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Food Waste and Justice

Two grocery bags on a wooden floor filled with fresh produce, including apples, bananas, and a cabbage, and packaged bread.

We all see it, and we all do it.

In Albuquerque alone, people waste more than 112,000 tons of food each year. Nationally, 40 percent of all food in the U.S. is wasted.

Meanwhile, so many people go hungry. What is happening, why, and how do we make not just individual changes, but systemic changes in our food systems?

This week on New Mexico in Focus, we tackled all these issues. Panelists included Sandra West, the City of Albuquerque’s sustainable waste specialist; Amanda Rich, assistant director of Three Sisters Kitchen; and Anton Becker-Stumpf with the Southwest Organizing Project.

During the conversation, we talked about how food gets wasted in grocery stores, restaurants, and homes and why that’s an environmental, labor, and social justice problem. Panelists also spoke about solutions, cool ideas, and ways to do better. 

Find Food Waste and Food Justice Resources here.

-Laura Paskus Our Land Senior Producer