> This creative accounting suggests that wasting less food would somehow undo all of the harms of food production. But the nutrient cycle does not care whether or not you clean your plate.
This nails it. Unfortunately people who compost their food waste are a negligible minority, especially in the city. I collect the food waste of a local restaurant every week, and it goes to the compost pile. I collect waste from the butcher and it goes to my dog and cat, and what they don't eat goes back to the chickens. The chickens pick through the compost pile for worms and insects and whatever proteins they find, and the compost that's left will eventually feed the garden beds and the vegetables and fruits we'll eat in the summer.
This nails it. Unfortunately people who compost their food waste are a negligible minority, especially in the city. I collect the food waste of a local restaurant every week, and it goes to the compost pile. I collect waste from the butcher and it goes to my dog and cat, and what they don't eat goes back to the chickens. The chickens pick through the compost pile for worms and insects and whatever proteins they find, and the compost that's left will eventually feed the garden beds and the vegetables and fruits we'll eat in the summer.