N Janbemo Humtsoe
Green Foundation, Nagaland
Janbemolotha@gmail.com
Today, we are living in an era where the growing competitiveness among the producers and big market players has lead them to an advertising mania whereby we are being greeted by their advertisements, marketing representatives, billboards etc. wherever we go or where ever we are, whether we are on TV, radio, internet, newspapers or simply walking, driving or shopping. Market players are spending millions of money just to tell us that their product is superior, cheaper and better. They want us to buy more even if we don’t need them; they want us to think that shopping is the most important task on earth. They make us believe that buying more is to our advantage, and that we are the losers if we don’t succumb to their marketing offers.
In most cases, corporate advertisements are packaged in such a manner that the customers somehow feel that they are profiting from the transaction. Very often, deceptive advertisements cheat the customers of quantity or quality and we are deceived with false claims. Customer might feel they made good deal but in real sense they might have paid a lot more money. Many nutritious and healthy food products turn out to be health hazards; cosmetics or pills that are weight reducing or assures longevity and beauty hardly delivers its result. Advertising has gone to such extent that even alcohol or tobacco are packaged in such a way that they appear healthy and safe.
The market is flooded with loyalty cards, discount and rebate offers, life membership, special and valued customers etc., and the one who don’t fall prey to such marketing strategy are made to appear odd and old fashioned. They want us to buy on cash, on monthly installments and even on borrowed money. And they end result is that we end up buying things we don’t need, foods that we can’t eat, dresses that we can’t wear or fit in or stuff that end up in trash even when they are still good, because a new model or a improved version has come out in the market. The question is, at this overwhelming rate, can the planet sustain us?
The planet earth provides sufficient food for all humanity, yet, according to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) one billion people go to bed hungry every day and more than 20,000 children under the age of five die from starvation daily. This stunning revelation of hunger and starvation takes place when another billion people over-eat and consume so much that they put their lives under the threat of diseases and health issues. And when the world is confronted with the massive problem of producing and providing adequate resources to feed its teeming billions, study reveal that one- third of global food production is either wasted or lost.
Healthy and productive lives depend on food security, which is realized when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (FAO, 1996). In other words, food insecure people are those who do not have physical and economic access to enough food to meet their daily dietary needs. Hunger and malnourishment are therefore, not just social and moral problems as hunger leads to a vicious cycle of reduced productivity, deepening poverty, slow economic development and resource degradation. Food insecurity and under nutrition, climate change, increasing competition for energy and water, forest and land degradation and biodiversity loss are all connected in complex ways and demand an integrated management approach.
Food waste puts an enormous drain on earth’s depleting natural resources and is a major contributor of adverse environmental, economic and humanitarian issues that the world is confronted with. FAO estimates that the per capita food waste by consumers in Europe and North-America is 95-115 kg/year, while this figure in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia is only 6-11 kg/year. Through the theme for this year’s World Environment Day (WED) “Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint”, the UNEP and FAO which spearhead the Think.Eat.Save campaign of the Save Food Initiative, seek to propagate information on the causes and effects of food waste to all sections of the society throughout the globe. The theme urges each of us to take action in our homes and businesses and to witness the power of collective decisions to reduce food waste, save money, minimize the environmental impact of food production and consumption, and encourage food production processes to become more efficient.
The issue of food losses is significant in humanity’s efforts to combat hunger, improve health, raise income and enhance food security. Experts defined food losses as the decrease in edible food mass throughout the part of the supply chain. Food losses take place at production, postharvest and processing stages in the food supply chain. Food losses occurring at the end of the food chain (retail and final consumption) are rather called “food waste”, which relates to retailers’ and consumers’ behavior. Therefore food that was originally meant to human consumption but which fortuity gets out the human food chain is considered as food loss or waste even if it is then directed to a non-food use like feed, bio-energy etc.
Food losses have an impact on food security for poor people, on food quality and safety, on economic development and on the environment. Food losses represent a waste of resources used in production such as land, water, energy and inputs. Producing food that will not be consumed leads to unnecessary carbon emissions in addition to loss of economic value of the food produced. According to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, one way to narrow the hunger gap and improve the well-being of the most vulnerable is to address the massive loss and waste inherent in today’s food systems. Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director went on to say that food waste is an ethical, economic and environmental issue given the enormous waste of energy, water, fertilizers and other inputs as a result of food that is produced but never eaten.
Therefore, this year’s message is clear: buy only what you need, eat only what you must and save whatever is being left over. In other words, it means that extravagance is poor foresight and that wasting is a sin. Nothing on this earth comes for free; therefore don’t buy more food or stuff than you really need. Donate non-perishable and unspoiled perishable food to poor and needy. Use a pit to produce bio-energy; kitchen waste can take care of your cooking bills, if not feed them to your pigs and cattle- they are nature’s best recyclers.
Remember to freeze your food item for frozen foods remain safe for long. Freeze fresh produce and leftovers if you won’t have the chance of eating them before they get spoiled. Grow an organic garden yourself and try to buy local products; transporting food across continents or regions increases global carbon emissions. Plan in advance. Plan what to buy and make a list before you go shopping so that you don’t end up buying non essentials. Never buy products just because they are on sale or discount. Think about how much money you could save if you don’t buy non-necessities or waste food. Think smart, buy wisely, eat healthy and save more.
“Conserve to sustain”
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