Food waste and loss during COVID-19

When we wrote about holiday food waste last year, we discovered a 2016 article claiming turkey—just Thanksgiving turkey—is expected to have an annual waste amount of 200 million pounds. It's $293 million bucks in food waste. So please, gobble it before it gobbles the landfills.

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Quick recap from last year's Action Pack on why food waste matters:

• 🍔 Food loss and waste generates 8% of global emissions
• ⬇️ Reducing food waste is the #1 opportunity area to solve climate change
• 🌎 A THIRD of the world's food is wasted or lost each year, an amount which could solve world hunger
• 💦 Food waste is a major burden on our fresh water and land. Could we run out of farmable land by 2050?

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How has food waste has gotten worse during COVID? (Foodprint)

• 🏭Supply chains have been disrupted by workers getting sick. Processing plants closed and the animals were slaughtered and discarded by the thousands.
• 🥛 Farmers couldn't afford to harvest and process products that they couldn't sell. So, they had to plow over edible crops and throw out literal lakes of milk — up to 3.7 million gallons a day
• 🚮 Excess food couldn't be distributed to shelters safely, restaurant demand went way down, and more. The graphic below explains who's involved

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We're in such a food mess because of extractive capitalism. Government policies condone food monopolies so our food production is controlled by a handful of corporate executives, who are incentivized to over-produce food. (The Guardian).

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Is there a way to feed our whole population while preserving our planet? Below is a 2-min video on sustainable food production.

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You'll learn that:

• 🍏 1/3 of food production is lost or wasted!

• 🌱 Monoculture involves using one giant plot of land to grow a single crop.

• 🚜 Monoculture and pesticides are used together to increase food yields and food security for the planet.

• 🌎 Food security is increasing, but our planet (water, soil, biodiversity) continues to deteriorate.

• 🐝 Because of pesticides, 10% insects are at risk of extinction. Insects play an important role in food systems through pollination and processing natural waste to improve soil quality

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‍Agrofood and energy smart systems can help reduce these impacts and create a more sustainable food chain. However, we need governments to help us transition into more sustainable agriculture. Don't fret—there are multiple actions we can take to reduce food waste from our homes.

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Yes, capitalism and food monopolies left us in this mess; but, here's what you can do to fight food waste. Pick 1-2 that work best for you:

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1. Donate $5 monthly to CIWF and make one of the most high-impact donations possible.

If you don't already know, Effective Altruism combines the most effective ways you can make a difference. One of their top causes for donations is animal welfare, and they've highlighted Compassion in World Farming (CIWF). They've successfully passed cage-free egg policies at the largest grocery stores in the world; you can read more about their impact and donate here. Give $5 monthly!
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2. Plan your meals intentionally.

Write down all your meals for the week in a notebook and what ingredients you need. If this isn't your thing, use Ends + Stems for zero-waste meal plans. They even give you recipes when you tell them 2 ingredients you have in your fridge!
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3. Start your own backyard garden.

Here's a quick guest post by Pangolin.Green explaining how it's actually a lot easier and cheaper than it seems. We learned that you can even turn food scraps into lil crops! If you've already started a COVID garden, tag us @soapboxproject on Instagram. Garden pics make me smile.
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4. Save the tiny bites of food you have left.

We seriously have tiny Tupperwares (this pack is 9 bucks) to save the last morsels of food we couldn't finish and we ALWAYS eat it the next day. It's like a fun treat for future you!
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5. Drink butts.

Toast Ale turns bread butts into beer! Perfect for holiday gifting, too.
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6. Reorganize your fridge every two weeks until you stop wasting food.  

This will help you keep track of what's in your fridge and what ingredients you really need.

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Add this reminder to your calendar by clicking the button below. You can also click the image.

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We also highly recommend checking out the food waste actions we published in December 2019 for 9 more actions and 3 recipes. The recipes were inspired by an IG poll of what our readers said they wasted most of.

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Before we go any further, it's time for you to pledge your commitment. It takes less than 30 seconds to pledge and we can bother you about it in a friendly way, so we can hold each other accountable. Pledge here!

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🎯 Action step 4 of 4: REFLECT — what can you commit to? What fresh perspectives can we look at?

It's alarming to think there's a food waste problem given our planet's grouping population. National Geographic's 5-step plan on how we're going to feed 9 billion people says, "By 2050 we’ll need to feed two billion more people. How can we do that without overwhelming the planet?"

Five-step plan, with two actions you can take at the end:

1. Freeze agriculture's footprint. We have to stop our age-old practice of destroying forests and grasslands to find space for food production. It's detrimental and it doesn't even create food security.
   
2. Grow more on farms we've got. We can target the "yield gap", which means increasing yields on less-productive farmlands with improved farming practices and technology.
   
3. Use resources more efficiently. Getting smarter about water and chemicals and taking advantage of precision methods will go a long way.
   
4. Shift diets. The dream is making sure crops end up in our tummies instead of being fed to livestock, and an efficient path is changing what we eat. Going vegan is a whole thing these days — my take is that if you can do it, you should. If it's too much for you right now, just start by cutting out beef!
   
5. Reduce waste. That's what we've been up to, fam. Congrats.

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We hope this Action Pack helped you be more conscious about your relationship with food and what you can do to reduce food waste from the comfort of your homes.

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‍🏁 Checkpoint: This is the end of action step 4 of 4: REFLECT.

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Check out our membership community for more resources like free weekly events with social justice experts, sustainable product discounts, pre-written email templates, a social impact job board, and in-person hangouts with new friends. Thanks for taking action with Soapbox Project!