From Grateful to Wasteful

Hello, hello, Seasider. Let me tell you, our parents (or parent figures) had it right.

Remember when they insisted you finish your food before leaving the dinner table? Yeah, good times, good times. Although they intended to feed you well, little did they know that they were also helping the environment!

And we need to bring that mentality back. Because we throw an average of…
$600 million worth of food at the dump! 🤯

ICYMI:`Tis the season when an estimated 312 million pounds of food is wasted on Thanksgiving dinner alone. This includes 200 million pounds of turkey, 30 million pounds of gravy, and 14 million dinner rolls.

We need to do better. Our health and the environment depend on it.

But let’s get into it, yeah? In this issue, you’ll get:

• Why you should compost scraps and leftovers

• How food waste affects our marine ecosystem

• What you can do differently this season

— Camila Hernandez

COMPOSTING
For starters, when we throw away food, we also throw away the land, water, and energy used to produce that food 😔 (keep reading; it’s not all doom and gloom)!

Getting food to our tables every year requires half of our food-producing land. With food waste, we throw out:

• 21- 33% of U.S. agricultural water.

• 19% of all cropland use.

• 18% of farming fertilizers.

• About 80 million acres of land are used to produce wasted food; if that were wildlife habitat instead of farmland, it would be 35 times the size of Yellowstone National Park.

The facts: Food is the most common material dumped in landfills. Rotting food produces methane, a greenhouse gas 80x more potent than carbon dioxide (CO₂).

THE GOOD GOOD

Ok, ready for the good news?

Reducing food waste is the single most practical everyday action individuals can take to fight climate change. Nip it in the bud, type thing 😏 Here’s what you can do:

COMPOST

You can do it at home with a compost bin like these:

• Outdoor, hands-on experience: Dual Chamber Tumbler Composter

• Fuzz-free experience, no smells. No work: Electric Food Waste Composter

Alternatively, you can contact a local compost facility for pick-up programs or farms (many farms appreciate it so they can continue generating healthy, nutrient-rich soil).

WHY IT MATTERS

• Leads to reducing methane emissions from landfills.

• Helps us save money through thoughtful planning, shopping, storage, and preparation.

• Good for the community when we volunteer and donate to those in need the untouched food that otherwise would have gone to waste.

• Contributes to conserving energy and resources.

HOW IT AFFECTS OUR ENVIRO
Most are familiar with food waste's impact on landfills, but what about our waterways (rivers, bays, lakes, oceans)?

FOOD WASTE AND MARINE ECOSYSTEM

Let’s summarize the Biological Conservation study, which reveals that food waste in landfills near Monterey Bay, CA, impacted the delicate balance of the coastal food web between the local seabird, the Western Gull, and its prey, the steelhead trout.

The Gull's diet has shifted towards the abundance of human trash, increasing the Gull population. However, increased predation pressure on steelhead trout has resulted in a drop in the trout population.

Other fish-eating birds around Monterey Bay were forced to prey on juvenile steelhead trout and move down the food chain to survive, dramatically declining the overall fish population¹.

(¹ Source: Biological Conservation)

MORE WAYS FOOD WASTE AFFECTS THE OCEAN

• Harmful algal blooms: When food waste is dumped into the ocean, it provides nutrients that can cause algal blooms. These blooms can block sunlight, use oxygen, and produce toxins that harm marine life and people.

• Dead zones: Areas of the ocean with low oxygen levels that make it difficult for marine life to survive.

• Chemical pollution: When food treated with pesticides, hormones, and other chemicals ends up in the ocean, the pollution caused can have long-lasting effects on marine ecosystems.

• Plastic pollution: Plastic items from takeaway food, plastic packaging, and non-biodegradable materials dominate the litter in the world’s oceans, according to the latest studies.
  

`TIS SEASON
Food waste is an environmental problem and societal concern. And holiday food waste is a real issue.

The Ecology Center found that in the United States, we see a 25% increase in waste between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. That’s 1 million extra tons of waste, and 21% of that is food.¹

_{(¹ Source: The Ecology Center)}

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Meal plan: This sounds obvious, but when did you last consider meal planning? Exactly. Plan meals and use lists. Buy only what you need. The NRDC has a handy online tool called the Guestimator at Guestimator.

• Give uglies a second chance: Buy imperfect or “ugly” produce. About 266,000 tons of food goes wasted because of its appearance.

• Donate: the excess to a food bank or homeless shelter nearby. They always accept donations, and extra can be a great comfort around the holidays.

Keep Reading

THE ART OF NOTICING
Check out this photo of the week. The Surfrider Annapolis chapter collected 358lbs of trash around the Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore, MD!

Tag your photos on Instagram or Threads @ecowaves.co for a spotlight.