Fighting against food waste all together!

Hello everyone!

     My name is Clem and I am 15 years old. I created this blog to talk about food waste and propose some ways we can help reducing it. The global volume of food wastage is estimated at 1,6 billion tones. That's not funny, hum? You're right, because it's the truth. With that amount of food, we could nourish all of the hungry people on Earth. One of the biggest problems on earth can be solved if little and simple actions are accomplished by each of us.

       Food waste has always existed but its percentage has increased a lot along the time. Some people began to search for solutions they could personally adopt. But those people represent a really small part of the world population. The other part of the population is divided in two categories. One of them counts the people who do not waste food because they don't even have enough food to eat. The other category is filled with the people who did not realize the grandeur of this world problem yet or who just don't care about it. However, hopefully for us, more and more people show interest in wasting less food (mostly because of their economic concerns) and try to make changes that help for it in their lives.

     One of the ways to reduce food waste is to organize and plan meals. Before going buying everything that seems interesting to you in the supermarket, make a list of what you really need. Take a paper and divide it in seven parts. Write what you would like to cook for every meal of the week, day by day, and what portions you will need. When you buy your food, look at the packages that better match your needs in term of size. This will help you to eat everything you buy, contributing to reduce food waste. It is important for the world but also to you! By throwing food away, you do not only waste the food but also the money you spent on it. In addition, you are throwing away the energy, water and labor used to produce it. Think of the things you could do with this money, it will worth it!

     

      Another way to reduce food waste concerns the fruits and vegetables. It is better to buy them from producers rather than from supermarkets. In supermarkets, the fruits and vegetables have been treated and only "perfect ones" are put on sell. But the, now called, "funny fruits and vegetables" proposed in producers' shops are also good. Those products are not proposed in the supermarkets because of their original and imperfect aspects. However, their quality is much better and they aren't dangerous for us. Vegetables or fruits that have been sent to factories before to end in the supermarkets are treated with products like pesticides, dangerous for our health. The funny fruits and vegetables are generally thrown away and represent a big percentage of food waste. If instead, those could be bought (at a lower price) or donated to organizations that then redistribute the food to needy persons, food waste would already be reduced by one fourth.

      The third way I wanted to talk about is donation. Donation is one of the easiest and most popular action people do. A lot of associations and organizations are open everyday where you can donate some food unused, cans, sauces, tomato cans, pasta, rice … Those are then sent to ghettos and places where people don’t even know if they will eat again one day. Voluntary helpers distribute and prepare the food there, offering complete meals the more often they can. This solution helps food waste and another sadly popular and important, famine. This is why I think people should donate what would normally be thrown away or kept in the back of the kitchen until the date limit is reached. 

    Organizing our meals, eating funny fruits and vegetables and donating are actions opened to everyone. With small actions we can reduce food waste and assure a good and healthy future to the next generations. 

Remember! Small actions added together result in a revolution!

 Be a food waste warrior!

Works cited: 

• Léa. "Food Wastage: Key Facts and Figures." Food and Agriculture of the United Nations. Www.fao.org, 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
• Lee, Anna. "Eat the Crooked Carrot, save the World." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
• Sécurité Sanitaire. "Le don alimentaire en toute sécurité : suivez le guide !"  Alim'Agri. République Française, 27 Nov. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

THINK, EAT, SAVE

PERSUASIVE ESSAY

Feeding the world population requires an enormous amount of land and resources. Right now, in the US, around 40 percent of food goes to waste. Reducing our own food waste is an easy way to reduce our spending and our environmental footprint.

Food Waste or food loss is food that is discarded, lost or uneaten. The causes of food waste or loss are numerous, and occur at the stages of productions, processing, retailing and consumption.

You can save your planet and save your money by doing three easy things:
THINK, EAT,SAVE. Are you ready?

THINK. For this issue i would suggest solutions such as using shopping lists when you go shopping, planning meals to make sure you consume all the products before the expiration date, buying from bulk bins to get the right amount of food you need, don’t succumb to supermarket tricks because you will buy more food. Most foods can be safely consumed well after their use by-dates.Some websites can help you get recipes to store products that might go bad soon. You can donate the food  that you are not going to eat to food banks, soup, kitchens, pantries, and shelters. The people who work in a restaurant can reduce portion sizes, I mean, huge portion sizes at restaurants can lead to large amounts of food waste because some people are unable to finish the meals they order so restaurants can reduce this type of waste by offering smaller sizes of menu items.

EAT. Pack up your extras when you go to a restaurant so you can eat later but if you don't want to eat them later, freeze them. This issue is so important because only about half of Americans take leftover home from restaurants so you should eat leftovers. You can buy products only when you see that the products in your freezer are about to finish to reduce food waste. Don't let your friends throw out food in front of you.

SAVE. Consider the possibility to buy funny fruit, I mean fruit which is not perfect because of its size, shape or color. Use your freezer to conserve your frozen foods indefinitely and save your money. If you go to a restaurant ask for half-portions instead of requesting big portions. You can also make your own orchard in your garden instead of buying fruits at the supermarket. Some food waste is inevitable such as eggs shells, banana skins and tea bags because they are cheaper than other foods.

When you throw food away, think of the people who don't have anything to eat and the amount of people who are dying. If I were you I would follow the solutions to save my money and to help those people. I assure you will be grateful.

THINK, EAT and SAVE.

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY (MLA FORMAT)

- ''Saving leftovers saves money and resources''. Natural Resources Defense Council. March 2013. Web. March 20, 2016.
- ''Food Facts, Your Scraps Add Up''. NRDC.org. Natural Resources. Nov 19, 2014. Web. 6 March 2016.
-  ''Reducing Wasted Food At Home''. EPA gov. United States Environment Protection Agency. Jan 19, 2016. Web. March 6, 2016.


 

DONATE TO THE POOR

Did you know how much food we waste every years? You know that USA wastes 40% of their food.

Maybe you don't know but today a lot of people are wasting food and just few people don't waste it. We usually waste food for example also when we cook too much food or when we buy a lot. Maybe you miss it but you are wasting food. We don't waste only food but also water and energy. For us maybe the water is a normal thing but you can never imagine that some people of Africa don't have it, and that for them how is important. also me, I waste food because I don't like to eat a lot of food such as vegetables or fruit, but I love eat meat. We must improve this situation and you must think about the children that don't have a thing to eat. I think that the best way for us to not waste food isdonate the food to the poor people. 

Maybe you don't want to help them ,giving them some money because you work for it. Is' s normal. I thought this way before. But then, one time when we went to mc donalds , my uncle put the money on the box for the poor people and when I saw that , I soon asked him why he did this, and so ho told me that you can help the poor children also with a simple gesture like this, so give them some money, even if you give just a little. After this answer , I'm asking him again and I said that if they don't give the money in the box to the poor, at this question my uncle said that he doesn't care because he did the right thing and he helped the children, and they were wrong if they are not going to give them the money. 

So after this time I started to help the poor people. How? Easy , every time I went to mc donald I put some money in the box , not because I have a lot of money to waste only because I want to help them because we are lucky we are born in a normal family and you parent can give you whatever you want, but they are no so lucky and this is not their folt. You know the day in which you can buy the food for the poor people. You can do the shopping for them and then give the food to the association or you can help the people to compile the food. Another way to help the poor people is to give them the food just i said. For example, in France and in another country the supermarket gives the food that is about to expire to the poor people so you do not waste it. And recently the governament made a new low for this and the supermarket can't waste the food but they must give the food to the poor people or to the association. I think that this is a nice idea because you are not going to waste food and at the same time you can help the people.

Today wasting food is a big issue and we must do something to stop it and to waste less. We don't need to do something very difficult or great, but we just need do own best like don't cook a lot of food when you are not hungry, something very easy that you meet every day in your life.

So, the next time you are about to throw way food, think about donating to the poor instead. You will feel better about not wasting food , and you will help someone less fortunate than yourself too.

Works Cited

Food Facts:Your Scraps Add Up ; Natural Resuources Defense Council ; March 2013 web 19 feb 2016

Sustainable Management Of Food ; United States Enviromental Protection Agency ; 19 Jan 2016 web 19 feb 2016.

Leftovers

    

                                  FOOD WASTE 

1.INTRODUCTION

         I do not like to waste anything at all. Any food left over from the night before is always eaten the next day. What about you? How many of you eat the leftovers? Maybe not all of you because people think that it is gross or disgusting to eat something that has been cooked some our ago. For me, it is inconceivable to throw it away and since I have been doing some research for over a month, I can tell you that this is one of the most important factors in food waste. Therefore, I want to present you all three ways to show you all why we should eat leftovers: 1) You can cook cool dishes with them, 2) That food could be used to feed the world's population and 3) Leftovers that are thrown away, radiate CO2 and methane gases.

2.COOK COOL DISHES

         Now-a-days there are thousands of different recipes that can be made with a few products or with a small amount of each ingredient but a big variety of them. For example, I come from Spain and there is a very typical dish called Cocido and it is made up by chickpeas, potatoes, chorizo, prosciutto, many different kinds of meats, carrots and for the bravest ones, spicy sauce but that one is not very common. After the day we eat Cocido, the mothers usually cook croquettes, soups, different kinds of stew, purée with the chickpeas, mashed potatoes, etc. As you can see, this easy traditional dish, which is cheap, can give a lot of delicious alternatives food dishes for the next days.

3.FEED THE WORLD

          To say that the world is growing in population is not new for anybody. But what you might haven't heard yet is that while this is happening, our food resources are decreasing, as Marcel Dicke said during his speech in TED. The most important cause is that food waste is increasing harshly. In recent studies, made by the some researchers, they found out that leftovers are the biggest problem within food waste and they also said that the leftovers can be eaten until four days after been cooked therefore, if you want to change this situation but you refuse to eat the leftovers, bring them to the lunchrooms for poor people because they really need that food.

4.LEFTOVERS RADIATE GASES

Leftovers that are not eaten and thrown away radiate gases such as CO2 and different methane gases. In fact, you can test that in your own house by keeping the trash for three days and you will see how much it stinks. And now, talking straight-forwardly, researchers have found that food waste has a big impact on the heat-trapping gasses we release into the environment. They also said that the leftovers produced the 30% of all the gases that contaminate the environment. 

5.CONCLUSION 

If we realise that these easy three-steps must have to be applied in each and every house in the world, we will feel better because we will be giving a chance to the next generations to live in a flawless planet as the one we are living now-a-days plus, our pollution will decrease causing less illnesses and finally, and as a result of the decrease of pollination, our world will become more beautiful.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (MLA FORMAT)

"Saving Leftovers Saves Money and Resources" Natural Resources Defence Council.org. NRDC Nov 19, 2014. WEB.  March20, 2016

Stuart, Tristam. "The Global Food Waste Scandal" TED.com. TED. Sept 12, 2016. WEB March 20, 2016

"Food Recovery Hierarchy". EPA.gov U.S.Environment. Protection Agency. Feb 29, 2016. WEB. March 20, 2016

Newcomer, Laura "29 Smart and Easy Tips to Reduce Food Waste" greatist.com. Greatist. June 2013. WEB. March 20, 2016.

Mister Mercola "Half of the World´s Food is Thrown Away" articles.mercola.com. articlesmercola. May 31, 2014. WEB. March 20, 2016

A Better World

      Hello to all of you. I’m Claudia. I’m a normal teenager, who wants to inform all of you about food waste. Do you know what is food waste?  Food waste is food that is discarded, lost, or uneaten. According to a report by UNEP and WRI, about 1/3 of all the food produced worldwide, worth around $1 billion, is thrown to the trash. 

             

      I’ve been searching for information and news about this topic, and I found some interesting things. In the world 222 million vs 230 million tons of food are wasted. I think this information should make us more sensitive with this problems. North America is the country with the highest  percentage  of food waste in the world. Between 30 and 40 percent of the food is wasted by the people of North America. Americans waste fruits, vegetables and seafood.

PROBLEMS CAUSED BY FOOD WASTE:

 - Environmental Pollution

 - Economical problems

 - Political turmoil

EXAMPLES:

     The food we eat travels from the farm to industries. Then it goes to the supermarket which ends in our plates. It would be great if this chain finished there, but unfortunately a great amount of food ends in our trash.This food ends in a big hole. With the time this food release the chemical product  which it was treated with in the industries. Searching about this thing in internet I found an interesting new. If you want to read it, I leave the link here;

http://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-food-waste-confuses-wildlife

Another problem, is that we squander a lot of money by not eating all the food we buy. This ends up in a decline in the economy.

For me is sad to see that in a world full of hunger, we still squander a lot of money in food which then the majority of it is thrown to the trash. This incites people in less develop countries to revolt against this countries.

Link of the video: www.huffingtonpost.com/.../food-waste-america_n_..

       SOLUTIONS:

          Surfing on the net, I found many possible solutions to this problem. In North America 1/5 of the food is uneaten, because the confusion of label dates, but they already solve this. Many industries are putting off the food label date. In some restaurants and houses they prepare a huge amount of food, which part of it is then uneaten. I think a good idea, is to build restaurants in which they give you the option of choose the amount of food you want to eat. People, also need to start thinking with their brains, instead with their eyes at the time of buying in the supermarkets. In many countries the waste of fruit, vegetables and seafood is higher than the loss of meat and unhealthy food, Why? Now a day, there are many campaigns promoting this food. People are attracted by them, who then buy this food.
Other solutions are; freezing the food we don´t eat for another day. Sending food to the less develop countries, or giving it to animals.




        

                             

                  .

                                                                      Sources:

                                     

http://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-food-waste-confuses-wildlife
www.worldfooddayusa.org/food_waste_the_facts
endhunger.org/food-waste/

    

A War Against Food Waste

       According to a report by UNEP and the World Resources Institute, about one-third of all food produced worldwide gets lost or wasted. Only in the United States the 30%-40% goes wasted. Food waste is all that food that you buy, but later don't eat, so you have to throw it away, and is the remaining scarpes on our plate that we throw away because we are to full to finish eating.
When food is thrown out, also fresh water, oil, and $165 billion dollars all dedicated to produce food are resources wasted. To reduce this food waste you could plan menus-shop wisely, eat leftovers by also using your freezer, and donate food to food banks.


       One of the best ways to reduce food waste is planning menus, which is related with shopping wisely. By shopping wisely I mean planning meals, using shopping lists, and avoid purchases that are not necessary. Shopping lists would make your life easier because when you enter a supermarket you know exactly what you buy. This also helps you avoid buying food you already have at home and helps you save money.


       Leftovers are foods cooked and not eaten, which may be eaten after they were stored in the refrigerator or freezer. For example, after going to the restaurant, you could ask to pack up your extras, so you can eat them later. Freezing food is a good way to reduce food waste. You can freeze fresh foods and leftovers, so you have the possibility to eat them before they go bad. For example, at my house, I freeze, or just store in the refrigerator, pasta sauce that sometimes is left, meat, vegetables, soups and many other foods.


       Finally, you could donate untouched food to food banks and food drives. These foods, that would otherwise be thrown away, might go to those people who haven't a steady food supply. There are many organizations that try to provide low or no-cost meals to families in need. Some of these organizations are:

• Feeding America, which is a nationwide network of food banks that tries to put an end to the hunger in the United States;
• Food For Free: since 1981 this organization rescues fresh food from being thrown and distributing it in local emergency food systems;
• Food Bus, which is a public charity that works to maintain systems where unused or unopened food leftovers from elementary schools lunches are saved from being thrown out and then distributed to local food pantries.

Another thing you might do is give the remaining scarpes on your plate to animals, for example pigs, so the food is not totally gone wasted.

     
       A large portion of food waste occurs in households, such as fresh products, such as fish, eggs, milk, fruits, and vegetables, are thrown away. Much of this food waste is due to overcooking or over-purchasing. Some restaurants may also contribute to this problem for example with supersized portions. Others wastes happen because people get confused with the "use-by" and the "best-by" day, which makes them fear that the food got spoiled. Another way of how food gets wasted is that sometimes crops or other foods are left unharvested because their appearance has an imperfection, for example it does not have a regular shape or color, and probably these food might have even tasted good.


       Children in the world suffer for famine because in many places there isn't enough food. Instead we eat a lot and all the food that we buy and later don't eat goes wasted. By not wasting food we may improve the environmental problems as well as societal problems. We can do this in three simple ways: plan menus-shop wisely, eat leftovers by using freezer, and by donating food to food banks. And with our help of reducing food loss and wasted food, we can have enough food to feed the about 805 million hungry people around the world.

Works Cited

"Food Facts: Your Scarps Add Up". NRDC.org. Natural Resources Defense Council. Mar 2013 Web. 6 March 2016

"Food Waste: the Facts". WFD.org. World Food. Oct, 15 2015 Web. 6 Mar 2016

"Recovery/Donations". USDA.gov. United States Department of Agriculture. ND. 13 Mar 2016

"Reducing Wasted Food at Home". EPA. gov. United States Environmental Protection Agency. 19 Jan 2016 Web. 6 Mar 2016

"Sustainable Foodservice: Food Donation". Sustainablefoodservice.com. Sustainable Foodservice Consulting. ND. 13 Mar 2016.

PERSUASIVE BLOG: FOOD WASTE

What is food waste?

         Food waste is the food that is discarded, lost or uneaten. Food waste is an important problem that humans face every day. One of the major causes of food waste is overproduction. The food industries produce a large amount of food waste that then goes to the market and most of it is damaged or lost. 

We can help to prevent food waste by starting eating leftovers,  be more careful,  and by donate food to the poor.

How to prevent food waste

         To prevent food waste, shopping wisely using shoppings list would help people to avoid buying unnecessary goods. People could even prevent food waste by reducing the siza and the volume of the meals portions at dinner or lunch since most of it is thrown away. The industries could prevent food waste by reducing the food produced every month or year, since how I've said before, most of it is thrown away or when it to the market place is damaged and is not eaten, so if the amount of food produced is less all of of it is eaten and there would be a smaller amount of food waste. 

THE GOODNESS OF THE LEFTOVERS

        A good way to deal with the problems of house food waste, that is one of the main problems of the world of today