Americans Feel Guilty About Environment
Americans feel guilty about climate change. According to Talker Research, “The average American experiences 48 days of annual “eco guilt” — the feeling that they could be doing more to help the environment.”
At the top of the list of concerns is wasted food (31%) and not recycling (29%),
Cooking at home rather than take out makes the list (27%) and not using single use plastics (22%)
Despite these challenges, nearly three in four (73%) Americans say they wish they were more environmentally friendly than they are today — and a third are actively looking for ways to reduce their “eco guilt,” the study shows.
Waste Of Plastic And Food
What is not clear is the extent to which people have changed their behavior, Guilt does not necessary turn into action.
The USDA reports, “In the United States, food waste is estimated at 30-40 percent of the food supply. This estimate, based on estimates from USDA’s Economic Research Service of 31 percent food loss at the retail and consumer levels, corresponded to approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010.”
In terms of plastics, the EPA reports, “Plastics are a rapidly growing segment of municipal solid waste (MSW). While plastics are found in all major MSW categories, the containers and packaging category had the most plastic tonnage at over 14.5 million tons in 2018.”
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