TS
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stories or theme
topic
A tuna sandwich with just one
bite taken out of it. A half-eaten
burrito. Heaps of crispy lettuce,
glistening with ranch dressing.
Bright baby carrots sprinkled around
like orange confetti. And not one but
six shiny red apples.
This is an example of what is
typically left behind after just one
lunch period, at one school, on
one day. Now imagine that one
Dumpster multiplied hundreds
of thousands of times across the
country. Dumpsters sit behind not
just schools but also restaurants,
apartment buildings, grocery
storesthe list goes on. And day
after day, all those Dumpsters get
filled up with perfectly edible food.
According to the U.S.
This
Department of Agriculture (USDA),
$160 billion worth of food gets
thrown away each year. If we were
Apple
to fill up shopping carts with all
the food we throw away every week
and line them up, the carts would
Could Have stretch around the Earthalmost
twice. Yet at the same time, one in
Been Saved
six people in the U.S. doesnt have
AS YOU enough to eat.
What are the causes and effects of food waste?
READ How is this possible? Welcome to
H
the problem of food waste.
The shocking story of how eres a field trip for you: After lunch, walk
A Leftovers Nation
ROC CANALS PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES
over to the Dumpster at your school. Pry
Americans waste millions of open the top and take a look inside. (Dont
JONATHON KAMBOURIS/GALLERYSTOCK
Not so long ago, throwing away
tons of food every year. And fall in!) What do you see? Trash, right? your half-eaten sandwich would
yes, YOU can help stop this. Banana peels, ketchup-smeared napkins,
plates crusted with pudding.
have been as unthinkable as
throwing away your phone. Until the
BY KRISTIN LEWIS, WITH REPORTING But wait. Really get your face in there. (You might late 1800s, most Americans ate food
BY ADEE BRAUN want to hold your nose.) that they grew or raised themselves.
What else do you see? Milk came from cows milked before
12 SCHOLASTIC SCOPE OCTOBER 2016
THE
NUMBERS
dawn. Meat came from animals Every time food ends
raised in the barn. Fruits and up in the trash, were
vegetables grew in fields that the wasting more than just
food. Were wasting
whole family tended. One bad storm
the chance to help
could wipe out a seasons harvest. someone.
14
Depending on where you lived, the
nearest store could be a days buggy
ride awayor farther. Plus, few had
money to spare for buying food.
Starvation was a huge threat. PERCENT
of American households are
And so, every crust of bread and food insecure, meaning
drop of milk was precious. Meat and they dont know where their
next meal will come from.
25
potatoes from yesterdays dinner
became tomorrows breakfast.
Kitchen scraps were boiled into
stews, baked into pies, or fed to
horses and chickens. Fruits were MILLION
jammed and meats were salted people could be fed each
year if we threw away just
or smoked, preserving them for
15 percent less of what
months. we currently toss.
What couldnt be consumed
SOURCES: USDA, NRDC
was put to use too. Cow skin was
fashioned into leather shoes. Pig
bladders were made into balls
to kick around after school.
Corn husks were stitched into
mattresses, and animal fat was
turned into candles and soap.
By 1900, times had begun to
change. Families were leaving
their farms and moving to towns
and cities. Food was becoming
cheaper and easier to get. Still,
many Americans were careful to
conserve. They knew that food
could not be taken for granted.
In the early years of the 20th
century, people were reminded of
this again and again. Two world
wars put a big strain on
Americas food supply.
SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM OCTOBER 2016 13
And in the years between the wars
there was the Great Depression.
In this period of widespread
unemployment and poverty,
hunger threatened millions.
Families had to get creative or go
hungry. Depression soupone-
third cup of ketchup and two-thirds
cup of boiling waterbecame
popular. So did bacon grease
sandwiches. Squirrels, possums,
even road kill became important
sources of protein.
A Nation of Wasters
So how did we go from being a
nation of savers to being a nation of
wasters?
By the 1950s and 1960s, the
U.S. was growing againfast.
New roads and bridges connected
TOUGH TIMES
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, millions of Americans couldnt get jobs. Masses
of people waited in lines that stretched for city blocks, for a small meal.
14 SCHOLASTIC SCOPE OCTOBER 2016
SAVE FOOD,
WIN THE WAR
During World War II,
families were expected
to conserve food. The
government appealed to
peoples patriotism with
posters like this one.
America from
coast to coast.
Refrigerated trucks could now
carry fresh produce across the
country on a scale never before
seen. Fresh strawberries from
California could be enjoyed 3,000
miles away in New York.
Most exciting of all?
Supermarkets.
Americans were dazzled by these
storesand its no wonder. After
decades of hardship and hunger,
supermarkets the feathers from a A compactor packs
must have seemed chicken? Can you
down trash at the
Defiance County
like heaven. They pickle an artichoke? Landfill in Ohio.
were clean, bright, Do you know whether
modern, and, best cucumbers grow on
of all, overflowing trees or on vines?
with food. It If your answer is
seemed like no to any (or all)
every day, a new of those questions,
supermarket was dont worry. You arent
BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES (BREADLINE); JONATHAN KIRN/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES (HORSE PLOW)
opening somewherealways with alone. Few Americans
great fanfare. know much about
At the same time, food was what happens to food
getting a lot cheaper. By the 1970s, before it arrives at the
Americans were spending half dinner table.
as much as their parents had on Why would we?
food. People started packing their In the U.S. today, we
TY WRIGHT/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES (COMPACTOR)
refrigerators in a way they never have the incredible privilege of not WASTED FOOD, WASTED WATER
Eighty percent of the fresh water that we consume is used to grow food. Yet we end up
had beforefilling them with more having to worry about food the
throwing nearly half of that food away. When you throw out a burger, thats the equivalent
than they could hope to eat. way our ancestors did, which gives of taking a 90-minute shower, says Dana Gunders from the Natural Resources Defense
But as Americas refrigerators us time to focus on other things: Council. Throwing out an apple is like taking a seven-minute shower.
swelled, so did something else: school, sports, family, friends.
Americas trash. For most of us, our relationship visit. In fact, we want our fruits and garbage bin. And so grocery stores
with the food we eat begins at the veggies to be as flawless-looking as end up throwing away 43 billion
Perfect Peppers grocery store. There, we expect to celebrities on the red carpet. (Who pounds of food a year. Meanwhile,
Here are some questions for find the shelves fully stocked with wants to buy a slightly bruised on farms, foods that dont look
you: Do you know how to pluck fresh, beautiful food every time we tomato, even if it does taste exactly great are left to rot; theres no point
the same as an unbruised one?) in taking the time, energy, and
What most of us dont think expense to harvest a crop that no
GROW IT, about is that to meet our store will try to sell.
EAT IT
At the end of the expectations of shelves bursting
19th century, you with fresh, photo-ready food, stores Lets Face It
probably would
must order more than they can Even a lot of the food that we
have lived on a farm
like this. (Most sell. That means baskets of perfect do buy ends up in the trash. At
Americans did.) You peppers and boxes of perfectly good school, you might toss your half-
and your siblings
oranges get chucked to make room eaten bag of pretzels because thats
would spend your
days in the fields, for the next shipment. Misshapen easier than carrying it around in
helping your parents but still tastyproduce often never your backpack all afternoon. Your
grow food that you
would carefully gets to the shelf in the first place, parents, exhausted after a long day
preserve, so it because customers wont buy it. at work, might opt to order
would last all year.
Instead, it goes straight to the a pizza instead of cooking
SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM OCTOBER 2016 15
the chicken in the refrigerator. We
often toss our leftovers because its
easier than putting them away
and when we do save our leftovers,
they are often abandoned to spoil
at the back of the fridge, because,
lets face it, most food doesnt taste
quite as good the second time
around.
Each time we throw food away,
we are wasting more than just
that food. We are also wasting the
hard work, time, water, and fuel
it took to get that food into our
hands. (According to food waste
expert Jonathan Bloom, a typical
supermarket item travels 1,500
miles to get to us.)
And then theres the issue of
what happens to all that food after
we chuck it.
A Stinky Mess
Remember that Dumpster
outside your cafeteria?
What We Waste
Food waste isnt a problem just in America. Its a problem
worldwide. About 1.3 billion tons of foodabout a third of all
food produced around the worldgets wasted every year.
45 35
% %
OF ALL OF ALL
PRODUCE SEAFOOD
16 SCHOLASTIC SCOPE OCTOBER 2016
Ever wonder what happens to all
that stuff inside?
First, it is probably collected
by a garbage truck and taken to a
processing center. From there, it is
likely shipped to a landfill.
And in the landfill, it contributes
to a festering, putrid mess.
According to the Natural
Resources Defense Council,
food is the number one type of
garbage in Americas landfills. As
it decomposes, this food emits
methane, a gas that pollutes the air
and soil. Some landfills have ways
to prevent methane from escaping,
but they may not be able to catch
all of it. Its no surprise, then, that
the food filling up our landfills is
one of the biggest environmental
problems facing the U.S. right now.
What Now?
Fortunately, the problem
of food waste is starting to get
30
% %
OF ALL
CEREALS
SOURCE: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES
attention. In the past few years, begun composting or donating discounts. And several Whole Foods you think about dropping that
journalists, government agencies, leftovers from their cafeterias to stores in California are doing the spaghetti into the trash (or that
environmental activists, students local food banks. New York City same. half-eaten apple or that extra
like youeven President Barack now provides compost bins to Whether these measures go far portion of roasted potatoes), save
Obamas administrationhave some neighborhoods and plans enough, only time will tell. it for later instead.
been sounding the alarm. And thats to add more. Some Walmarts now In the meantime, there is one It will taste great . . . and the
great news. According to Andrew sell so-called ugly produce at big easy way you can help. Next time Earth will thank you.
Shakman, CEO of an anti-food-
waste company called LeanPath, Informational Text
How to Reduce Your Food Waste
ending food waste begins with
awareness.
Its Easier Than You Think!
People need to realize that a
convenience-oriented society leads
1 4
to waste, says Shakman. We can
change the culture by changing Use smaller plates. Eat ugly produce.
The larger the plate, the more likely Bruised bananas and plums, misshapen
awareness.
youll be to fill it with food you wont end potatoes and carrotsthey all taste fine.
In other words, the more we
up eating. So start small. You can always
5
understand about how our behavior go back for seconds! Compost.
affects our world, the more likely Composting is a way to turn organic
we will be to change.
In fact, small changes are already 2 Start a food donation
program in your school.
Collect extra food from your cafeteria
materialsstuff like banana peels, eggshells,
and apple coresinto rich soil that is great for
gardening. Compost at home with a special bin,
happening. Some restaurants
and your classmates lunches to donate to or take food scraps to a city composting site.
have started offering smaller
organizations that help those in need.
6
portions, so less food gets scraped Save and share.
into the trash. Some schools have
3 Eat what you have before
STUDIO HEINEMANN/IMAGEBROKER/SUPERSTOCK (CAN); SHUTTERSTOCK (ALL OTHER IMAGES)
Didnt finish your lunch? Offer it to a
WESTEND61/SUPERSTOCK (SANDWICH); PETER DAZELEY/GETTY IMAGES (COMPOST); CREATIV
buying more. friend, save it for snacking, or take it back
Talk to your family about using up whats home. Turn restaurant leftovers into great
already in the kitchen before shopping for next-day lunches.
more. Is some of it looking a little tired?
7
Wilted veggies can be tossed into soups, Eat expired food. (Seriously.)
baked into casseroles, or sauted and Foods past their best by or use
served over rice. Stale bread can be turned by dates are often safe to eat. Those dates
into toast or croutons. Overripe fruits can are just estimates of when the food will be
20 20
be frozen, then served over ice cream or freshestthey have nothing to do with safety.
% yogurt, mixed into smoothies, baked into (Of course, if something smells bad or tastes
muffins, or cooked into pancakes. funky, dont eat it!)
OF ALL OF ALL
SHUTTERSTOCK (ALL IMAGES)
DAIRY MEAT
WRITING CONTEST
In two well-organized paragraphs, explain two ideas for reducing food waste and why each
idea would work. Use text evidence. Send your response to FOOD WASTE CONTEST.
Five winners will each get Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez. See page 2 for details. GET THIS
ACTIVITY
ONLINE
SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM OCTOBER 2016 17