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General Assembly.
What is the 2013 theme?
The theme for this year’s World Environment Day celebrations is “Think. Eat. Save – Promoting Sustainable Practices”. The theme is an anti-food waste and food loss campaign that encourages you to reduce food that you waste. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, every year 1,3 billion tonnes of food is wasted. This is equivalent to the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.
What can I do?
It takes only a few simple steps to easily green your daily routine and make good eco behaviour into a habit!
A: Act now. Make the decision to become more aware of issues related to food waste. Adopt as many eco-friendly lifestyle choices as you can and make them habits! Add it up. Our impact is exponential when the global chorus sings together.
B: Buy locally! Flying food across continents increases global transportation emissions. Bring a cloth bag to do all your grocery shopping. A reusable bag will last for years and only needs to be used five times to have a lower environmental impact than a plastic bag. Bring a mug with you for take-out beverages to avoid using paper cups.
C: Consume locally. You will help reduce the demand for cutting down forests in foreign countries to meet export demands. Choose naturally grown foods. They have less of an environmental impact and are much healthier. Compost your organic food waste.
D: Don’t buy more food than you need. Discover an alternative to traditional wrapping paper for holidays and birthday gifts.
E: Engage in an environmental activity, like school or neighbourhood beautification or tree planting. Eat organic and locally grown foods and help reduce the clearing of forests for agricultural land. Educate your friends on how individual actions can have an exponential impact and motivate action for World Environment Day.
F: Form a tree-planting group with family and friends and commit to planting and maintaining these trees.
G: Green your office: print double-sided, turn off monitors, start an office recycling programme. Grow an organic garden and your own delicious food. Give seedlings as birthday gifts. Go electronic for bills and payments at home, in the office, at the bank, etc.
H: Host a WED celebration. Have a vegan (no animal products) dinner party!
I: Identify the nature that surrounds you – take note of the beautiful plants and animals that you may not always appreciate. Learn about the amazing ecosystem services they provide. Improve the insulation of your home – it will really help your energy consumption . . . and your monthly bills!
J: Join a local environmental or conservation group. You can team up with those around you and make a real difference for your community. Jog outside and save the energy you would have used on the treadmill!
K: Kick the habit! Don’t print unless it’s absolutely necessary. Keep your cup! When travelling on airplanes, ask to reuse your cup.
L: Learn more about the impact of food production. Did you know that it takes 1 000l of water to produce 1 litre of milk?
M: More food in your pantry increases the risk of food going bad before you consume. Mobilise your networks! Message your friends about WED – Facebook, Twitter, SMS, text, phone, email – it doesn’t matter how, just get the word out!
N: Notify your friends on how their action against food waste could have a huge impact. Even if just one-fourth of the food currently lost or wasted globally could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people in the world.
O: Optimise the use of your washing machine – use the cold-wash option and significantly save energy and reduce your daily carbon emissions. Offset your travel whenever possible – most airlines provide an option to offset your travel when you book your tickets. Opt for public transport whenever possible. Order small food portions first. Better to add on than waste.
P: Plan in advance. Know what you will need before you go grocery shopping so as not to end up buying more food than what will be consumed in your household. Pile up! Lay the grounds for a compost pile and start sorting your garbage.
Q: Quantify how much money you could save each cold winter if you lowered the temperature inside your home by 2 degrees Celsius. It could reduce your energy consumption by 14 percent!!!
R: Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
S: Sacrifice something small each month – eat locally grown vegetables instead of imported vegetables; do without steak as cattle ranching is high impact!; carpool with co-workers; take your bike to work, etc. Save!
Support and motivate companies that use certified materials and operate in ways that are environmentally responsible. Switch your light bulbs to energy-efficient LEDs. You will see substantial savings on energy bills!
T: Tell your friends about the enormous amounts of food waste we are creating. Think before you buy food. What is the environmental impact of your choice? Think outside of the bottle! Bottled water costs 1 900 times more than tap water Tweet about #WED and spread food waste tips to the world!
U: Understand your options. Learn about the small ways you, as an individual, can make a positive impact on the environment. Use rainwater for your indoor plants – they love it, and you’ll save water at the same time.
V: Visit the EMA website regularly and see how you can get involved!
W: Waste no food! One in every seven people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20 000 children under the age of five die daily from hunger.
X: X-plore the World Environment Day website. Find out more about food waste.
Y: You can make a difference – individual actions, when multiplied, can make an exponential difference to the planet!
Z: Zip around town on your bike, on public transport, or walk to a restaurant near you. It’s cheaper!
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