Wasted Food
The Art
The Graph
What’s Alarming
When considered on a weight basis, about a third of our planet’s food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. The green house gas emissions attributable to the production, distribution, and disposal of this food are so great that, if considered to be its own “country”, it would be the third-largest emitter, after China and the United States. The value of this lost food on a global basis is estimated to be over $900 billion annually. According the the National Resources Defense Council, food waste generates the amount of greenhouse gas emissions as 37 million cars.*
*As reported in the New York Times, Dec 13, 2019, “One Thing Your City Can Do to Combat Climate Change”.
Reducing this waste would be a huge victory for the environment and for the global economy.
