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Food Waste at Walmart: Increasing Climate Change
Juliana L.
started this petition to
All Operation Managers at Walmart stores
Food waste has been known to negatively influence the environment. According to NRP, a news source in 2014, food waste contributed to 20% of the landfills. When food is wasted, it also wastes all the resources, energy, and time that was put in to produce it. Furthermore, when food rots in landfills, it tends to release methane, which is one of the leading gases that contribute to climate change and is 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. One solution to this issue is to convince big corporations to find alternative solutions where they won’t have to waste food. For example, Walmart, a private corporation, can hire a non-profit organization to collect food. This way, food is not being sent to landfills, thus reducing the effects food waste has on the environment. “If food waste were a country, it would be the third top emitter of greenhouse gas emissions after China and the United States, accounting for 3 billion tons of carbon emissions” (Biological Diversity). This illustrates the magnitude of food waste on our planet. With a large amount of food waste, the planet is bound to encounter natural and environmental disasters due to climate change. The people who are impacted by this problem are anyone who lives on planet Earth. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, human-health is vulnerable to climate change. If our air pollution increases, it will lead to problems in the future such as an increase in poor air quality, heat stress, waterborne diseases, and diseases transmitted by insects and rodents. Food waste also makes a large impact on our wildlife. There is evidence that shows food waste is “reshaping the way the natural world functions across the planet, inadvertently subsidizing some opportunistic predators and contributing to the decline of other species including ones who are threatened and endangered” (Conniff 2016). The change that needs to happen is to accelerate the process of having zero food waste across the globe. We can achieve this goal by targeting big corporations that waste good food. If this campaign is successful, then we will be saving our loved ones, wildlife, ecosystem, and overall environment for generations to come. If Walmart makes a significant change in reducing their food waste, then hopefully other supermarkets and restaurants will follow their lead. However, if we lose this campaign, then Walmart will continue to waste food and in turn, will be a slower progression to help our environment.
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