Food for
Thought
Food wastage problems we should be seriously thinking about By Renaldo Amota
I
t’s six o’clock in the evening. The sun is setting as I’m lazily coming into my favourite part of the commute - the last part. I love it because I’m finally off the highway on a sideroad that’s so quiet at this time that I could claim it as my own without much debate. I found it particularly scenic this evening. This massive rolling hill painted on the backdrop of a golden orange sunset. The breeze teasing the tips of the tall grass and surrounding foliage. I pass this hill almost everyday. Twice a day. From this angle, you would never guess that it’s essentially a facade for the local dump. Thousands upon thousands of tonnes of garbage hidden under dandelion camouflage. I’ve always been amazed at the human ability to hide and ignore problems. The truth is, we pass by these massive illusions everyday. This epiphany had jarred me a little and as a consequence made me slightly more alert about the world around me which is why I almost fell off my chair when I read the statistics about food wastage. “Here we go,” I thought to myself. Yet another travesty I’d been leisurely passing by my whole life, except I was literally on top of this one. The evidence lined my own garbage can, just as much as my local landfill. “Nearly 60 percent of food produced in Canada, amounting to 35.5-million metric tonnes, is lost and wasted annually. Of that, 32 percent, equalling 11.2-million metric tonnes of lost food, is avoidable and is edible food that could be redirected to support people in our communities. The total financial value of this potentially rescuable lost and wasted food is a staggering $49.46-billion.” (cited Second Harvest.ca) Just for some perspective. 11.2-million metric tonnes is equivalent to the weight of 95 CN Towers. This got me thinking. This is us. This is what we are doing
162 I outdoorlifestylemagazine.com │IMPROVE
