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Buzby, Jean, editor. "Sustainability and Food Systems." USDA.gov, Jean Buzby, www.usda.gov/oce/sustainability/definitions#:~:text=The%20same%20FAO%20document%20describes,future%20generations%20are%20not%20compromised. Accessed 24 Mar. 2023.

Downs, Austin, and Richard Acevedo. "How Our Trash Impacts the Environment." Earthday, 28 Feb. 2019, www.earthday.org/how-our-trash-impacts-the-environment/#:~:text=The%20more%20emissions%20that%20we,birth%20weight%2C%20and%20preterm%20delivery. Accessed 30 Mar. 2023.

Fisher, Jonah. "Ending Sewage Dumping Will Mean Higher Water Bills - Report." BBC, www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65028971. Accessed 24 Mar. 2023.

"From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste." EPA, 28 Nov. 2022, www.epa.gov/land-research/farm-kitchen-environmental-impacts-us-food-waste#:~:text=Impacts%20include%3A%20greenhouse%20gas%20emissions,to%20California%20and%20New%20York. Accessed 30 Mar. 2023.

Ho, Melissa, editor. "Fight Climate Change by Preventing Food Waste." World Wildlife Fund, Neville Isdell, 2023, www.worldwildlife.org/stories/fight-climate-change-by-preventing-food-waste#:~:text=And%20if%20food%20goes%20to,if%20we%20stop%20wasting%20food. Accessed 30 Mar. 2023.

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Longe, Jacqueline L. The Gale Encyclopedia of Nutrition and Food Labels. Enhanced Credo ed., Farmington Hills, Gale, Cengage Learning, 2017.

National Farm Worker Ministry. "Issues Affecting Farm Workers." National Farm Worker Ministry, nfwm.org/farm-workers/farm-worker-issues/#:~:text=Farm%20workers%20are%20among%20the,and%20adequate%20clean%20drinking%20water. Accessed 19 Apr. 2023.

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This graph from 2016 shows where most of our food is wasted globally, and our overall food waste from agricultural products.

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This image shows an excess of food waste being left in a landfill.

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One major way that we can solve this problem is by encouraging and finding ways to donate and help farmers to store different kinds of crops and produce. Farmers lose incredible amounts of produce and crops, so if we could help to find a solution to this problem then we could greatly reduce food waste. Food waste is a giant issue that should be more widely recognized. In fact, worldwide, food waste is enough to fuel fifty million houses or forty two power plants that are coal fired. On top of this, according to the World Wildlife Fund: “about 6%-8% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if we stop wasting food.” Another way that we can help to solve this issue is by buying products that help the environment. Things like solar panels, reusable plastic bags, and compost bins can really help when it comes to helping the environment. We also need to solve the legislation and laws around these issues. If we could convince lawmakers and politicians to help change some of the laws around food waste and sewage disposal, we could make a real impact on the environment and sustainability in general. We can also collectively make an effort to change these policies by protesting peacefully and drawing attention to things like farming and sewage that not everyone considers when they think of food waste issues or sustainability issues. Finally, you can create a personal plan for how you can help. Making a food plan can help you with your own food waste habits. Try considering what types of food you are eating and how that might help the environment and sustainability. Think about how many times you are eating meat products versus the amount of sustainably grown food you are eating. Finally, think about the steps that you could take in your everyday life to reach the goals that you set for yourself. In conclusion, if we can take steps towards the ecological goals that we are setting for ourselves and others, we can solve some of the problems of food sustainability that we have been facing.

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Economic/Political Impacts of Food Waste

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Economic/Political Impacts of Food Waste

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One of the causes of the economic issues of food loss and waste is that the political process in the United States greatly impacts how we dispose of our overall food waste. This is true whether the waste has been consumed or not, or if it is a part of the farmland protection process in the United States. For example, the Emerson Good Samaritan Act protects people/companies from liability for donated food products. It also protects nonprofits from liability for receiving these goods. All of this happens at the federal level. However, not all bills and regulations on the food industry are positive. Plus, we need more legislation or laws on the storage of produce and other perishable or fragile products for consumption. These products are the most likely to be wasted and if we could affect this issue, it may cause change to happen in the way we structure our sustainable legislation. One of the biggest problems is countries with large population sizes who export excess amounts of waste. China and India produce the most food waste of any country. This is most likely because they have the highest population size which proves that different countries and the laws of those countries greatly affect everything else. They could have some of the biggest impacts on food waste legislation. Big countries aren’t the only ones having issues with food sustainability though. Smaller or less developed countries also have a hard time with this issue. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, food waste skyrocketed because of rapid urbanization. Food waste from items bought by customers made up a giant portion of the waste from the city. The final issue is that people’s sewage and waste are not going through the right treatment process, so water could make people sick. In London, this has become an issue because of the pollution of their rivers through unfiltered sewage, but many countries around the world also have this problem. Countries such as India, Afghanistan, Congo, and more deal with sewage issues that could cause harm to the ecosystem. In conclusion, we need different legislation to fix these issues that are affecting people and countries around the world.

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One cause of environmental problems is how we dispose of our waste in general. Sewage in particular has become a larger issue over the years. Sewage can affect some very negative problems for the environment. During periods with increased rainfall, water companies are even allowed to flow untreated sewage water into rivers or lakes to not overwhelm treatment plants. The effect of this is dirtier water in our lakes which can cause the death of different forms of wildlife that live there. The death of these wildlife creatures could result in an imbalance in the ecosystem because it would disrupt the food chain and other animals would be forced to adapt to the harsher conditions that are caused by these sewage issues. According to the BBC: “just 14% of rivers in England can currently claim to have good ecological status in part due to sewage discharges.” On top of the environmental effects that sewage issues have had on our environment, food waste has also become a huge issue for our environment because of farms that are losing crops and produce due to improper storage systems. In fact, more than a third of food in the United States is wasted or lost in crop harvesting or through produce storage on farms or in the production of agriculture. This is an astonishing amount of food wasted and is something that seems like it could be fixed with some adjustments to the way that we store our crops. This way, we could feed many more people all over the world. Another problem with food waste is non-perishable products being wasted. This can have a larger effect on the ecosystem because of the fact that it takes longer to break down and doesn’t decompose in landfills as easily. One statistic to prove this is that only 76% of excess food waste comes from food products that can expire. So much of our food has chemicals and preservatives that can be harmful to the environment if it makes up 24% of all excess food waste. Finally, pesticides and chemicals are another main cause of harm to our planet. At first, in small amounts, chemicals and pesticides don’t seem to do much damage to the environment. However, runoff from floods or heavy rain that flows these chemicals and pesticides into rivers, streams, and other ecosystems whose animals can be harmed by these chemicals can cause major damage. The overall result of these issues could be a more unbalanced and unstable ecosystem where some species are dying out and harming the food chain.

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The “farm bills'' of 1977 and 1990 greatly affected the quality of life for farmers. The farm bill of 1977 mostly affected price and income for farm reserves. The farm bill of 1990 paved the way for farm products. Both of these bills greatly improved working conditions in general. These were big changes and cause for future change and an uproar of people willing to try to make a positive impact on the environment. They also helped farmers to have a decent supply of different crops to plant so that they could continue to work. This was important to sustain more jobs in the agricultural industry as well. It established some protections that we seem to have lost over the years with fast paced urbanization of lands that once housed crucial ecosystems. We are truly starting to lose some of the moral ground and precedent that we set. The causes of this problem according to the National Farm Worker Ministry are: “pesticide exposure, heat stress, lack of shade, and adequate clean drinking water.” These things are greatly affecting the humans in different labor industries, and they are hindering our ability to move forward with sustainability. This is largely due to population growth and demand for more and more products which results in less focus on working conditions and more focus on the production of goods. Another cause of harm to the people on our planet is GHG emissions. It was found that one hundred seventy million metric tons worth of carbon dioxide or an equivalent substance in GHG emissions were caused by food waste. This could have a terrible effect on human health and especially in different countries where food waste or waste in general is a more prevalent issue. Some of the effects of waste build up could even be asthma, birth defects, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. These things can kill thousands or even millions of people if they are left unchecked and even more so if people don’t have access to decent and affordable healthcare policies. We may need more policies on healthcare so that we are able to help people who are struggling because of diseases caused by pollution and food waste. Finally, the rapidly changing climate will and has caused an increase in devastating hurricanes globally that tear down homes and buildings. The effect of this could be the deaths of many people or people left homeless because of evacuation procedures during these deadly hurricanes and storms. People who live near oceans or in areas that hurricanes frequently hit could be more at risk for these effects. Therefore, we should consider all different people when we are finding the effects of food waste and pollution issues.

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The agriculture and disposal industries have not always been beneficial for the environment. However, throughout history people have been protesting and fighting for more sustainable ways for better storage and more careful treatment of our food. This started with the biodynamic movement all the way back in 1924. The biodynamic movement is an ecological farming method that looks at the farm as a living organism. This helped to sustain agriculture as a whole, and improved the quality of crops and produce. In 1960 pesticides (and therefore the food industry) changed enormously. This period of pesticide change lasted about 20 years and ended around 2008. Pesticide use grew exponentially during these years and hundreds of millions of pesticides were used during this time. Most of this problem stemmed from an attempt to control excess weeds in agricultural spaces. Because of this, in 2008, most of the overall pesticide application in the United States was used on just a handful of specific crops. Surprisingly, most likely because of the weed problem on farms, pesticide use on wheat only made up somewhere between two and five percent of total pesticide use during this time period. There was also the humus movement which started shortly after the second world war, and it was still around until at least 1979. The humus movement was a farming movement which specifically focused on the health of crops and the soil they grow in. The Rodale Institute also impacted the humus movement greatly and was an important supporter of the movement in 1979. Earlier, in 1977, the first “farm bill” was passed. The “farm bills” of 1977 and 1990 helped to improve daily human life, and they especially improved the growth and production of crops throughout the country. The growth and rise of these movements prove that we can make progress in our food sustainability. Now, we are having similar problems arise such as the way that we are storing our produce and crops when farming and how we dispose of our waste and filter our sewage production. Storing our crops and produce seems to be a bigger problem now than it was before. However, it is important to remember the movements that have succeeded in the past to learn new ways that we will be able to structure how we proceed in helping our environment.