✦ 6 / 11 / 23 ✦ hello! this is a school project , please comment what you think about the problems or a statement , im gonna need it- - - - this project will explain a few things about food problems, and this will include 3 topics: 1 | food apartheid 2 | environmental impacts of food production 3 | food waste - these are big problems that need to be resolved or withered down. this project is to educate people and make them aware of these problems - - - 1 | food apartheid - alright, so, whats a food apartheid? - it is: "the consistent lack of food to have a healthy life because of your economic situation." (definition from feedingamerica.org) (oh, and food apartheids are also called food deserts, or food swamps, but those names make people perceive the name wrongly and think of something that’s not what it actually means. so food apartheid is the best way to say it.) - so for example, a person is living in a place that does not have a lot of supermarkets and places to buy food, and the small amount of places are far away from where the person lives. they must travel to get there by bus, car, or any vehicle there is available. the person may have to rely on fast food, and they wouldn't be able to live a healthy life. - as it says in a article in pittsburghfoodbank.org, “These neighborhoods may have corner and convenience stores, but the shelves are stocked with foods of lower nutritional quality—foods high in sugar and fat—leading to high rates of heart disease, diabetes and other diet-related diseases.” so people sometimes do resort to fastfood places and convenience stores for food, but it’s less healthy or unhealthy. - the thing that would need to happen is to, of course, build more supermarkets and places to buy healthy food in the area. but, community gardens would be much better. it’s freshly grown, and accessible, of course. - - - 2 | environmental impacts of food production - ah, now impacts. - ecosystems and natural habitats have been destroyed so there can be more land for agriculture. habitat-loss is the leading cause of decreasing population of a species or possibly extinction. - here's another one: trees have been cut down so there is more space for farmland. local-species must relocate to find new places to live in. isn't this habitat-loss again? it's also deforestation, but this type is called "land-use change". This is bad because, you already know that trees are a big contributor to climate change, because they remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. less trees = more greenhouse gases - when the land is clear, it has to be primed (to make something ready to be used) and this is done using heavy applications of herbicides and fertilizers. using these big amounts is sustainablely and environmentally bad. why? - well, that's because these can be toxic chemicals, and it's usually put on crops too, in big amounts. it'd difficult for our body's to process and it can lead to health problems. - there's another reason why this is bad: these chemicals can be released into the atmosphere, and agriculture run-off from heavy rain removes the chemicals from crops and makes it travel to other locations, polluting soil and other ecosystems. the chemicals, through this process called “bio-accumulation”, chemicals let out into natural ecosystems can become super toxic. it can destroy the health of the ecosystem and cause damage. - - - 3 | food waste - and our last topic for this project, food waste. - food waste, as you know, occurs when food gets moldy, gets pests, losses from cooking or it can be intentionally wasted. the waste is put into two categories (info taken from hsph.harvard.edu): - Food “loss”: occurs before the food reaches the consumer as a result of issues in the production, storage, processing, and distribution phases. - Food “waste”: refers to food that is fit for consumption but consciously discarded at the retail or consumption phases. - as it also says in the same website, “Wasted food has far-reaching effects, both nationally and globally. In the U.S., up to 40% of all food produced goes uneaten.” so yeah, a lot of food is uneaten all around the world. - as it says in a article by foodprint.org, “Some of the main drivers for food loss at retail stores include: overstocked product displays, expectation of cosmetic perfection of fruits, vegetables and other foods, oversized packages, the availability of prepared food until closing, expired “sell by” dates, damaged goods, outdated seasonal items, over purchasing of unpopular foods and under staffing.” - some ways to reduce the food waste 1) donate untouched, safe extra food to a food pantry or soup kitchen near you. 2) recycle food waste to make compost, fertilizer and bioenergy 3) use the food to feed animals. (farm animals mostly) (continued below!)
(continued from above) - “US restaurants generate an estimated 22 to 33 billion pounds of food waste each year. Institutions — including schools, hotels and hospitals — generate an additional 7 to 11 billion pounds per year.” (from foodprint.org) - that much, from restaurants and institutions! generally i think for schools they should stop putting vegetables and stuff that doesn’t look too appetizing in school lunches, students would just throw that part of their lunch out and waste it. - - - alrighty, that’s all i can put, as i first said at the top of this, this is for a school project , please comment what you think about the problems or a statement , im gonna need it :,) - Shea (huh, i managed to complete this in a bit less than a week. it’s Shea getting that random boost of motivation to do a project when there a small amount of time for projects! this is the 4th time!)
