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You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey, everybody, it's Mariel.

It's Climate Solutions Week here at NPR.

Across the network, you'll hear stories and conversations about the search for climate solutions and the future of our food.

And this week of stories isn't just about covering the climate.

It's meant to remind us that we can always do

something about climate change, which I know seems daunting. But want to know something you can do

that really will make a difference? Reduce your food waste. When I first heard that we could help

fight climate change by reducing food waste, I was shocked. That's Catherine Miller, former vice president

of Impact at the James Beard Foundation. She's also the author of At the Table, The Chef's Guide

to Advocacy. Turns out, 30 to 40 percent of the food supply in America ends up as waste.

Right now, we waste 40 percent of the food that's produced in the United States, and a lot of that food

actually goes into landfills. And in the landfill, all the food that's bagged up, it can't get

the oxygen it needs to fully decompose. So instead of decomposing, it rots and releases methane,

a greenhouse gas that in the short term is way more potent than carbon dioxide.

Food waste alone contributes 8 to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations.

This is a very easy thing that we as consumers and eaters can do to help change that.

On this episode of Life Kit, five steps to fight food waste in your own home.

NPR health correspondent Alison Aubrey talks kitchen hacks and how to compost.

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