Reduce Food Waste | How to Eat Responsibly
Each year the world throws away 1.3 billion tons of food (Source: UNESCO). It is enough to feed every hungry man twice. The loss is worth a trillion dollars. If the waste were farmland, it would cover more than China. Still, 828 million people go to bed hungry.
Food makes a quarter of the world’s smoke in the air. Waste makes it worse. One kilo of rice lost is 2,497 liters of water gone. Every four seconds a man dies of hunger. Still plates are scraped into the bin. Food wasted is earth insulted. Take only what you can eat.
Lessons on Eating Responsibly
The old books warned us. The Gita said a man who eats in measure finds peace. The Bible also said to gather the scraps so nothing is lost. Every grain is sweat, valuable and priceless. Every grain is air. Every grain is earth. Every grain echoes the existence of God, the creator. So, take only what you can eat and don’t waste.
Why we should take only what we can
eat
The Dodo bird lived in Mauritius. Men killed it for greed and for sport. By the seventeenth century it was gone. We did the same to the Moa, the giant bird from New Zealand. We selflessly protected our live stocks killing Tasmanian Tigers. The Bluebuck and Atlantic Grey Whales are further examples of endless human greed and cruelty. We treat food the same way. We take more than we need. What is wasted today was prayed for yesterday. Take only what you can eat.
Ashoka, the king, turned to peace. He cut the banquets of his court. He told his people food was duty, not pride. King Harsha gave away feasts and ate little himself. Louis of France ate with the poor. The emperor of Japan bows before a meal. He says thanks. He wastes nothing. Kings knew it. Common men know it too.
To have plenty is no right to waste. Take only what you can eat. Say Big No to food wastage.
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