Who’s Buying Organic or Natural Foods?
High Demand Low Demand Average
Helpful Aids
GreenerChoices.org/eco-labels/ vk.cfm
GreenerChoices.org/eco-labels/ labellogo.cfm
GoodGuide.com
Tinyurl.com/LoveFoodHateWaste PortionsGuide
Tinyurl.com/NatlGeographic WaterFootprint
EatFeastly.com
GoHalfsies.com
Zipcar.com
Courtesy of GfK Mediamark Research and Environmental Systems Research Institute Sandra Postel, who leads the Global
Water Policy Project, has teamed up with the National Geographic Society to devise a personal water footprint calculator. It helps people understand the wider environmental impacts of their lifestyle and purchasing choices, and provides options for reducing their footprints and supporting water replenishment efforts. “It takes a per capita average of 2,000 gallons of water each day to keep our U.S. lifestyle afl oat,” twice the world average, calculates Postel. The typical hamburger takes 630 gallons of water to produce, for example, while a pair of jeans consumes 2,600 gallons, most of it to grow the necessary cotton. Water is just one of numerous
resources overused in the United States, according to author and journalist Danielle Nierenberg, co-founder of
Food Tank. “We overbuy food. It goes bad and ends up in landfi lls,” where it lets off methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, as it decomposes. “We also over-order at restaurants,”
observes Nierenberg, whose think tank focuses on the interrelated issues of hunger, obesity and environmental degradation. Overall, the U.S. annually accounts for 34 million tons of food waste. “Part of the problem is we’ve lost home culinary skills,” says Nierenberg, who says we need to rethink how and how much we eat. “We don’t really understand what portions are,” she adds.
Share Instead of Buy Collaboration characterizes the broader trend in careful consuming that relies on cell phone apps. Sometimes known as the “sharing economy” or “collaborative consumption”, initiatives can range
from car and bike shares to neighborly lending of lawn mowers and other tools and sharing homegrown produce. One of the more innovative food-sharing options is Halfsies, in which diners at participating restaurants pay full price for a meal, but receive half of a full portion, effectively donating the cost of the other half to fi ght hunger. Whatever the product, experts say, the new sharing business model is part of a fundamental shift in how people think about consuming, with the potential to help us reduce our personal carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Christine MacDonald is a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C., who specializes in health, science and environmental issues. Learn more at
ChristineMacDonald.info.
24 Central Florida natural awakenings
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