Compare all the wasted food in the world to the world’s nations, and that pile of food would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world. It would also be roughly the size of China: That’s how much land is required to produce the amount of food we discard each year. For Dave Lewis, the CEO of international grocery-store chain Tesco and the chairman of Champions 12.3–a group of 40 leaders across the public and private sectors committed to reducing food waste by advancing the U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 12.3–those facts are reason enough for curbing the amount of food we discard without thinking. There’s also the fact that more than a billion tons of food goes unconsumed each year, while one in nine people across the world are malnourished.
Continue reading... →Did you know that every piece of plastic ever created from the time of invention in 1905 until now is still in existence today? Did you also know that by 2030 (just shy of 2 more decades) there will be more plastic in the oceans, than fish? Follow along in this conversational and action-oriented book as author Geordie Wardman presents a simple solution to the reasons why you should be worried, nay terrified, about the plastic that is piling up, literally, on the planet. In Our Plastic Legacy. How to quit plastic, want less, and live green daily, you will find: Why plastic pollution is arguably the single most important environmental crises in the world today, perhaps greater but most certainly contributing to climate change -Facts about how plastic affects our environment, particularly our oceans and our health -How a single person can do more to help solve the problem than ever imaginable.
Continue reading... →Compost can save the world! It sucks carbon dioxide out of the air and not only that, a half-inch layer of this black gold can still increase yields years after its application. I had been composting in our community bins for nearly 10 years but decided to start a rogue pile in my yard several months ago. I can’t grow much out there in the shade but food scraps will certainly rot. In fact, I can’t possibly prevent the natural process of rot. When I composted at my house years ago, like many people, I believed I needed to buy a special bin. For my new compost pile, I wanted to create a simple, inexpensive system. I could have made a cylindrical bin out of chicken wire or built an upcycled bin from wooden pallets (both great options). But instead I bought nothing. I built nothing. I took what I had collected in the kitchen and threw it on the ground. I throw everything on my pile: Fruit peels, scraps and all pits. Even avocado pits break down quickly! Vegetable peels and scraps. I make vegetable broth out of most little bits of vegetables, after which they go on the pile. Corn cobs. I couldn’t […]
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