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Politics aside, there's an appalling amount of food waste in developed countries. It's certainly not as simple as "send all the not-pretty produce to Africa" or

Politics aside, there's an appalling amount of food waste in developed countries. It's certainly not as simple as "send all the not-pretty produce to Africa" or "ship all the no-longer-perfectly-fresh bread to North Korea," but there is a huge potential target for reducing what we throw away and getting it to people who need it. The major problem, of course, is interfering with people's lifestyles, if only in marginal ways... we as first-world countries just don't handle having our convenience messed with very well.

sliverstorm 13y ago
there is a huge potential target for reducing what we throw away Yes and getting it to people who need it. Not so sure about this one. Fostering dependence and quite simply the costs of airlifting tons of produce and bread to North Korea on the regular come to mind.
jeltz 13y ago
If we reduce the food waste it will only mean reduced food production, those in need would not get any of the former waste production.
tomjen3 13y ago
You just touched all of my buttons wrt food and economics here. First of all, just because food isn't used doesn't mean it is wasted. I don't like to go to the store all the time so I buy more food than I may end up using -- but I still consider it worth it. Second there is not an limited amount of food in the world and there is no reason we have to cut down on our use in order to feed hungry Africans -- we can, as GP correctly pointed out -- feed the entire world. At this point the only reason there is hunger anywhere in the world is bad governments and failed states -- Haiti is hell on earth (and has been before the recent earthquake), but it borders the Dominican republic, which is much better (if still far from the western world), NK is the worst place on earth with street urchins scavenging for single kernels of rice in animal dung, SK, which it borders, is a pretty good place to live and has basically no starvation. It is one country today, but the same difference (albit to a lesser degree) could be seen between East and West Germany. Finally, take the recent hunger situation in Africa -- people had to walk miles through the desert, leaving their dead and dying children behind in the sand because they couldn't carry them. They had to walk until they came out of Somalia and entered Kenya where they would receive held and food -- because the warlords of Somalia didn't allow the food aid into the country as they believed it was a western emperialist attempt to make Islam look bad.
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Shivetya 13y ago
a great amount of that waste is time sensitive foods but there are those moments when I been surprised by the date on canned or similar food and wonder, how did I forget that? I do not think a lifestyle change is required on the Western world's part, this all about politics. Even when disasters strike not all aid is accepted and it is either purely political or with religious overtones.

sliverstorm 13y ago

there is a huge potential target for reducing what we throw away Yes and getting it to people who need it. Not so sure about this one. Fostering dependence and quite simply the costs of airlifting tons of produce and bread to North Korea on the regular come to mind.

jeltz 13y ago

If we reduce the food waste it will only mean reduced food production, those in need would not get any of the former waste production.

tomjen3 13y ago

You just touched all of my buttons wrt food and economics here. First of all, just because food isn't used doesn't mean it is wasted. I don't like to go to the store all the time so I buy more food than I may end up using -- but I still consider it worth it. Second there is not an limited amount of food in the world and there is no reason we have to cut down on our use in order to feed hungry Africans -- we can, as GP correctly pointed out -- feed the entire world. At this point the only reason there is hunger anywhere in the world is bad governments and failed states -- Haiti is hell on earth (and has been before the recent earthquake), but it borders the Dominican republic, which is much better (if still far from the western world), NK is the worst place on earth with street urchins scavenging for single kernels of rice in animal dung, SK, which it borders, is a pretty good place to live and has basically no starvation. It is one country today, but the same difference (albit to a lesser degree) could be seen between East and West Germany. Finally, take the recent hunger situation in Africa -- people had to walk miles through the desert, leaving their dead and dying children behind in the sand because they couldn't carry them. They had to walk until they came out of Somalia and entered Kenya where they would receive held and food -- because the warlords of Somalia didn't allow the food aid into the country as they believed it was a western emperialist attempt to make Islam look bad.

deleted 13y ago
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Shivetya 13y ago

a great amount of that waste is time sensitive foods but there are those moments when I been surprised by the date on canned or similar food and wonder, how did I forget that? I do not think a lifestyle change is required on the Western world's part, this all about politics. Even when disasters strike not all aid is accepted and it is either purely political or with religious overtones.