This Friday, June 5, is
World
Environment Day (WED) which celebrates positive
environmental action and calls on each of us to create change. The
theme of WED—“Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with
Care”—reminds us that
we only have one planet, and that the
Earth’s natural resources are finite, not
unlimited.SHARE
this with your social network!
According to the United Nations Environment Program, if
current consumption and production patterns remain the same with a
rising population, by 2050, we will need three planets to
sustain our way of living and consuming.
Food production is a major culprit in the consumption of
natural resources, accounting for
10 percent of the energy consumed in the United States, 80 percent
of freshwater consumed, and 50 percent of land usage.
Sustainable America’s “
I
Value Food” campaign highlights the numbers involved in food
waste. In fact, according to I Value Food,
American consumers
spend US$371 per person per year on food that gets wasted; on
average, food travels 1,500 miles from farm to table.
Twenty-six percent of meat products end up in landfills, which
adds up to more than 47 billion wasted calories—or enough to feed
8,600 children for a year.
U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon
says,
"Although individual decisions may seem small in the face of global
threats and trends, when billions of people join forces in common
purpose, we can make a tremendous difference."
This WED—and every day—we can all take steps to minimize
food-related resource consumption. Here are a few ways to consume food
more responsibly:
SHARE
this list and use #WED2015!
Waste not, want not: In the United
States,
40 percent of edible food is wasted. Throwing away good food
wastes natural resources. There are many simple things eaters can do
to
reduce household food waste. Plan meals and inventory your
refrigerator and freezer before heading to the store. Buy only what
you need and will realistically use. Repurpose leftovers and
food scraps. Portion carefully. Freeze or preserve excess food
before it goes bad. Donate good food to food banks before throwing it
away. Last but not least,
compost what you can’t use in any other way.
If you want to get more involved in reducing food waste,
here are some
organizations
doing important work on that issue:
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Andrea Segrè, president of the
Last
Minute Market (LMM), analyzes steps in the food chain to see where
waste originates. LMM recovers and reuses unsold good from mass
retailers.
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DC
Central Kitchen has recovered hundreds of thousands of pounds of
food which they use to feed those in need.
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Food
Recovery Network creates food recovery programs on college
campuses across the country to salvage food that would otherwise be
thrown away.
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FUSIONS
tries to reduce Europe’s natural resource consumption by decreasing
food waste.
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Jonathan
Bloom has been researching and writing about food waste since 2005
and his blog,
Wasted Food, draws attention to
how consumers can cut their waste.
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Danish food waste expert Selina Juul founded the
Stop
Wasting Food movement in Denmark which has gathered thousands of
followers as well as support from over 90 politicians, including
members of parliament in Denmark and across Europe.
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Think.Eat.Save seeks to raise
awareness of and galvanize global action on food waste.
Buy organic when you can. There are more
benefits to organic than simply avoiding toxins. Organic agriculture
is inherently low-input, involving fewer natural resources, and
embraces closed-loop systems that recycle those resources that are
used. The U.S. Department of Agriculture
organic
standards include sustainability requirements, ensuring that
organic producers are preserving natural resources and protecting
biodiversity.
Choose foods with less packaging, or bring your
own. Buy fresh, whole foods, and buy in bulk when possible.
If buying in bulk, bring your own container or bag. Skip the produce
bag or bring a reused one from home. If your grocery store offers it,
buy milk in a glass bottle from a company that will reuse it.
Eat fewer industrial meat products.
Michael Pollan put it
best: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Industrial meat
production consumes vastly more natural resources than plant-based
agriculture. According to the
Water Footprint Network, one pound of beef requires almost two
thousand gallons of water. Even the
federal nutrition panel emphasized choosing a plant-based diet for
a sustainable food system in their new nutrition guideline
recommendations. If you are going to consume animal products, buy from
your local farmer, and buy grass-fed and pasture-raised. Go vegan one
day a week or one meal a day.
Grow your own. On a patio, in a window
box, in your kitchen, in your backyard, in a community garden; every
little bit counts. You’ll reduce your food miles, avoid the
unsustainable practices of industrial food production, and learn to
value your food more.
If you do grow your own food, plant drought-tolerant
crops, water in the evening, or use an irrigation system to save
water. If you don’t, encourage your farmer to use these practices.
Encourage policymakers to support sustainable
agriculture. Vote for representatives (and then write to
them!) locally and nationally who support sustainable agriculture
legislation and programs, and who are willing to stop subsidizing
overproduction, unsustainable practices, and waste in our agriculture
system. Organizations such as
Food Policy Action are changing the national dialogue by holding
legislators accountable for how they vote on policy that affects food
and farming.
Make responsible, conscientious food choices. Not all
food is created equal. Some products are less sustainable than others.
Check how far your food has traveled, and choose items that journeyed
a shorter distance, such as fruits from Florida or California instead
of South America or Asia. When buying seafood, choose those items that
are most eco-friendly, such as wild-caught Alaskan salmon,
sardines, or Chesapeake Bay
catfish—products that don’t devastate the ecosystems from which
they are harvested.
What other ways are you consuming food more
responsibly? We want to know!
Share them with me at
Danielle@foodtank.com and on social media with #WED2015!
All
the best,
