A new government study has come out stating that Americans waste (are you ready for it?) twenty-seven percent of all food available for consumption, and ninety-eight percent of that gets put in our landfills. That math equates to a pound of food wasted every day for every American. It may not be biodiesel driving up the price of food around the world after all.

As the New York Times also makes note, “The study didn’t account for the explosion of ready-to-eat foods now available at supermarkets, from rotisserie chickens to sandwiches and soups,” which get thrown away if they’re not bought in a timely fashion. This information comes out as we plunge into a global food shortage which starting to be felt here at home. Again, the Times:

America’s Second Harvest - The Nation’s Food Bank Network, a group of more than 200 food banks, reports that donations of food are down 9 percent, but the number of people showing up for food has increased 20 percent. The group distributes more than two billion pounds of donated and recovered food and consumer products each year.

To add insult to injury, any of that food that ends up in the landfill releases methane, a greenhouse gas, as it decomposes. So this issue, as they say, gets you coming and going.

to read the whole story, and here to see a pretty disgusting (not, like, gross disgusting, but like “oh my gosh” disgusting) graphic depicting how much food a family of four wastes in a year. If you’d like, consider ways to cut down on food waste. There’s not a lot of advice on the web about that, mostly because it’s probably pretty common sense. So hop to!