UN SDG #2: No Hunger
Intro: Welcome to season two of 1000 Ways Green! The show where we are going to give busy people like you easy ways to help save the planet for our future generations, and try to save you money along the way. This season we are going to be focusing on talking about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and how you can enact them in your day to day life.
I’m Patrick Shipway and I want to welcome you back! We are going to talk about the United Nations 2nd Sustainable Development Goal: Creating a world with zero hunger. We as a planet already produce enough food to feed the entire planet yet 40% of what we create never makes it into anyone’s mouth. All of that wasted food is estimated to account for about 10% of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention the fact that 1 in 8 Americans struggle with having enough to eat and about 1 in 10 people worldwide. Of these, about 25,000 die daily due to malnourishment.
Onto this week's three things:
Mint Green level: For your mint green level this week I challenge you to focus on planning out your meals so you don’t have any wasted food. I’m linking to a Meal Planning Guide Book that I like. My favorite part of this Meal Planning Book is that it has pages in there to remind you what fruits and vegetables are in season so you’re not promoting the production of foods that require more energy than they should. Whatever food you can’t manage to eat, either immediately or as leftovers you should attempt to compost your food. I’m also linking to an article to teach you how to compost if you’re new to it in the show notes.
Shamrock Green level: Your Shamrock green level challenge this week is to start or increase the food you grow yourself. Not only will this save you money but any extra you have you can either give away to food pantries to feed those in need or possibly sell. There are 2 pay-what-you-can stands in my neighborhood for extra food they produce. If you don’t know where to start I’m linking to two great options in the show notes. The first is an awesome Zero waste seed starter kit that has been upcycled and is fully compostable leaving nothing behind other than the food you’re growing. And the 2nd is a great Organic Indoor Vegetable Garden.
Forest green level: Volunteer at an organization that is actively working on feeding people who have trouble getting enough food to eat. I’m going to quickly talk about 4 of the big ones that are here in the United States. If you’re listening from somewhere else a quick Google Search should find some near you. All of these will be linked in the show notes.
Meals on Wheels - a national organization that delivers hot, nutritious meals to seniors and people with disabilities who are unable to leave their homes. This is only going to become a bigger problem as our Baby Boomers keep aging so it is an important focus point for those of you listening.
Feeding America - a national network of food banks that serves millions of people facing hunger through food distribution, as well as other support services. It is the largest food charity network in the nation, and 98% of the donations that go to it go right back into feeding people and families that need it. They also remind us in this linked article that by finding a home for food they are helping the planet by not allowing it to turn into methane in the landfill.
No Kid Hungry - a national campaign working to end childhood hunger in the USA through programs that provide healthy food to children, as well as advocacy and education efforts.This one is near and dear to my hearts because of my 10+ years working in the education field and watching some students struggle to focus on education because they didn’t have enough food to eat.
AmpleHarvest - a national organization that connects gardeners with food pantries to help reduce food waste and increase access to fresh produce. This one is a great connection to our Shamrock Green challenge this week and can help you ensure that whatever you grow is having another deeper level of help to stop the hunger crisis.
And hopefully if we can move all this food around correctly we can significantly reduce the amount of food we need to produce and therefore the energy we put into that and the carbon dioxide and methane produced from it being wasted. Not to mention being able to feed all of the hungry people around the world and let them be healthy enough to help with other Sustainable Development Goals.
That is all for this week, until next time, Be Green and Be Seen.
Links from the show:
Organizations fighting food hunger to volunteer at: