What A Waste
As I walked to work this morning, I noticed the dryer vent on a house expelling it's hot air into the chilly morning. I then noticed some snow that had melted yesterday and refroze on it's trip down to a street drain. It got me to thinking about how much we throw away in this country. I see exhaust coming from cars, smoke from stacks, water from drains, heat from vents, sewage from sewers, solid waste from homes. In the end, most if not all of this waste could be treated and reused for various purposes. The technology we have today can recycle most kinds of waste into something useful or reduce certain kinds of wastes, such as gaseous and liquid emissions to begin with. But the main culprit in solid waste is not so easily dealt with. Why? Because it is us.
When you open a box of something and the actual product only fills half or less of the box, do you ever wonder why such a big box was used? It is usually done to fill store shelves, leaving less room for competitors' products. But, despite the damage done to our environment by those boxes, one area of solid waste that had a direct impact on other people in this country, as well as account for about 10-15 percent of space in landfills, is the wasting of food. I thought of this because I recently read an article in a British newspaper that said 30 percent of all food produced in England is wasted. According to studies here, which are a few years old, people in the US throw out between a third and a half of all the food we produce for human consumption, most of which is still edible. A story I found on this which was produced a year and a half ago says that the US had 350 billion pounds of food available for human consumption. Of that, about 100 billion pounds of it was thrown out by producers, retailers, and consumers. It is estimated that in order to feed everyone in this country who doesn't have enough to eat (numbers of which are estimated as high as 30 million people), it would take about 4 billion pounds of food. As you can see, it would only take 5 percent of our "waste" to feed those who don't have enough.
As Christians, how can we accept this? Don't we claim to follow a man who told his followers to not just give up those things that are taken from us, but to also offer up that which is not requested from us also (Matthew 5:40)? Is it not Jesus who said that on the final day of judgement, we would be judged according to whether we feed the poor (among other things) or not (Matthew 25:31-46)?
While I am not innocent, I have realized the error of my ways and am buying less. I would rather do with less so that others might have more, but this won't work the way things are run in this country. If I don't buy the excess (and end up throwing it out when it don't use it soon enough), the store will merely throw it out when the next shipment comes in. If the store cuts back on what they stock, the producer will merely throw it out or let it rot in the field. So, what's the answer. I guess if we all cut back, and make it easier for stores, resteraunts, and producers to donate the excess to charities, that would help. But, sadly, I don't thing most people in this nation know how to do without. And unless it is profitable, through more sales, higher prices, or lower expenses, most businesses won't do anthing. So, I guess we can support smaller grocery store and famer's markets so food doesn't have the chance to sit around and spoil or be thrown out as excess. It would be nice if we grew more of our own food so we could appreciate the effort it takes to produce food, but that probably won't happen. I guess, if you are really interested in doing something about this, pray and ask God to lead you down the correct path and stay open to His answers. They won't always be the answers you want, but they are the answers you asked for.
When you open a box of something and the actual product only fills half or less of the box, do you ever wonder why such a big box was used? It is usually done to fill store shelves, leaving less room for competitors' products. But, despite the damage done to our environment by those boxes, one area of solid waste that had a direct impact on other people in this country, as well as account for about 10-15 percent of space in landfills, is the wasting of food. I thought of this because I recently read an article in a British newspaper that said 30 percent of all food produced in England is wasted. According to studies here, which are a few years old, people in the US throw out between a third and a half of all the food we produce for human consumption, most of which is still edible. A story I found on this which was produced a year and a half ago says that the US had 350 billion pounds of food available for human consumption. Of that, about 100 billion pounds of it was thrown out by producers, retailers, and consumers. It is estimated that in order to feed everyone in this country who doesn't have enough to eat (numbers of which are estimated as high as 30 million people), it would take about 4 billion pounds of food. As you can see, it would only take 5 percent of our "waste" to feed those who don't have enough.
As Christians, how can we accept this? Don't we claim to follow a man who told his followers to not just give up those things that are taken from us, but to also offer up that which is not requested from us also (Matthew 5:40)? Is it not Jesus who said that on the final day of judgement, we would be judged according to whether we feed the poor (among other things) or not (Matthew 25:31-46)?
While I am not innocent, I have realized the error of my ways and am buying less. I would rather do with less so that others might have more, but this won't work the way things are run in this country. If I don't buy the excess (and end up throwing it out when it don't use it soon enough), the store will merely throw it out when the next shipment comes in. If the store cuts back on what they stock, the producer will merely throw it out or let it rot in the field. So, what's the answer. I guess if we all cut back, and make it easier for stores, resteraunts, and producers to donate the excess to charities, that would help. But, sadly, I don't thing most people in this nation know how to do without. And unless it is profitable, through more sales, higher prices, or lower expenses, most businesses won't do anthing. So, I guess we can support smaller grocery store and famer's markets so food doesn't have the chance to sit around and spoil or be thrown out as excess. It would be nice if we grew more of our own food so we could appreciate the effort it takes to produce food, but that probably won't happen. I guess, if you are really interested in doing something about this, pray and ask God to lead you down the correct path and stay open to His answers. They won't always be the answers you want, but they are the answers you asked for.
posted by Staupostek | 2/23/2006 10:03:00 AM
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