Throughout this year we have been blogging for CAFOD on climate change. When I first started I thought it would be mostly just about global warming and saving energy, but I have learnt it is so much more than that I have never really stopped to think about how the actions of people in this country affected the lives of those in poorer countries. As well as saving energy, we need to think about how much of the earth’s resources we uses and how wasteful we are.
Everyone talks about how we as a country need to save money and learn to live on less but I never really stopped to think about the big difference each family can make. Last week I watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s programme on food waste.
I realised how much food my family throw away and the really big difference recycling can make. Here is a shocking fact I learned from watching his show, a third of food in the UK never gets eaten, yet 13 million people in this country are struggling to afford to eat. I had a look in our bin and to be honest I think my mum is also guilty of over shopping, but she’s not the only one.
This week, we wasted:
·Half a salad bag
Two bruised apples
· A bag of clementine’s that had gone mouldy
· Two cooked sausages and a burger
· 2 pints of milk
· A portion of meatballs and spaghetti
This food has either not been eaten or has gone past its sell by date.
If this is one family’s waste think about how much an entire city throws away for example London or Sheffield. As well as being careful with our own waste we could also campaign for organisations and restaurants to be less wasteful. They could just donate it to food banks and charities instead of throwing it away.
This is what the Pope is calling on us to do when he says we need to care for our common home in his Laudiato Si. Sometimes it feels like there is so much we need to do to save the planet, that we alone can’t make a difference. But if we each live wisely in our own way and come together to campaign for organisations and governments to change their ways we can get there. I am going to start by trying to recycle more and watching what I throw away.
What could you do?