Gateway Science Museum

Summer 2022

Grocery store produce sections

Sustainability and Food

by Jackie Howland

It’s no secret that our society has many non-sustainable practices, but as individuals we may feel there's little we can do about the situation. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is the first in a series of blog posts that suggests ways each of us can be more responsible without becoming miserable martyrs. The first and possibly the most important thing we can do is put an end to food waste.  

This problem is so much bigger than what might go into the trash in a few households. About one third of the food produced in the US alone is wasted. Some of it never even leaves the field where it was raised. Much of it gets wasted in food processing plants. And a whole lot of it gets thrown into the dumpsters behind supermarkets and restaurants. Food taken to landfills rots in a way that produces methane, a greenhouse gas 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Wasted food in our country generates the equivalent of 32.6 million cars’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions per year. 

Yet even with all the food we produce and waste, some people in this country are not getting enough food. It’s a crazy situation that some people are going hungry or rooting in garbage cans or dumpsters for food, while tons of perfectly good food is thrown away. We could do so much better. 

So why do we waste so much food? The answer is complicated but one basic reason is nature. In the animal kingdom for the last few million years, the normal course of events has been quite literally feast or famine. Sometimes there’s plenty of food. At other times, there’s little or no food. This happens because of seasonal fluctuations in weather, normal periodic and extended droughts or plain old bad luck with hunting in the case of predators. Because of this, animals are hard-wired to overeat. Omnivores and herbivores have also especially evolved to store extra food in the form of fat.  

One of the most extreme cases of this is bears who have an extended period of deep hibernation. They can live entirely off fat reserves for 4 or 5 months, and in the case of females, even give birth and suckle their young while hibernating. This survival technique of overeating and storing fat obviously worked for the ancestors of animals living today, including us, or we wouldn’t be here. It’s also pretty clear certain kinds of stress can trigger that urge to overeat in some humans. We certainly saw this during the pandemic when many people gained weight. It wasn’t just staying home and getting less exercise. It was about major uncertainty. 

Something else we saw in the last few years is another survival strategy for certain kinds of animals, including us. That’s caching food. We know rodents do this. Nuts, grains, seeds, and certain kinds of greens get stored by squirrels, gophers, rats and mice among others. Some birds will also do this. Caching food has also been a survival strategy for humans as well when we spread into areas with long, cold winters. And stress can also trigger the urge to hoard as was the case during the first few months of the pandemic. Toilet paper and Top Ramen disappeared from grocery stores, leading to the very shortages the hoarders feared. Trying to remain calm and rational when the whole world seems to be falling apart can be impossible for some. 

That’s about a very human part of this issue. We have strong emotions and excellent memories, so actual experiences with national or worldwide crises can affect people who live through those for their entire lives. A case in point – my mother was raised during the depression, and she developed a morbid fear of going without food as a result. Between her upright freezer, an old-fashioned refrigerator and a side by side one, and her cupboards, we could have survived for six months or more. The fruits and vegetables she raised were canned or frozen and all leftovers from meals were either eaten in the following days or frozen for later use. And anything not eaten by humans was fed to her chickens. This could be seen as exemplary frugality, but the emotions behind it are also behind much of the wasted food in this country. 

This sort of thing is not lost on the food industry in our country, which is massive: its part of the gross domestic product in 2020 was 1.055 trillion dollars! Big agribusiness and major restaurant chains have one very simple reason for food waste. They’re after profit. All the waste generated before and after sales is just part of the cost of business for them. If consumers buy more than they need and then put the rest into the garbage, so much the better for the bottom line. And make no mistake, a lot of effort goes into understanding how to sell more food and make more money. Supermarket layouts and designs, restaurants’ all you can eat ad campaigns, fast food places’ offers to “supersize” orders and questions about adding or changing orders so people buy more food – all those things are how those places got so big. 

In spite of the push by the food industry and our own emotional and instinctual leanings, we can change our behaviors. In fact, it could be one of the least painful ways we can positively impact the environment and our budgets. The first step is becoming aware, which is why I went on and on about that! 

Taking control of what and how much food we buy is an essential aspect in not wasting it. For those who cook, planning meals and making grocery lists can go a long way in avoiding having to toss out perishable items. And figuring out realistic portions will also help in reducing waste, especially for those who hate leftovers. Parents and other caregivers need to also recognize the emotions and instinctive behavior around providing food for others. Being a good provider helps ensure the survival of the family and the group, and the survival of the group helps ensure the survival of individuals. Unfortunately, in an industrialized nation such as ours, when we provide too much and urge our children or guests to eat more, we can be contributing toward the development of obesity and its related health problems. We need to strike a balance. 

One of the hardest areas to control is the group celebration or other group rites, whether it’s a huge gathering or a relatively small one. Parties, potlucks, or wakes – they all bring out that urge to provide more than enough food. And now of course many people have special diets or food allergies, and we don’t want anyone to feel overlooked or excluded. The potential for waste is great, so good communication and planning are even more important. If only two vegans will be at a party, a sheet cake just for them is not a good idea. A small selection of vegan cupcakes clearly marked should be fine. A potluck where only 12 people are going to show up doesn’t need five people bringing a main dish that serves 15. People rarely want to bring home the leftovers (unless it’s a dessert!) so those are probably going to get tossed into the trash. Let’s resist that urge to overcook and do irrational caretaking. I know it’s hard – I do it myself. But I want to do better. 

We also have to remember that guilt and shame put on others or ourselves doesn’t lead to positive changes. Communicating about the problem and enlisting others to help solve it is more likely to help. Being realistic about your situation and inclinations is also more likely to be a manageable way to do your part. If you hate to cook or don’t have time, that’s ok. Plenty of alternatives exist and some of them are even healthy. Again, planning ahead can go a long way toward avoiding that daily last minute run to a fast food place or an order for takeout, which both contribute to overuse of resources and waste. Also being realistic about what you and/or your family will actually eat is a better alternative to throwing out all those fruits and vegetables you think you should eat, but then don’t. I would certainly encourage change if needed but that usually works better when it’s incremental.   

Our choice of where we shop can help too. Investigate what your favorite grocery store does with its products that reach their “best if used by” date. You can check online, ask an official, or even drive around to the back of the store and check the dumpsters. Of course, farmers markets are great places for produce and other items. Organic farmers are also much more likely to compost any produce not sold or feed it to animals if they have them. Some grocery stores feature local products as well, which helps reduce waste in many ways. Don’t dismiss the outlets either. That best if used by date is really about inventory control: it isn’t the same as a sell or use by date. An outlet will resell non-perishables for a much cheaper price, and they help keep these things from going to the landfill. 

Let’s face it, though. Food waste will happen, especially now that having a huge freezer and second refrigerator will drive the electric bill through the roof. Also, we can have extended power outages that would result in that frozen food going bad anyway. California passed legislation this year that requires all organics (in the larger sense rather than the organically grown one) to be composted. Individuals and businesses are supposed to comply with this, but enforcement would be a nightmare. Trash companies are also required to supply a container and pickup for this. Again, enforcement isn’t really happening.  

As consumers, we can help. We can put pressure on landlords or stores to send food waste to a composting facility for one thing. Of course, those of us with yards can have a compost container. Here’s what I use: 

 pet cage filled with leaves and pieces of paper

Yes, that’s an outdoor pet cage and it’s an almost perfect compost container! It’s enclosed to keep out critters and it’s lightweight so I can move it around easily. The holes are a bit big, which means some bits can fall out and it dries out too much, but I use paper grocery bags to help with that. They’ll eventually rot of course, which is fine. We’re supposed to compost paper anyway. And the best part is, I get rich soil to add to my flowers and vegetables. 

Not everyone has a yard of course, so getting those organics composted can be more challenging. Remember every trash collection company is supposed to provide a green bin for them, so you can certainly demand that if it hasn’t been provided. You can also ask what others are doing with their organics. Whether it’s a school, church, restaurant or grocery store, the potential for food waste and need for responsible disposal of that needs to be addressed. We all need to not just do our part, but also encourage others to do theirs as well. And it’s a whole lot more doable than taking 32 million cars off the road!