We throw away enough food to feed the entire world.

Don't believe me? Read on... This morning i was checking out Good Magazine online and came across an article that astounded me. It details a book called "Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal." The book talks about all of the different ways in which food waste contributes to environmental degradation, global warming, soil erosion, habitat destruction and starvation. That's right, wasting food doesn't just deny someone something to eat, it hurts the planet! They had some pretty horrific stats to back up how much food waste the U.S. is guilty of. Are you ready for this?... • 10 years ago, the United States Department of Agriculture estimated that more the 96 billion pounds of edible food went to waste. • According to anthropologist Tim Jones, the United States throws away half of the food it produces. • New York City has an annual surplus of about 50 million pounds of food. In addition to these stats, the book chronicles some ridiculous food behaviors we have that create such an astronomical amount of waste. Things like carrots being thrown out for being slightly crooked, edible fish being dumped back into the ocean after they are dead and farmers, who must, by contractual obligation, eradicating healthy crops. The problem is huge and overwhelming... but there are some easy things that can be done to make a real impact. Try starting with the following: 1. Cook only enough food to eat 2. If you do cook more than enough food, make sure you eat the leftovers. 3. Plan out meals so you only buy necessary perishable items so you don't have to throw any away 4. Start composting. If you don't know how, click here for a quick guide. If you have other easy (or may be not so easy) ways to help cut down on food waste send us your comments.

Posted in Blog, News

5 Comments

  • Dana says:
    November 3, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    Or just get some chickens. We hardly have any food wastes now because our chickens eat it all in exchange for the eggs.

    Reply to this Comment
  • Jeffrey Moore says:
    November 3, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    That blows my mind… There is this trendy movement to ’save our world’, but trends fade, and until people grasp the severity of hurt in this world, and realize that the cures for the ills are here, there will only be a movement here, and movement there, some bottle of water and a t-shirt that donate proceeds, but gosh, there HAS to be more, and we HAVE to get on the same page. What a task it would be to reduce the wasted food in NYC alone, much less the country… it just frustrates me, but this website, Project 7, and all the others who work so hard and give their lives to make a difference, you encourage me to continue believing a better tomorrow is possible.

    Reply to this Comment
  • Dustin says:
    November 4, 2009 at 8:24 pm

    Wow. Guilty as charged. I have been so wasteful…thank goodness for my wife, who was raised poor and crams unwanted leftovers down my gullet. The stuff still tastes good, and we’re doing humanity and the earth a favor! It’s amazing how such small “sacrifices” could lead to so much good. Great article, folks!

    Reply to this Comment
  • The fall of capitalism: Quarter of US children went hungry last year - Page 8 - Politics.ie says:
    November 25, 2009 at 8:02 am

    [...] food is thrown away every day to feed all of the hungry people in the US several times over. Project 7 | We throw away enough food to feed the entire world. A growing portion of urban Detroit is being given over to agriculture in districts cleared to [...]

    Reply to this Comment
  • Xan says:
    January 3, 2010 at 8:47 pm

    Hello,

    I am interested in learing more about volunteer opportunities with your organization. Please let me know if there are any opportunities in the North DFW area.

    Thanks,

    Xan Carr
    225-301-3863

    Reply to this Comment
  •