Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/food-foolish

Comment #4718

2016-03-03T12:30:50Z

"Or covering Washington D.C., 24 layers deep." Sounds good to me.

Sarah

Comment #4717

2016-03-02T22:11:33Z

I've now also read "Food Foolish," and found it fascinating, if perhaps a little more detailed than I needed to be convinced of the problem.

There's only one thing I'd change. Food waste - 1.3 billion tons a year - is compared to "1.3 billion healthy elephants happily standing on each other in one pile." That's unhelpful - who can imagine such a number? - and inaccurate (elephants weigh at least 2 tons; African elephants would average 3-4).

I'd propose the following comparison: food waste is the weight of a blanket of elephants covering Rhode Island (or an average-year Great Salt Lake), shoulder to shoulder. Or covering Washington D.C., 24 layers deep.

Or perhaps Ford F-150s, mirrors and bumpers touching, nearly covering Yellowstone National Park. Or metropolitan London, just to tick off the English. Or Zealand (the island with Copenhagen). Or two thirds of Delmarva (where the locals might actually enjoy getting all those pickups).

Comment #4716

2015-11-12T19:22:20Z

Now I silently say "Sorry, Eric," everytime I throw out food.

Comment #4715

2015-10-21T01:41:29Z

Thanks for the kind words and great coverage! I've been eating leftovers and (kind of) black bananas since I researched chapter 4 in March. . .!

Comment #4714

2015-10-20T19:36:24Z

Very interesting. The sheer waste of food does not surprise me, but putting it in terms of the amount of water wasted, etc, had not occurred to me before.

I would have thought that Europe, which I thought had vastly different shopping habits than the US would not waste nearly as much food. I shop for the week (or more if I can get away with it) and so I am more likely to waste food simply because I didn't plan well or forgot what I was planning on making. I think of Europeans, with their small refrigerators and more pedestrian friendly shopping, would be more likely to use what they buy because they are going to eat it sooner rather than later.

One of the local charities that we support is FoodShare. Part of what they do is go to area grocery stores and collect food that is no longer salable, but is still perfectly fine to eat.

Sarah