Earth Day Teach In

It's a Beautiful Thing to Buy Ugly Food...

By Anonymous -

It's a Beautiful Thing to Buy Ugly Food...
& EAT IT!
Photo compliments of a Google image search: "hugging carrots” Check it out!

Some reports shockingly say that up to 50% of the produce in the United States is wasted.  According to the USDA, as reported by the NRDC, “an estimated 40% of food produced in the U.S. goes uneaten.”

Let’s see what is going in the garbage:


Image compliments of savethefood.com

This is a huge drain on natural resources, money and when thrown away has now turned into the largest contributor in our waste crisis.  According to the EPA, as reported by The Atlantic, wasted food is the “single biggest occupant in American landfills.”

A big factor in this has do to with the level of aesthetics many Americans seek when it comes to their food.  This causes producers to not even send a significant portion of their perfectly edible produce to markets because they know it will not sell.

Beyond that, at the second round of pageantry, grocery stores end up wasting yet another portion of perfectly good food because of overstocked shelves and organic abnormalities which cause consumers to consistently pick over that asymmetrical bell pepper.  How could such an atrocity get on the shelf to begin with?

The third level of waste to be concerned about is that a consumer will frequently purchase produce, take it home and store in a refrigerated environment until it slowly degrades to a state when said consumer deems it worthy for the landfill.

Sound silly?  It is.  Sound easy to fix?  Maybe, but we all have to get on board.  So, what can you do about it today?

 1.     Buy the funniest bell pepper you can find and eat it! 

 Benefit:  SAVES TIME!  Stop fooling around analyzing every piece of produce there is.

 2.     Eat the food you buy.  Don’t buy more than you will eat. 

 Benefit:  SAVES MONEY!  You will buy less.  You will waste less, which yes, is a dumb way to spend your money.

 3.      Did you buy more than you can eat anyway?  
Compost it!  Don’t know how?  It is easier than you think!

 Benefit:  SAVES THE PLANET!  Your food can go right back into the earth making the soil richer around you while diverting it from taking up unnecessary and limited space in our country’s landfills. 

Small lifestyle changes make a big difference!

Like this topic? And comedy?  And watching YouTube?
Then you might like this:

CAUTION - CONTAINS PROFANITY

Resources:
NRDC: Food Waste
Why Americans Lead the World in Food Waste – The Atlantic




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