Here is something shocking: the amount of food thrown away in Europe and the United states could feed the world three times over, and British households discard enough edible food to fill Wembley Stadium to the brim eight times a year. More than a quarter of it is still in its original packaging - 5,500 chickens, 1.2 million sausages, 4.4 million apples and five million potatoes each and every day. And 328,000 tonnes of perfectly edible bread a year (Source: Times). Sonnet and I have discussed this often with the Shakespeares and it probably falls on the same deaf ears as it did in our house 30 years ago. Kids do not understand the relationship between their waste and the world's one-billion+ who are hungry. Most of us, for that matter, have no idea nor care. I was pretty gung-ho to build a compost heap but have since come off my grand plan for lack of inertia. It did not help that my make-shift kitchen drum turned into the most horrific thing I or Sonnet have seen in some while (the lid, dear reader, had an air filter unit but when opened - good, God).
So, the Brits waste one in every three bags of food which costs us £15,000 to £24,000 over a lifetime. Once more, this food finds its way to landfill, where airless in plastic bags and compressed by the weight bearing down on it, it no longer behaves as it would in my garden compost (as disgusting as that is). Instead, the food waste produces methane, a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, and a poisonous black gunge that seeps in our waterways. In Richmond, our council offers food-waste collection bins and more of Britain is catching on: by recycling, we could reduce our carbon-dioxide equivalent emissions by 18 million tons a year, or the same as taking one-in-five cars off the road. Here's for hoping.
Me: "Shoosh!"
Madeleine: "You cannot 'shoosh' me!"
Me: "Yes I can - I am the master of the 'shoosh.'"
Madeleine: "No you're not."
Me: "Shoosh!"
Madeleine: "La di da di da .."
Madeleine (at our hotel): "I am going to take these soaps for mom."
Eitan: "You cannot do that!"
Madeleine: "Yes I can. Rules are made for breaking."
The kids take turns on different chairs in our room.
Madeleine: "Ah, this one is so nice..."
Eitan: "Don't hog it!"
Madeleine: "Get your own chair."
Eitan: "Well, this one is just right for doing homework."
Here is something shocking: the amount of food thrown away in Europe and the United states could feed the world three times over, and British households discard enough edible food to fill Wembley Stadium to the brim eight times a year. More than a quarter of it is still in its original packaging - 5,500 chickens, 1.2 million sausages, 4.4 million apples and five million potatoes each and every day. And 328,000 tonnes of perfectly edible bread a year (Source: Times). Sonnet and I have discussed this often with the Shakespeares and it probably falls on the same deaf ears as it did in our house 30 years ago. Kids do not understand the relationship between their waste and the world's one-billion+ who are hungry. Most of us, for that matter, have no idea nor care. I was pretty gung-ho to build a compost heap but have since come off my grand plan for lack of inertia. It did not help that my make-shift kitchen drum turned into the most horrific thing I or Sonnet have seen in some while (the lid, dear reader, had an air filter unit but when opened - good, God). 