The Ethnicity Project
An Earth Day Special
'zero waste' is the real wealth.
Composting
Conservation
&
Published April 22, 2023
Reducing waste is inherently
economical. Everyday, we waste money, time, food-
and at what cost?
FOOD WASTE is the single largest category of material waste in landfills. Americans waste about 30 to 40 percent of our food supply. That translates to about 219 pounds of food waste per person annually. In addition to the food itself, fresh water, labor & energy are also wasted.
How much food goes to waste in your home every week?
This Earth Day, as the looming Climate Crisis awaits our response, consider these strategies for reducing your food waste:
4 lbs per person
x 4 people = 16 lbs
1
start composting
Collect scraps of produce, eggshells, &
shreds of cardboard. Store them in your
freezer & use 3:1 dirt-to-scraps ratio
to enrich potting soil
2
share
3
simply sharing with community
& loved ones reduces waste by
redistributing excess
'First In,First Out'
Get creative with your meals!
Prioritize left overs by incorporating
them into new recipes
On Conservation
What do you think about when you hear-
ENERGY CONSERVATION
Chances are something along the lines of saving on your electricity bill, your water bill..You'd be exactly right. The specifics about things like how much you save when you shut off lights more often are complex, but the principle is simple; Use less, save more.
Switching from
incandescent
lightbulbs
to fluorescent lightbulbs
Take (barely)shorter showers
What if you had to go fetch all your own water?
Americans are far removed from the labor of retrieving, storing and treating our own potable water. Maybe, if we had to expend our own energy and resources-not just the earths-we'd reconsider how much water we use. No one wants to take a 3 minute shower. Showering and bathing are therapeutic and healing luxuries. But we don't need to compromise our bathing time to make a huge environmental impact.
Fresh Water is a limited resource.
Did you know cutting your shower by 1 minute saves 60 gallons of water a month, if you shower daily?
Cultivating a sustainable environment is possible. It happens every time we come together to improve our relationship with natural resources, and consider how we can reduce waste through subtle lifestyle changes.
Transforming our relationship with waste is the key to a sustainable future. The majority of Americans have severed themselves from where their waste ends up. Taking the extra steps to compost, conserve and recycle will have payoff for generations to come. Happy Earth Day