Food Waste (Free Topic)by Seojin Lee | 09-03-2020 16:29 |
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For a long time, humans have been struggling with the problem of food waste, or the simple act of throwing away lost or uneaten food. This has become a global issue many countries are currently dealing with. You might ask: Why might food waste be a problem? First, we must be aware of the fact that 1 in 9 people are starving across the world (1). This is because they are unable to get to reliable food sources. The specific number of people starving is around 925 million (2). However, we are annually throwing away enough food to feed 2 billion people (3). This is obviously a problem because good food is being thrown away when it can instead be given to the people who are starving. Not only does food waste lead people to starve, but it also causes mass pollution. Every year, food waste is the source of 4.4 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions (4). When food is left to rot, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is known to contribute to global warming (5). When a billion tons of food is thrown out every year, the amount of methane released is substantial. Putting an end to or even reducing food waste will not only prevent people from starving but will also be a huge step in stopping or slowing down climate change. After being aware of all of these facts, we might ask: "How can we prevent food waste?" If you are a normal citizen, it may be as simple as finishing all of the food that is on your plate. However, most of the food waste doesn't come from normal people who don't finish their food. Instead, they come from poor farmers who throw away the food that didn't grow right and supermarkets that are picky with what they put on display (6). To completely end this global issue, we must come together as a community and revolt to reform society where it is shaped around not wasting food and caring for the environment, instead of selfishly making more money. Sources: |
