As long as garbage remains a for profit industry in the US this will not happen. Personally I pay to have my compostable items picked up, I do this with pride. I asked by condo association to start this and was told people’s inability to even recycle properly, would make this impossible. Americans must be charged for their waste it is the only thing, that corrects bad habits.
Great post! Drawdown’s actions are an excellent motivator and I also wonder - as with many of these “what you can do” ideas - what proportion of food waste takes place at an industrial scale? Versus individual households. I’ve grown wary of these 10 Things You Can Do lists in recent years as we’ve seen how much a few giant corporations and super rich people contribute to global greenhouse emissions. That said, my husband and I are obsessive about not wasting food. And composting. Leftovers are the BEST.
I love this article! Reminds me of what my grandparents used to say, which was that the tastiest vegetables and fruits tend to come from the most misshaped and “bad looking” in the box
The big take away on this post is found further down under Not So Good News:
“increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are reducing the nutritional content of food, too. Plants are growing bigger and faster but with the same amount of nutrients. Per serving, this means the protein and mineral content of many foods is dropping by anywhere between 5 to 15 percent. People who can afford ample food and vitamins won’t be overly affected, but this will exacerbate the malnutrition and lack of nutrients many already experience in low-income countries who’ve done the least to cause the problem. Once again, climate impacts are profoundly unfair.”
This has been documented in several studies since the 2004 landmark study on the topic by Donald Davis and his team of researchers from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry was published in December 2004 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. They studied U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional data from both 1950 and 1999 for 43 different vegetables and fruits, finding “reliable declines” in the amount of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and vitamin C over the past half century.
Also more recent studies and publications found at:
Many thanks for the post and share. I'm sure that they'll be on your radar, but in case not, Olio and Too Good to Go are two approaches making waves in different parts of the food system in UK at the moment.
Far be it from me to dump :) on composting, but doesn't composting also produce CO2 emissions? Or are you talking about anaerobic decomposition in landfills that produces methane? Best be clear. :)
As long as garbage remains a for profit industry in the US this will not happen. Personally I pay to have my compostable items picked up, I do this with pride. I asked by condo association to start this and was told people’s inability to even recycle properly, would make this impossible. Americans must be charged for their waste it is the only thing, that corrects bad habits.
Great post! Drawdown’s actions are an excellent motivator and I also wonder - as with many of these “what you can do” ideas - what proportion of food waste takes place at an industrial scale? Versus individual households. I’ve grown wary of these 10 Things You Can Do lists in recent years as we’ve seen how much a few giant corporations and super rich people contribute to global greenhouse emissions. That said, my husband and I are obsessive about not wasting food. And composting. Leftovers are the BEST.
I love this article! Reminds me of what my grandparents used to say, which was that the tastiest vegetables and fruits tend to come from the most misshaped and “bad looking” in the box
The big take away on this post is found further down under Not So Good News:
“increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are reducing the nutritional content of food, too. Plants are growing bigger and faster but with the same amount of nutrients. Per serving, this means the protein and mineral content of many foods is dropping by anywhere between 5 to 15 percent. People who can afford ample food and vitamins won’t be overly affected, but this will exacerbate the malnutrition and lack of nutrients many already experience in low-income countries who’ve done the least to cause the problem. Once again, climate impacts are profoundly unfair.”
This has been documented in several studies since the 2004 landmark study on the topic by Donald Davis and his team of researchers from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry was published in December 2004 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. They studied U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional data from both 1950 and 1999 for 43 different vegetables and fruits, finding “reliable declines” in the amount of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and vitamin C over the past half century.
Also more recent studies and publications found at:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-aND-NUTRITION-LOSS/
https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2022/05/fruits-and-vegetables-are-less-nutritious-than-they-used-to-be
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-78504-x#Tab3
Many thanks for the post and share. I'm sure that they'll be on your radar, but in case not, Olio and Too Good to Go are two approaches making waves in different parts of the food system in UK at the moment.
Far be it from me to dump :) on composting, but doesn't composting also produce CO2 emissions? Or are you talking about anaerobic decomposition in landfills that produces methane? Best be clear. :)