Waste may be a natural part of our lives, but in the US, we don’t just generate waste, we excel at it.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States generated 292.4 million tons of municipal solid waste in 2018. That means every person in the country created nearly 5 pounds of waste per day. At the same time, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions totaled the equivalent of 14 trillion tons of carbon dioxide in 2022. All of which adds pressure to our delicately balanced environment and a climate that is increasingly prone to extreme weather affecting everything from our food supply, air quality, and access to shelter, to our economy, global politics, and the health of the planet.
Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer scale of these changes is understandable. Especially when many of us face additional hurdles because of our income, caretaking responsibilities, or living in areas that offer few resources for recycling, repurposing, or composting. How can we as individuals take any meaningful actions to curb the amount of waste we produce and ensure we use environmentally sustainable methods to process and dispose of it?
The changes we make within our own homes can absolutely contribute to normalizing sustainable practices. Creating a Climate Victory Garden is one way a growing number of people have embraced cutting back on waste, as well as contributing to soil health and carbon sequestration. Supplementing your pantry with fresh food grown at home and harvested at need can help lessen the amount of food that can go to waste despite your best intentions (just think of how often those prepackaged fresh herbs get lost in the wilds of your fridge and go bad before you can use them). And growing a garden using regenerative practices not only leads to healthier soil and more recaptured carbon, but it can also strengthen your relationship with the complex system of life that nourishes our bodies and in turn is nourished (and at turns harmed) by our actions.
Opportunity to make an impact
Adjusting our relationship with food production can have a considerable impact on waste. According to the USDA, 30-40% of our food supply goes to waste. Additionally, our immense, highly corporatized food system generates up to 29% of carbon emissions throughout the process of growing, harvesting, packaging, transporting, and treating waste.
Not to mention, growing a garden can deepen your relationships with your extended community. After all, a home isn’t just the physical shelter we live in, it’s also the network of relationships with neighbors, community leaders, and local businesses that are part of our daily lives. Sharing food and knowledge can lead to positive collaborative and collective actions, and tending those relationships can be just as impactful as tending a garden. While it’s essential for each of us to make different choices to live more sustainably as we are able, this is not a charge that we can fulfill on our own.
According to the 2020 Carbon Majors Report, just 90 companies – primarily in the fossil fuels industry – contribute to two-thirds of all carbon emissions. Working together, we can demand corporations enact more sustainable practices to reduce waste and carbon emissions, as well as pressure our elected officials to enact and enforce legislation holding corporations and our institutions to account. And sustained collective advocacy is even more important in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to gut Chevron deference, further lessening the impact of regulatory action by federal agencies.
Waste will always be a part of life – what matters is how we choose to manage it and how those choices reflect our values as individuals and a society. Practicing sustainability isn’t just an individual choice, it’s also a collective one, and we are all accountable to each other and the planet we call “home.”
If you’re interested in starting a garden, you can look to Green America’s free Climate Victory Garden ToolKit, available as a downloadable PDF at greenamerica.org. You can also visit Green America’s website and explore our campaigns for corporate accountability on climate and other social issues.
