollution, recycling and water quality during class I came across a health article that gave a little more detail as to just how much trash our country is producing. It was estimated that a quarter to half of the food produced in the United States goes uneaten whether it was left in the fields, spoiled by transport, thrown away in the grocery store, scarped off of dinner plates or just forgotten in the average household cabinet. People are wasteful, over 40% of all wasted food comes from peoples' homes. Many times people will buy foods and completely forget about there existence. They will be stored in the back of the closet or pantry for a lazy day and never actual end up being eaten. By the time people come across them or even think to eat it, it will have gone bad. Not only that but people are very consciously watch expiration dates on foods and are in constant fear of food going bad. People will throw perfectly good food away the day of the date on it or if they think for one second that it could be bad. Many times such as in the case of fruits and vegetables people will throw them away if the outside of the lettuce is a little brown or a couple grapes in the bundle have gone soft. The article refers too the author Jonathan Bloom who wrote the book " American Wasteland: How America throws away Nearly Half it's food". Mr.Bloom discusses just how wasteful we are but also interesting ways that the average family could help turn the epidemic around. He gives ideas such as downsizing your refrigerators because there is no need to harbor all of that food. People like to have there fridges well stocked but often reach for the same few items and disregard what they actually have stored in the back of there fridge and freezers. Another idea was plan out meals and buy only what you need for the meals that way you do not have access food left over. These ideas may also help when thinking of nutrition and portion sizes. The article was very interesting and gave a whole new outlook on just how much we are effecting the environment around us. To read more about the topic click the link below. 
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I truely do get angry when I read something like this. Thousands of people are dying everyday because they do not have access to food or clean water. It is a disgrace that almost half the food in this country is thrown away. We all need to make an individual effort to be less wasteful. The world produces more than enough food to feed its population. The solution to world hunger is simple. Stop wasting food!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tim. It makes me upset when I read something like this. We all have to make a conscientious effort to reduce our waste. I get so upset when people are dying from hunger or water pollution. If we all made a little effort, many problems would start to go away. Hopefully more people become aware of these facts and will start to make a difference as well!
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