建造更多的雜貨店有助于應對氣候變化

研究表明，建造更多的雜貨店有助于應對氣候變化

Boosting the number of grocery stores in a city could help cut down on food waste and mitigate the harmful effects of climate change, a new study suggests — all while reducing households’ grocery expenses.

一項新的研究表明，增加一個城市的雜貨店數(shù)量有助于減少食物浪費，減輕氣候變化的有害影響——同時減少家庭的雜貨支出。

The study, published in the journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, developed a model using US Census Bureau, grocery industry and academic study data. Author Elena Belavina, an associate professor at Cornell University’s S.C. Johnson College of Business, found that increasing grocery-store density reduces consumer waste by improving grocery access.

這項研究發(fā)表在《制造與服務(wù)運營管理》(Manufacturing&Service Operations Management)雜志上，利用美國人口普查局(US Census Bureau)、食品雜貨業(yè)和學術(shù)研究數(shù)據(jù)開發(fā)了一個模型。作者、康奈爾大學約翰遜商學院(Cornell University's.C.Johnson College of Business)副教授埃琳娜·貝拉維娜(Elena Belavina)發(fā)現(xiàn)，增加雜貨店密度可以通過改善雜貨店的準入減少消費者的浪費。

When grocery stores are more abundant, they’re closer to you and you end up visiting the store more frequently, Belavina said in a video explaining her research — “and as a result, you buy less.” “Very small increases in store density can have a very high impact,” she said.

貝拉維娜在一段視頻中解釋她的研究時說，當雜貨店越豐富，它們離你越近，你就會更頻繁地光顧商店——“結(jié)果，你買的東西就少了。”她說:“商店密度的很小的增長都會產(chǎn)生很大的影響。”

In Chicago, for example, three to four additional stores per 10 square kilometers could produce a 6 percent to 9 percent decrease in food waste, the study found. It could also result in a 1 percent to 4 percent drop in household grocery expenses due to factors like lower waste, prices and travel. This food-waste decrease “would be equivalent to converting over 20,000 cars from fossil fuel to electric power-trains,” Belavina estimated.

以芝加哥為例，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，每10平方公里增加3至4家商店，可減少6%至9%的食品浪費。這也可能導致家庭食品雜貨支出下降1%至4%，原因是浪費、價格和旅行減少。Belavina估計，減少食物浪費“相當于將超過20000輛汽車從化石燃料轉(zhuǎn)換成電力列車”。

“It’s a big win for the environment,” she said, “and a big win for consumers.”

她說：“這對環(huán)境來說是一個巨大的勝利，對消費者來說也是一個巨大的勝利。”

Around a third of food produced globally is wasted or lost, concluded a report last year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Up to 40 percent of food in the US goes uneaten, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, which cites research estimating that food waste fuels at least 2.6 percent of the country’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.

政府間氣候變化專門委員會(IPCC)去年的一份報告指出，全球生產(chǎn)的食品中約有三分之一被浪費或丟失。根據(jù)美國自然資源保護委員會(Natural Resources Defense Council)的數(shù)據(jù)，美國多達40%的食物沒有被食用。該委員會援引的研究估計，食物垃圾燃料至少占美國每年溫室氣體排放的2.6%。

Reducing food waste and loss “would bring a range of benefits for health, reducing pressures on land, water and nutrients, lowering emissions and safeguarding food security,” the IPCC report said. “Reducing food waste by 50 percent would generate net emissions reductions in the range of 20 to 30 percent of total food-sourced [greenhouse gases].”

IPCC的報告說，減少食物浪費和損失“將為健康帶來一系列好處，減少對土地、水和養(yǎng)分的壓力，減少排放，保障糧食安全”。“減少50%的食物浪費將產(chǎn)生20%到30%的食物來源(溫室氣體)的凈減排。”

Greater store density reduced food waste up to a certain threshold, after which a greater number of grocery stores resulted in higher food waste, the study found. But most American cities’ grocery-store density sits “well below” the optimal level, Belavina wrote, meaning that “modest increases in-store density substantially reduce waste” in most cities — including Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles.

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，商店密度越大，食物浪費就越少，達到一定的臨界值后，雜貨店數(shù)量越多，食物浪費就越高。但大多數(shù)美國城市的雜貨店密度“遠低于”最佳水平，貝拉維娜寫道，這意味著在大多數(shù)城市，包括芝加哥、丹佛和洛杉磯，“商店密度的適度增加大大減少了浪費”。

In places like Manhattan, meanwhile, the impact was less noticeable because its grocery-store density was close to being optimal, the study found.

與此同時，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在曼哈頓等地，這種影響不那么明顯，因為那里的雜貨店密度接近最佳水平。