World Environment Day–Think. Eat. Save.

Tweet

Pin It

Today is the UN-sponsored World Environment Day and the theme is Think.  Eat.  Save.  As in “Think before you eat and help save our environment.”  Here are a few food-related facts from the UN website that they’d like you to know:

• 1 in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry
• over 20,000 children under the age of 5 die from hunger every day
• global food production uses 25% of the Earth’s habitable land
• global food production accounts for 70% of freshwater consumption and 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions
• the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that a third of global food production (1.3 billion tons of food) is either wasted or lost – food waste is a huge drain on natural resources

So on World Environment Day, here are a few suggestions for all the greenmomsters:

• Eat low on the food chain.  Can’t remember why we should consume less meat?  Be sure to read the meat-free friday post that explains the issue.
• Try growing your own food.  Food doesn’t have to travel (think greenhouse gas emissions), if you grow it in your backyard.  These are just a couple of our garden boxes – so far, we’ve got radishes, carrots, snow peas, tomatoes, basil, zucchini, cucumber, thyme, rosemary, blueberries, figs, okra, and cantalope going in our little 1/3 acre yard.

• Try composting – it’s a great way to enrich your garden and reduce food waste
• Buy in bulk – it reduces food packaging. 
• Eat leftovers!  Don’t throw that food away – save it!  Everyday Leftovers is a fun website that provides ideas for “re-creating” those leftovers.  And always reheat in class containers, not plastic!

Happy World Environment Day to all the greenmomsters who know as the Lorax did,
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It's not.