Virtual Water - Discover how much WATER we EAT everyday
The good news is that each one of us can also make the world a little more water secure, ready to face the needs of our peak population future. How? The answer lies in our shopping baskets. The amount of meat in our diet is crucial! The average daily water consumption of a meat-eating person is 5000 litres of water per day. The type of meat we consume is crucial! The food we waste is crucial! So, do not forget: one meat-free-day a week choose meat raised on grass do not waste food
Nearly half of the world's food ends up as waste, report finds | Environment
As much as half of all the food produced in the world – equivalent to 2bn tonnes – ends up as waste every year, engineers warned in a report published on Thursday. The UK's Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) blames the "staggering" new figures in its analysis on unnecessarily strict sell-by dates, buy-one-get-one free and Western consumer demand for cosmetically perfect food, along with "poor engineering and agricultural practices", inadequate infrastructure and poor storage facilities. In the face of United Nations predictions that there could be about an extra 3 billion people to feed by the end of the century and growing pressure on the resources needed to produce food, including land, water and energy, the IMechE is calling for urgent action to tackle this waste. Their report, Global Food; Waste Not, Want Not, found that between 30% and 50% or 1.2-2bn tonnes of food produced around the world never makes it on to a plate.
Compost Guy | Turning Wastes Into Resources
24 TED Talks That Will Change the Way You Think About Food
Danielle Nierenberg and Ellen Gustafson, co-founders of Food Tank: The Food Think Tank compiled a list of powerful TED Talks that are helping to save our global food system. The range of topics vary from obesity and hunger to urban gardening to the way food is marketed to children. We realize it’s a long list, but consider choosing these videos over the crappy reality shows that rot what’s left of the functioning cells in your brain after a long day at the office. 1. Thurow, author of The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change, explains the profound “disease of the soul” that hunger represents, and how empowering smallholder farmers can bring long-term sustainable health and hope to the people of Africa. 2. Bittman, a food writer for The New York Times, examines how individual actions–namely food choices–contribute to both the detriment of the climate and long-term chronic health diseases. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.
Gardeners Sharing Their Harvest With A Community Food Pantry
At This Free Food Festival, All The Ingredients Are Food Waste
At the Feeding the 5000 food festival in New York City, the first thing people walking by may notice is that all the food is free. It isn't obvious, though, that all the offerings are made from food waste. A torte is made with trimmings and peelings from a food distributor; a "quick pickle salad" is made with surplus greens and vegetables. Dan Barber, head chef and co-owner of Manhattan's Michelin-starred Blue Hill, will offer a limited number of cookies made with the almond flour left over when manufacturers make almond oil. Other chefs will also offer cooking demonstrations with food that might otherwise be thrown out. "I like the idea of changing people's habits and minds through pleasure and hedonism and enjoyment," says Barber. Feedback, an environmental organization focused on ending food waste, has hosted similar day-long festivals in Paris, Amsterdam, and other cities in Europe and Australia. The festival will be on May 10 at Union Square Park in Manhattan, and May 18 in D.C.
Half of all US food produce is thrown away, new research suggests | Environment
Americans throw away almost as much food as they eat because of a “cult of perfection”, deepening hunger and poverty, and inflicting a heavy toll on the environment. Vast quantities of fresh produce grown in the US are left in the field to rot, fed to livestock or hauled directly from the field to landfill, because of unrealistic and unyielding cosmetic standards, according to official data and interviews with dozens of farmers, packers, truckers, researchers, campaigners and government officials. From the fields and orchards of California to the population centres of the east coast, farmers and others on the food distribution chain say high-value and nutritious food is being sacrificed to retailers’ demand for unattainable perfection. “It’s all about blemish-free produce,” says Jay Johnson, who ships fresh fruit and vegetables from North Carolina and central Florida. “What happens in our business today is that it is either perfect, or it gets rejected.
