Mike MichalowiczBusiness Author & Keynote Speaker Empowering Entrepreneurs

Is Your Food Waste Harming the Planet?

3 Jul 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:07

The video combines an NPR segment and a personal anecdote to highlight the climate impact of the global food system and the problem of food waste. It explains that food production—through land clearing, cattle raising, and processing—accounts for about one‑third of worldwide greenhouse‑gas emissions, and that 30‑40% of all food produced is discarded, worsening human‑caused climate change. The segment showcases Shuggie's restaurant, where chef‑co‑owner David Murphy upcycles typically discarded ingredients, such as carrot tops, into a signature chimichurri sauce, illustrating a practical waste‑reduction approach. The video then shifts to Mike Michalowicz, who observes multiple unopened hot sauce bottles piling up in his fridge, recognizing personal food waste. He notes the inconvenience of tracking pantry items and mentions a new app that lets users photograph random ingredients to receive recipe suggestions, presenting technology as a tool for reducing waste.

Chapters

Climate change is affecting our food and our food is affecting the climate. NPR is dedicating a week to stories and conversations about the search for solutions. Everything involved in making food, as some of these businesses are doing, comes from clearing land and raising cattle to packing and cooking ingredients, contributes to one-third of the world's planet-warming pollution. On top of that, roughly 30 to 40% of all food produced globally gets thrown out, which is a huge problem when it comes to human-caused climate change. This one company, Shuggie's, used upcycled ingredients in their recipes that might typically be discarded in other restaurants. Instead of tossing carrot tops, for example, Shuggie's chef and co-owner David Murphy uses them to make his signature chimichurri sauce.
I noticed in our own refrigerator there's this hot sauce that we like, and there's like 6 of them in there. Like, why is there? The conclusion is when I am out shopping, I'm like, I don't know if we have any sauce left. When Krista's out shopping, she's like, I don't know if we have any sauce left. And we just keep buying the same sauce. There's like 3 or 4 that aren't even opened. They expire. I mean, what a waste. I know. Our cabins are stocked with food, and I come home and say, There's nothing. There's nothing to eat. There's an app out there now that you can just grab random ingredients, put on the table, take a picture of it, and tells you what you can make from it. That's so smart.