It was somewhat surprising to hear that the GOP leadership decided to scrap the Capitol composting plan last week. Surprising, because who doesn’t like composting? Somewhat, because you can find opposition to anything except ice cream and puppies in Washington. The UPI reported that House Administration Chairman Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) decided to cut the program instituted [...]
Food’s cheapness is a major factor in why we waste so much of it. A BlogHer writer makes a compelling case that buying expensive food reduces waste both from overeating and discards. Waste comes in two forms: food disposed of in the garbage and food disposed of in the human body. When you eat beyond [...]
I went through a phase of making my own soup stock, but my interest waned along with my enthusiasm for soup. Well, there’s been a resurgence on both fronts. When I recently found myself making more soups and stews, I thought it was high time to reintroduce the practice of setting aside veggie skins, scraps [...]
The Independent (UK) recently spent some time considering how we’ll feed everyone in 2050. Today’s publication of a report on the topic by a governmental group prompted the article. The Foresight Programme’s Global Food and Farming Futures report preaches that we’ll need to use all methods at our disposal (including GM crops) to have enough food for [...]
Check out this neat NPR story on gleaning in Tennessee. Great press for the valiant Society of St. Andrew. — — Ag giant Archer Daniels Midland and the University of Illinois are teaming up to figure out how to avoid waste in the developing world. ADM is contributing $10 million to fund the Institute for [...]
Whenever I’m asked why we waste so much food, ‘abundance’ is one of the first words I utter. We grow far more food than we need, averaging 3900 calories per person per day.* One result of our abundance is that we’re inundated with food. Supermarkets have a seemingly bottomless supply of food (When was the [...]
Today’s post will also appear on GOOD’s new food site. As part of their Food For Thinkers series, the site has asked a bunch of food writers (I’m honored to be one) to wrestle with this question: What does—or could, or even should—it mean to write about food today? An intriguing question, for sure. And [...]
I’ve always enjoyed the Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World reports. But now I really like them after the State of the World Report 2011 classifed food waste as a major concern. From Wednesday’s release: Moreover, “roughly 40 percent of the food currently produced worldwide is wasted before it is consumed, creating large opportunities for [...]
In December, I wrote about the Danish group Stop Wasting Food. After that post ran, their founder, Selina Juul, pointed me to a fascinating product–the Joint Declaration Against Food Waste. While it’s not quite as grandiose as our Declaration of Independence, the joint declaration has grand ambitions. Most notably, it pushes for: A global reduction [...]
I recently came across an amazing collection of vintage Navy posters dealing with–you guessed it–food waste. Avoiding waste, to be more specific. I’d only previously seen one of these posters, so you can imagine my excitement–especially as I’m a bit of a propaganda geek. The Navy’s Bureau of Supplies and Accounts produced this set of [...]
