Susanne Lee talks with Maine Public about food waste and climate change

Food waste in binOn September 20, Maine Public’s Jennifer Mitchell talked with Susanne Lee about food waste and why it might be one of the most pressing climate issues facing Maine.

Lee is a Mitchell Center faculty fellow and leads the project Food Waste Management: Empowering Maine Businesses Toward Sustainability. Her team recently launched Food Rescue Maine, an initiative to educate, engage, and facilitate efforts to reduce food waste.

Between 30-40% of the food produced in the U.S. is never eaten, according to United Nations estimates. The costs of this wasted food are many, including the loss of the food itself, the energy, water and human labor to produce it, and associated climate impacts.

Mitchell and Lee talked about how big a problem food waste is as well as how it contributes to climate change and what we as individuals can do about it.

Lee notes that everyone eats food, and so we all are both impacted by the problem and can help to alleviate it. She says, “Feed people, forestall climate change, save money. … You get all those benefits by just addressing this one issue.”

Listen to the segment on the Maine Public website.