This is one cause everyone can get behind because it solves one of the most ridiculously needless problems in our country — wasted food. Before reading about this guy, we never realized the shocking amounts of good and edible food that is thrown out every day — food that could feed literally every hungry person in this country for free.

Rob Greenfield — adventurer, environmentalist, entrepreneur and all-around good guy — is trying to save our country’s food for people who desperately need it. In the fashion of a true adventurer, he set out on a cross-country trip on his bike to show just how much good food you can find in store dumpsters. Here is his inspiring story.

When food gets ripe, which just means it’s ready to eat, stores toss them in the dumpster because they no longer look “appetizing.” And this isn’t just an American problem — this happens all over the world. Imagine how much food the whole world wastes. We almost let world hunger exist.

Forty percent of food grown, produced and sold in the U.S. is wasted. That’s almost half of all food, which amounts to about $165 billion a year — straight to a dumpster.

Rescued food in NYC

Our country produces enough food to feed over 500 million people (there are only 317 million Americans) and yet 50 million people in our own country are food insecure or go hungry.

Rescued food in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 “Right now I am cycling across America eating solely from dumpsters and hosting Food Waste Fiascos in major cities in an effort to drastically reduce food waste in America.”

Rescued food in Detroit, Michigan.

“I’ve learned that I can roll up in nearly any city across America and collect enough food to feed 100’s of people in a matter of one night.”

Rescued food in Cleveland, Ohio.

“One in seven Americans don’t have the food they need yet we are throwing away enough food to feed every hungry American five times over!”

Rescued food in Washington, D.C.

“The most common excuse [from stores] for not donating is that they fear liability but according to a University of Arkansas study not a single lawsuit has ever been made against a grocery store that has donated food to a food rescue program.”

Rescued food in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

But as a matter of fact, stores “are protected from lawsuits by the Good Samaritan Food Act, they get tax write offs, they spend less on dumpster fees, and most importantly they are doing what is right for their community when they donate their excess food!”

Rescued food in Chicago, Illinois.

“While in Chicago I spent time in Englewood, the poorest neighborhood in town, and learned that most of the people on the block … go to bed hungry almost every night. When I explained to them what I find in dumpsters they just couldn’t wrap their heads around it. So I took them out diving in the northern suburbs and we filled their Jeep with over $2,500 worth of food in under two hours.”

Rescued food in Madison, Wisconsin.

“I just wanted to show people what we are wasting. But then people started to take the food and that made the mission all the better.”

“You don’t even have to peek into their dumpsters if you don’t want to. Share this article with supermarkets or simply talk to the manager while you are at the store and let them know that it is important to you, their customers.”

“Food is life and life is too good to be thrown into a dumpster!” Spread the word with #DonateNotDump. You can also read more about Rob’s adventures on his on his blog.

h/t: Distractify

Written by Sarah Lesnar for NextShark