Love your article. I think food waste and using food in a proper way is an important act to fight climate changes. I have seen restaurants throw out food at the end of the day and destroy it before throwing out for the fear of "people would eat it and get stomach problems and sue them". That is heartbreaking. But we can always act in our domain to eat the food, save it and finish it.
Love your newsletter! I too write about the good and bad of climate change and I think your readers would like my newsletter. How about we recommend each others' newsletters? This would increase our audiences. See "Latest News from Sue Inches---For people who care about the planet" and let me know what you think!
Project Drawdown's 'Table of Solutions' contains a whole array of actionable climate solutions - many of which often can be implemented at cost savings.
Surprisingly, a number one solution is Reduce Food Waste. I find that my kitchen compost bin is a handy tool to both divert methane producing waste from the landfill; & assess / reduce food waste. We usually empty the refrigerator prior to getting more groceries; & freeze leftovers.
Other climate actions high on the list are Plant Rich Diets; Solar/Wind/Electric (portable DIY supplemental/backup solar/battery is $200-$1,500); Family Planning/Education; Sustainable transit (I have discovered e-bikes & e-scooters are delightful! They even work well for groceries).
Recent weather patterns of downpours then droughts make rain-barrel use increasingly important both for water conservation & flood reduction from city runoff. I just use trash barrels under the downspouts, & close the lid after the rain so mosquitoes can't lay eggs (or use the water within 4 days; or use mosquito netting).
Thank you for the work you do. And thank you for the reminder of the importance of doing our part, not to participate in food waste, and for the fantastic tips on how to do that.
Zambia's solution for chickens and keeping them in their backyards would work for our Food waste too. We need to decentralize our waste processes and partner up with our critters locally. It works so elegantly for the following reasons:
a. Getting timed out leftovers and prep waste to hens within a short amount of time reduces hauling from the "Food Waste mile" from our centralized MRFs(materials reclamation facilities) to our compost sites. Our county is 127 miles MRF to compost facility. "Animal Food Rescue" is less than 5-10.
b. Feeding animals before spoilage recovers the 'water inputs' used to grow and process. In the Careit(dot)com calculator, 400lbs fed critters recovered a water footprint of 14,000 gallons directly. My own restaurant site made over 19K lbs in 8 months and fed near 200 little stomachs better than kibble. That is a lot of water in SoCalifornia.
c. Getting leftovers inoculated with microbes and pooped back to the soil immediately skips the NH4 and N20 off gassing from Wind Row Composting, even done aerobically. The soil microbes grab it faster than we can ever do. Witness termite mounds and gardens...no methane above them.
And yet the shiny objects of "zero Depackaging Anaerobic Digesters" were the most talked about at the Waste Expo in Las Vegas this year. As if we need more methods to put Microplastics into our soils, food, and bodies. No one wants to pay staff to remove plastic in a centralized system. So lets all okay the giant truck tipping sites which grind, juice out, and dehydrate the polluted food waste slurry to keep the microplastics hidden from sight.
People need to change, but 'Animal Altruism' can help. We just need to recognize it.
Love your article. I think food waste and using food in a proper way is an important act to fight climate changes. I have seen restaurants throw out food at the end of the day and destroy it before throwing out for the fear of "people would eat it and get stomach problems and sue them". That is heartbreaking. But we can always act in our domain to eat the food, save it and finish it.
Love your newsletter! I too write about the good and bad of climate change and I think your readers would like my newsletter. How about we recommend each others' newsletters? This would increase our audiences. See "Latest News from Sue Inches---For people who care about the planet" and let me know what you think!
Project Drawdown's 'Table of Solutions' contains a whole array of actionable climate solutions - many of which often can be implemented at cost savings.
Surprisingly, a number one solution is Reduce Food Waste. I find that my kitchen compost bin is a handy tool to both divert methane producing waste from the landfill; & assess / reduce food waste. We usually empty the refrigerator prior to getting more groceries; & freeze leftovers.
Other climate actions high on the list are Plant Rich Diets; Solar/Wind/Electric (portable DIY supplemental/backup solar/battery is $200-$1,500); Family Planning/Education; Sustainable transit (I have discovered e-bikes & e-scooters are delightful! They even work well for groceries).
drawdown.org/solutions/table-of-solutions
Recent weather patterns of downpours then droughts make rain-barrel use increasingly important both for water conservation & flood reduction from city runoff. I just use trash barrels under the downspouts, & close the lid after the rain so mosquitoes can't lay eggs (or use the water within 4 days; or use mosquito netting).
Thank you for the work you do. And thank you for the reminder of the importance of doing our part, not to participate in food waste, and for the fantastic tips on how to do that.
Glad you are writing about my favorite subject.
Zambia's solution for chickens and keeping them in their backyards would work for our Food waste too. We need to decentralize our waste processes and partner up with our critters locally. It works so elegantly for the following reasons:
a. Getting timed out leftovers and prep waste to hens within a short amount of time reduces hauling from the "Food Waste mile" from our centralized MRFs(materials reclamation facilities) to our compost sites. Our county is 127 miles MRF to compost facility. "Animal Food Rescue" is less than 5-10.
b. Feeding animals before spoilage recovers the 'water inputs' used to grow and process. In the Careit(dot)com calculator, 400lbs fed critters recovered a water footprint of 14,000 gallons directly. My own restaurant site made over 19K lbs in 8 months and fed near 200 little stomachs better than kibble. That is a lot of water in SoCalifornia.
c. Getting leftovers inoculated with microbes and pooped back to the soil immediately skips the NH4 and N20 off gassing from Wind Row Composting, even done aerobically. The soil microbes grab it faster than we can ever do. Witness termite mounds and gardens...no methane above them.
And yet the shiny objects of "zero Depackaging Anaerobic Digesters" were the most talked about at the Waste Expo in Las Vegas this year. As if we need more methods to put Microplastics into our soils, food, and bodies. No one wants to pay staff to remove plastic in a centralized system. So lets all okay the giant truck tipping sites which grind, juice out, and dehydrate the polluted food waste slurry to keep the microplastics hidden from sight.
People need to change, but 'Animal Altruism' can help. We just need to recognize it.