Wasted

We are living in a century where times are changing extremely fast and where the growth of our global population is increasing much faster than in the centuries before.

With this growth come many changes and challenges, and if this growth keeps on continuing with the pace it does now, it’s time to make sure that we ourselves commit to these changes as well, to be able to keep our planet with all it’s natural resources in tact, so that our children and those to come in the following century can still enjoy all the resources and perks our beautiful planet earth has to offer us, the same way we do now.

I would like to focus on a very special and dear resource,

one we cannot live without, one we need and use everyday and

one that is probably the most important part for our existence

FOOD

What does food mean to us….

We need food to survive / we cannot live without food

Food brings us energy, food brings us all the life supporting ingredients we need on a daily basis,for our existing and for the many things we need to live.

Food brings us happiness and joy and brings us as people together

We need food for our physical and psychological surviving on our planet

BUT ……….

what is really happening in this moment in time, especially in our so called “western world”

We are living in a liberated society were we take food for granted, we live under the assumption that we have enough food on our planet, we see food as such a natural resource that many of us still believe that there is always enough food in abundance and that we can draw from the full

WHY ?.......

Look around you, stand still and have a look at what is really happening in our environment, what do you see…

The shops are full, everyday with all the food we love, desire and need. There is the global food industry, the food retail trade, and many artisan craftsmen that produce so many of all our foods on a daily basis, and we can obtain all these foods 7 days a week and 24 hours a day and around the clock..

Through this abundance we have slipped in a situation that makes us believe that it's the most normal and common thing in the world that food is always and everywhere and for everyone available.

Seeing this overflow of available food, our appreciation for food has decreased immensely over the past decades, as it seems absolutely normal for us in our .modern-day society

Another important fact and a root cause of food waste is the fact that food, especially in the western world, has become very affordable.

In our modern western society we only spend an average of 7% of our average income for food, which compared to many less developed countries around the world lies around 40-50%

But the food waste in our western world lies around 30% were in the less developed countries this lies under 5%

All of this shows us that our handling and appreciation for food has led to a massive food waste increase in an unproportional way. And that mainly in our western world. Food waste has become so common that we don’t realize anymore how much food we do waste in our daily lives.

In Switzerland we waste over 2.800.000 tons of food per year, nearly 30% of all available foods annually. Or in other words, an area equivalent to half of all the agricultural land in Switzerland is used to grow food that ends up being discarded at some point along the value chain.

Realizing this, and calculated down, we are talking about around 330 Kg per person per year which shows us that we do have a problem in Switzerland

First of all, the fact that we waste so much food is alarming and frustrating, but also realizing how many resources have been wasted in the process to grow and produce all these Foods that we then waste again, should really make us think differently and thrive us to start reacting and react right now.

Knowing this, I hope and believe I can convince you and many of all the people who read my thoughts, to be more thoughtful with the acquaintances of food and food waste, although I know success is only guaranteed and possible if we fight this problem all together.

My approach for this global problem is not based on the root cause directly, but more on trying to showcase and make you understand how each single one of us can support solving this problem.

I want to showcase how you can prevent your daily food waste, by repurposing your leftovers you have in your fridges at home, in an exciting, creative and diverse way, to convert your personal food waste into delicious new food.

I would like to do this by supporting you with tips, tricks, ideas and suggestions on how easy it can be with small mind changes and little effort to turn food waste into new food instead of just throwing it away.

Next to this generally known food waste problem there is another reason why we really have to start acting right now

Seeing that 30 % of all foods in Switzerland get wasted we should also ask the question, what does this mean for our environment and especially what is the impact on all the local and global resources we misapply in an unnecessary way by producing all this food that then gets wasted, and what impact and cause this has on our planet, on the degradation of our soils, on the water usage and wastage and many other resources.

Every normal human being from elderly to young children need to understand that, the way and the why, we waste food makes absolutely no sense, and then I even didn’t talk jet about the fact that on our planet still many people are dying of starvation, on a daily basis.

There is definitely something wrong in our western consummation society and we are all contributing to this “miss-behavior” willingly or unwillingly,

therefore i see it as everybodies duty that we should all contribute together to solve this problem wherever possible.

Finally, my last point I would like to highlight, and what is a very impactful side effect of our food waste phenomenon, is the increasing

climate change.

Looking at the last few years and many global happenings such as bushfires, tornados, floodings, melting of poles and glaciers, the influences of climate change are undoubtedly everywhere around us and something that we cannot deny anymore.

We still have the chance to do something against this climate change, but we have to change right now and immediately, as quickly as possible before it's too late. We have to do everything possible to reach the Paris climate agreement, or even better, to outperform this agreement.

Food waste is one of the root causes of our climate change.

Many of us think that one single persons contribution, to reduce food waste will not have a direct impact, and that the impact of one single person or family is only a very very very small part contributing to this global problem, And yes convincing our global population to reduce food waste is exactly a challenging and difficult part of the problem.

But on the other hand, if all people think like this we will never be able to make these problem solving changes, so why don’t just do it and start today, the more people that start now, the bigger the chance we can achieve changes.

With many of these challenges in mind i am convinced that this is exactly there were we have to start by making people realize that every little bit helps, and when we all together start with these little easy, swift changes we can and will be able to make changes and possibly still reach the Paris global goals and agreements and save our planet and our society.

We only have this planet and we should start realizing this now, because

There is no planet B.

In my next Blog i will start sharing easy to execute ideas and suggestion on how you can repurpose in an easy way your many of left over foods at home