food waste and climate change
the sneaky way your food scraps are contributing big time to climate change
let’s start with the basics:
generally when you throw anything away, you are also throwing away all the resources it took to make that item. this includes the human labor, natural resources, energy, and transportation. this follows the linear economy model of take, make, waste and it applies to everything we use from clothing to electronics, to food. while there is great opportunity to place items like clothing and electronics into a circular economy model (where resources are reused and repurposed) it is harder to do this for food. one of the best steps we can take to reduce the overall amount of food waste is to simply throw away less.
how much do we throw away?
a lot. approximately 1/3 of all food intended for us to eat in the United States gets thrown away (1). according to a study by the Food and Agriculture Organization, if food waste were a country, it would be the 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. in addition, high income countries have more that double the food waste of low income countries, due to wasteful food distribution and consumption (2). this is not only a major waste of money, of transportation fuel, and of water to grow the food, but that food waste also contributes to climate change.
when food is thrown away it ends up in a landfill where it rots and decomposes, releasing methane. methane is a greenhouse gas that is over 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. aka this gas contributes big time to climate change (3).
more food waste = more methane release = accelerated climate change
on the bright side, methane also has a short lived life, meaning that if we reduce methane emissions we can see quicker reductions in atmospheric warming.
less food waste = less methane emissions = less climate climate
one of best ways to reduce methane emissions it to reduce the amount of food we are throwing away. from there, when possible, composting our food scraps instead of throwing them in the trash can reduce methane emissions even more.
to throw away less you need to buy only what you will actually eat. to do this, you need meal planning.
i know it sounds a bit boring but i promise meal planning works. if nothing else, reducing your food waste will save you money. every time you throw away food you are essentially throwing away money.
here’s what i do:
i typically shop for the week on sunday morning so i will spend a bit of time while I’m drinking my morning coffee planning out what meals for the week will look like. my secret to making this process easy is to repeat meals for breakfasts and lunches. personally, it’s way easier for me to eat the same thing for breakfast everyday during the week than to try to plan a different breakfast everyday. i truly don’t care about eating the same thing and it streamlines my day.
example:
breakfasts: coffee, oat milk, organic oats, vegan protein, some kind of fruit
lunches: rice, veggies, tempeh, sauce
I’ll mix things up each week — quinoa instead of rice, tahini instead of green goddess, different veggies, etc. but the main point here is i’m buying enough food for breakfast and lunch for the weekdays and eat the same thing M-F for these meals. some might call it boring, i call it easy, climate friendly, and healthy ;)
for dinners, I’ll plan out ~3 meals and make enough to have leftovers the second night. again, i’m leaning towards simplicity here. i don’t mind leftovers and really appreciate not having to cook 2 nights in a row. so many online recipes allow you to toggle the serving size up or down for the recipe so you can make however much or little you need.
from there i’ll add a few snacks to the list but really try to keep to what i actually need and what i will actually eat that week.
beyond meal planning, a couple other easy ways to reduce food waste:
Freeze what you don’t eat
Eat your leftovers
Share extras (thinking baked goods likes cookies) with friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc.
Cook produce before it goes bad - when veggies get a bit wilted they are typically still totally fine to eat. roast them or throw them in a stir fry instead of tossing them.
questions on food waste or meal planning? lmk.
(1) https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2022/01/24/food-waste-and-its-links-greenhouse-gases-and-climate-change
(2) https://www.fao.org/3/bb144e/bb144e.pdf
(3) https://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane#:~:text=Methane%20is%20more%20than%2025,due%20to%20human%2Drelated%20activities.
