Reducing Wasted Food at Home
In practically all developed countries, agriculture is wholly dependent on subsidies financed with taxes. The price of alimentary products in the supermarket does not reflect the true cost of production. This, coupled with countries like China subsidising exports, leads to a "race to the bottom" situation in which there's constant pressure to drive prices down.<p>One way to reduce waste would be to stop subsidising agriculture on a global level. This might be also be accompanied by raising the price of fuel and electricity. Before screaming bloody murder and downvoting, please consider the following:<p>- roughly 50% of food in the US goes to waste [1]. Meaning you already pay double what you think you pay.
- About 40% of people in the US are obese [2]. We're eating too much.
- Modern agriculture is an environmentally destructive practice [3]. Reducing food consumption can reduce its environmental impact.
- We have all become used to abundance - in practically all domains of life: water, food, energy, travel, communication. We have become desensitised to the real value of things, we have no conception of the externalities involved in producing them, and pass our lives on an infinite binge of blind consumption.<p>On a personal level, each of us can make the transition to consuming food in a more reasonable and sober manner. Finally, educating people about food waste is not enough. What's needed is rather a coordinated effort to move to a new model where people consume what they physically need, rather than indulging momentary craving.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/american-food-waste/491513/" rel="nofollow">https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/america...</a>
[2] <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190629233657/https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20190629233657/https://www.cdc.g...</a>
[3] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_agriculture" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_agricu...</a>