Photo: Mark Thiessen/National Geographic Creative |
Whenever I present Food Foolish
to a live audience, I always try to end on a hopeful note, saying that if we are
smart and diligent, we can reduce food waste. And when we’re successful, the result
will be good for everyone: less hunger, reduced carbon emissions, a stable agricultural
footprint, more available fresh water, and greater food security for
populations around the world. Nobody loses.
I usually see people nod in agreement until one evening at a local
college, someone asked, “What about birds?”
“Birds?” I asked.
“What,” she explained, “would happen to birds that had come to depend
on landfills if we stopped wasting food?”
It was a good question. In the
United States and other developed countries, much of the food we waste shows up
in landfills. Unfortunately, I had no
answer at the time. Recently, I decided to
try to figure it out: How dependent are birds on human
food waste, and what happens if we reduce it—as so many individuals,
corporations, and governments are now committed to doing?