How cutting your food waste can help the climate
All food generates ( ) greenhouse gases to reach our plates, but when nearly a third of it is thrown away or wasted, does that mean we could be doing more to protect the climate?
How much did you leave on your plate last time you ate? A few scrapings ( )? A couple of rogue chips? Or perhaps even a few mouthfuls ( ) you were too stuffed ( ) to finish off?
It is worth considering, then, that every time you throw leftovers ( ) away, you're not just binning ( ) tomorrow's lunch – each forkful ( ) of food was responsible for greenhouse gas emissions ( ) before it even got to your plate.
Growing, processing ( ), packaging and transporting the food we eat all contributes to ( ) climate change.
And then when we throw it away, as it rots ( ) it releases yet more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere ( ).
It has been estimated that if food waste was a country, it would be the third highest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US and China, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
One third of greenhouse emissions globally come from agriculture ( ), and 30% of the food we produce is wasted – about 1.8 billion tonnes of it a year.
If, as a planet, we stopped wasting food altogether, we'd eliminate 8% of our total emissions.
Of course, individual households aren't to blame for ( ) all of this waste.
A 2018 study found that about a third of our fruit and veg is rejected for being the wrong size or shape before it even reaches the supermarket shelf, for example.
Where food is most wasted differs across the world.
In low income countries, 40% of food is wasted after it's harvested ( ) but before it makes it to people's homes, usually because of a lack of adequate ( ) infrastructure ( ).
But in middle- and high-income countries, consumers take a bigger slice ( ) of the blame: estimates suggest that households are responsible for 53% of all food waste in Europe, and 47% of food waste in Canada.
減少浪費食物可改善暖化現象
所有食物到達我們的餐盤之前都會產生溫室氣體，但當將近三分之一的食物都被丟棄或浪費時，是否表示我們能夠更加努力保護氣候？
你上次用餐時在餐盤中剩下多少食物？是一些殘渣？幾塊劣質薯片？或甚至是因為吃不下而剩下的好幾口食物？
那麼你就應該考慮，每一次你丟棄廚餘時，不只是丟掉了明明以後可以吃的食物，而且每一叉之量的食物到達你的餐盤之前，都會造成溫室氣體排放。
種植或養殖、處理、包裝與運送我們吃的食物，都助長了氣候變遷。
然後被我們丟棄的食物腐爛時，還會釋放更多溫室氣體到大氣中。
聯合國糧食及農業組織估計，如果「浪費食物」是一個國家，其溫室氣體排放量將高居全球第三名，僅次於美國與中國。
全球三分之一的溫室氣體排放來自農業，而人類生產的30%食物都被浪費掉，每年約有18億公噸。
如果地球上的人類共同停止浪費食物，就能消滅溫室氣體排放總量的8%。
當然，這麼大量的食物浪費不能歸咎於個別家庭。
一項2018年的研究發現，約有三分之一的水果和蔬菜，因為尺寸或形狀不合適，在被送到超市貨架等地方之前就被退貨。
最浪費食物的地方，在每個國家都不同。
在低收入國家，40%食物被採收後、在抵達民眾住家之前就被浪費，往往是由於缺乏完善基礎建設。
但在中高收入國家，消費者浪費食物的責任較大：根據估計，家庭在歐洲占據浪費食物總量的53%；而在加拿大則占47%。
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