Overheard some idiots at my work talking about “overpopulation”, and got me thinking about the subject. My default response to that dumb talking point is “we have enough food to feed everyone in the world and then some, it’s just the fucked up system of distribution (i.e. capitalism) that is to blame”, but I realised I’ve never actually seen any detailed information to back that up. I know that the USA throws away FIFTY PERCENT of its food, Australia throws away a third. But is that amount of food waste enough to feed the world?
It would be good to have some sources to refer people to when they make those shitty arguments.
Show them a grocery store or restaurant dumpster
Nah, some items - the example used by Zizek is a specific type of Scottish made caviar that is highly sought after for its supposedly unique taste "evocative of clear fresh water" (I have no idea what that taste could even be) - anyway the caviar is transported across the world via trucks, ships and cargo planes and during transport 80% of it gets spoiled. They literally factor in throwing away the majority of the product into their pricing and shipping model.
True, but it's hard to show that to someone.
Right. And the pandemic as far as waste is concerned is making the problem so much worse. Many restaurants, the one I work at included, are turning to single use utensils and cups instead of reusables to be more sanitary. Which is a good idea but on top of food waste that's already inherent in our system the plastic and paper waste must be exploding.