Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
Yesterday, I participated in a townhall-style event called “KlimaEssen” here at my university in Bonn (which can be loosely translated as ClimateEats) in which we discussed various ways in which we can all eat in a more sustainable fashion. One great aspect of the event was that it was in part organized by the university’s … Continue reading What's for Lunch? Sustainable Dining Hall Practices
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci0HsPELE2o] Yesterday, I went to a talk about food waste by the author of the book “Die Essensvernichter” (the food destroyers) and co-producer of the movie “Taste the Waste” (of which the above excerpt stems from), Stefan Kreutzberger. While he as a journalist, maybe naturally, speaks about the topic in a pretty simplified and black-and-white … Continue reading Taste The Waste
You know that day before you go on an extended vacation and stand in front of a half-full fridge due to poor planning, heave a heavy sigh and take out the garbage bag? Well, if you were living in Cologne, Koblenz or Berlin, instead you would log onto foodsharing.de, would create a food basket with … Continue reading Foodsharing – Reducing Food Waste the German Way
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjtIl5B1zXI] This is an interesting take on the interplay between food production and climate change. The video defines a ‘safe space’ defined by the boundaries on how much food we need, how much food we can produce at given levels of climate change, and how that increased food production will further affect climate change.
New to the mini-series? Check out Wasted (I) on farming and post-harvest waste in the North-American context, Wasted (II) for the same level of analysis in the Tropics, and Wasted (III) for the retail sector! Yay, we finally got to the end of the food supply chain – our own plates and (hopefully) stomachs. In this last part, I’ll again … Continue reading Wasted (IV – Consumer Food Waste)
New to the mini-series? Check out Wasted (I) on farming and post-harvest waste in the North-American context and Wasted (II) for the same level of analysis in the Tropics! In 2005, an Austrian documentary called “We Feed The World” brought food policy issues onto the agenda for many Europeans, showing stark pictures of many contradictions in our … Continue reading Wasted (III – The Retail Sector)
New to the mini-series? Check out Wasted (I) on farming and post-harvest waste in the North-American context! Last time, we concluded that in a more industrialized context, food waste is most prevalent at the retail and consumer level. How about in more agrarian, (for lack of a better term) less-developed countries? Here the majority of losses … Continue reading Wasted (II – Farming and Post-Harvest in the Tropics)
No, not the drunk kind. The discarded, excluded, thrown-away kind. Did you know that up to 50% of all food produced – 2 billion metric tonnes per year – are “lost before they ever reach a human stomach”, as the Institute of Mechanical Engineers put it? That is massive. What a stark contrast to our … Continue reading Wasted (I – Farming and Post-Harvest)
