The 2013 theme for World Environment Day is Think.Eat.Save, Think.Eat.Save is an anti-food waste and food loss campaign that encourages you to reduce your footprint According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), every year 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted. This is equivalent to the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, 1 in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily from hunger.
Given this enormous imbalance in lifestyles and the resultant devastating effects on the environment, this year’s theme – Think.Eat.Save – encourages you to become more aware of the environmental impact of the food choices you make and empowers you to make informed decisions.
While the planet is struggling to provide us with enough resources to sustain its 7 billion people (growing to 9 billion by 2050), FAO estimates that a third of global food production is either wasted or lost. Food waste is an enormous drain on natural resources and a contributor to negative environmental impacts.
This year’s campaign rallies you to take action from your home and
then witness the power of collective decisions you and others have made to
reduce food waste, save money, minimize the environmental impact of food
production and force food production processes to become more efficient.
If food is wasted, it means that all the resources and inputs used
in the production of all the food are also lost. For example, it takes about
1,000 liters of water to produce 1 liter of milk and about 16,000 liters goes
into a cow’s food to make a hamburger. The resulting greenhouse gas emissions
from the cows themselves, and throughout the food supply chain, all end up in
vain when we waste food.
Making informed decision therefore means, for example, that you
purposefully select foods that have less of an environmental impact, such as
organic foods that do not use chemicals in the production process. Choosing to
buy locally can also mean that foods are not flown halfway across the world and
therefore limit emissions.
Therefore lets remember on this day Blessed Mother Teresa who feed the hungry and the poor, recollecting her words " When I was hungry you gave me to eat"
Submitted and collage by
Newsdesk
