Food, and how wasteful we Americans are

This post addresses an article that came out on different news sources today, titled " Britain urging return to wartime food frugality".

To someone who understands Peak Oil, news like this one, or that 8 airlines have gone bankrupt recently, are no surprise at all. This was all predicted, if the theory of Peak Oil is correct. BTW, some people have argued with me that Peak Oil is not a theory because it's pure logic. I will continue to call Peak Oil a theory because most of us who understand it do not have access to hard data to determine whether we have peaked or not (actually, no one has access to truly reliable and accurate data on oil reserves worldwide).

Now, back to the article about Britons and their food. The third paragraph says:

"With food and energy prices soaring around the world, a constant supply of high-quality, affordable food is no longer guaranteed, the officials are warning Britons. That could mean an era of scarcity like Britain's 1940-54 food rationing, during the war and its aftermath."

It amazes me how mainstream media will go out of their way to avoid mentioning or even suggesting the term Peak Oil. That paragraph would have been more articulate and accurate if written this way:

"With oil production peaking worldwide, a constant supply of high-quality, affordable food is no longer guaranteed..."

The phrase above is just more honest and to the point. And this is just one example of how mainstream media and politicians have attributed our current economic crisis to anything but Peak Oil. Blame greed, OPEC, speculating investors, or the oil companies, but no one wants to even consider the prospect of Peak Oil.

A friend of mine wrote me an email this week with a recent article by The Economist, where they actually mention and discuss Peak Oil with some quotes by the renowned Matthew Simmons. In his email he says "maybe you are right about Peak Oil". I want to make two comments about his statement:

1) I presented the concept of Peak Oil to him several months ago. Being the smart person that he is, I'd think that he'd go research it instead of waiting for some mainstream news source to talk about it before he thinks it is a subject of importance.

2) My goal is not to be right about Peak Oil. Actually, it's all fine by me if I'm wrong. I really don't mind if 5 or 10 years from now worldwide production of oil continued to increase at the same rate as the past 2 decades, and my friends tell me I have to credibility and ridicule me for that. I really will not mind and can live with that.

Regarding the article again, the truth is we eat oil. That is a simple way to look at it and yet it is true. As oil gets scarcer, food production necessarily gets more expensive. So we should just keep that in mind.

Food is a central topic in the Peak Oil discussion for many reasons. One is that fertilizers and pesticides used in our conventional agriculture are derived from oil. Another reason is that the machinery used on farms runs on liquid fuels that come from oil. And another reason is that the food is delivered by vehicles that use fuel that come from oil. The food is produced with the use of oil, then delivered by diesel trucks that travel very long distances. Any disruption in this process can potentially cause a food shortage. And remember that cities, which have the highest population density, are not where food is produced.

I have been eating organic food for quite some time now, as much as I can. This is part of my goal to have a healthy lifestyle. Peak Oil will force us to produce organic food because the conventional food production processes we have do not work without oil. This is a good thing. This is why I think Peak Oil is good news rather than the opposite. Wouldn't it be great if we were forced to eat organic food due to having no other choice? At that point we could stop calling it organic food, and simply call it food.

I was at Whole Foods this week in their sitting area after I bought some of their hot foods. I was near the coffee bar where their trash and recycling is. Someone had left two plates full of food right on both sides of me, with one plate right next to the garbage. This plate looked delicious, with mashed potatoes and meat and some vegetables. It crossed my mind that that food was going in the garbage. It crossed my mind to try to take that food home before a tragedy happened. In my hesitancy and before I could think clearly, this woman (a customer) came up from behind and dished out all the food that was on the plate right into the trash can. She did not even put the food in the compostable bin. I was flabbergasted. I was upset with myself for permitting the waste of such good organic food. I had to remind myself that this woman had the right to throw however much food she wanted away since she had paid for it and it was her food. I do regret not asking her to give me the food, though.

I sat down in disbelief and watched her. She took the other plate and sat down at another table not far away. She picked her food as if nothing tragic had happened. I considered walking up to her and saying "excuse me, just out of curiosity... why did you throw that food away?" I was afraid of scaring her by coming across as confrontational, so I refrained from doing that. But trust me, should I find myself in a similar situation in the future, I'll take very different actions to make sure that good food goes into my stomach instead of in the garbage. And I don't mind that someone I don't know may have touched it first. I don't find that repugnant or disgusting, and chances are that people that do, do other things that I consider much more disgusting.

Perhaps the food was tainted. I doubt it, though. I remember that when I moved to the US it was common for me to see Americans throw food away. I found that a very wasteful habit. But to stand against it to me meant I'd be forcing my values (from another culture) upon Americans for whom throwing away food is normal.

So, Britons are being urged by their officials not to waste food. The nation that was once the world's superpower is now having to learn to not throw food away because they may not have it tomorrow. I believe this day will come to America also. We are so wasteful in this country. We are overfed and throw food away when other countries have people who are malnourished and starving. Peak Oil will change that. Peak Oil is good news, people.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080711/ap_on_re_eu/britain_war_on_waste

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25642713/

Britain urging return to wartime food frugality

Families urged to cut food waste to combat rising global prices

LONDON - Waste not, want not.

Evoking an era of World War II austerity, British families are being urged to cut food waste and use leftovers in a nationwide effort to fight sharply rising global food prices.

It's not back to ration books, "victory gardens" or squirrel-tail soup yet, but warning bells are being rung by experts at all levels of Britain's government as well as from the World Food Program.

With food and energy prices soaring around the world, a constant supply of high-quality, affordable food is no longer guaranteed, the officials are warning Britons. That could mean an era of scarcity like Britain's 1940-54 food rationing, during the war and its aftermath.

"Well, of course, in the war years it was not only immoral to waste food — this was one of our slogans then — it also was illegal," said Marguerite Patten, 92, who worked at the Ministry of Food during World War II and urges a return to those more thrifty days.

"I know it's old fashioned, but some old fashioned things are worth doing," she said.

During the war, Nazi Germany's U-boats crippled the flow of ships carrying food to Britain. Diets were tightly controlled by rationing. Bananas and pineapples became exotic treats, and enterprising housewives traded recipes for baked hedgehog and carrot fudge.

Food staples up 83 percent

The experts say the postwar era of cheap food has ended — squeezed by the demands of a growing world population, a greater appetite for meat among emerging middle classes in China and India and the pressure on agricultural land from biofuel production.

"Recent food price rises are a powerful reminder that access to ever more affordable food cannot be taken for granted," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a foreword to a bleak new report by Britain's Cabinet Office.

The report says the task of feeding a larger, richer world population, while simultaneously tackling climate change, is far greater than imagined. The World Bank estimates the cost of food staples has risen 83 percent in three years.

Tim Lang, professor of food policy at London's City University, said junk food will remain readily available, but good quality, nutritious produce could become scarce worldwide.

"There has been 60 years of silence on this issue," he said. "We haven't had any sort of overview of food policy since the end of the Second World War. I think we need to accept that food is once again in a wartime state."

Some Britons might find it a tad galling to take advice on food frugality from the prime minister, who along with fellow Group of Eight leaders dined on sumptuous feasts during their summit this week.

But the government says the public might find one solution by looking into their garbage pail. Britons throw out 4.5 million tons of edible food a year, or about $830 worth per home — wastefulness the government says contributes substantially to rising prices.
'If I throw away food I feel guilty'

Brown wants Britons to store their fruit and vegetables better to avoid waste and plan their meals more carefully. Some municipal authorities want to go further and increase taxes on those who throw away the most rubbish.
"If I throw away food I feel guilty — even if it's just a little bit," said Tania Carbonare, a 45-year-old jewelry seller at the Camden Lock market in London.

Those who remember Britain's 1940s "Dig for Victory" campaign to turn home gardens and soccer fields into vegetable patches say the past holds lessons for any food crisis.

Eggs, butter, meat and cheese were all strictly rationed, prompting an adventurous few to turn to squirrels or horses for protein.

"We didn't live very grandly, but we learned to make do with what we'd got," said Helen Trevena, 82, who recalled sweetening her tea with jam when sugar was scarce.

Britain's Women's Institute, launched in 1915 to help cut waste and encourage thrift during World War I, is once again offering classes on cutting food waste and livening up leftovers.

"People want those skills," said Ruth Bond, an institute stalwart from Cambridge in southern England. "Apart from anything else, it helps them save money."

Food, and how wasteful we Americans are

This post addresses an article that came out on different news sources today, titled " Britain urging return to wartime food frugality".

To someone who understands Peak Oil, news like this one, or that 8 airlines have gone bankrupt recently, are no surprise at all. This was all predicted, if the theory of Peak Oil is correct. BTW, some people have argued with me that Peak Oil is not a theory because it's pure logic. I will continue to call Peak Oil a theory because most of us who understand it do not have access to hard data to determine whether we have peaked or not (actually, no one has access to truly reliable and accurate data on oil reserves worldwide).

Now, back to the article about Britons and their food. The third paragraph says:

"With food and energy prices soaring around the world, a constant supply of high-quality, affordable food is no longer guaranteed, the officials are warning Britons. That could mean an era of scarcity like Britain's 1940-54 food rationing, during the war and its aftermath."

It amazes me how mainstream media will go out of their way to avoid mentioning or even suggesting the term Peak Oil. That paragraph would have been more articulate and accurate if written this way:

"With oil production peaking worldwide, a constant supply of high-quality, affordable food is no longer guaranteed..."

The phrase above is just more honest and to the point. And this is just one example of how mainstream media and politicians have attributed our current economic crisis to anything but Peak Oil. Blame greed, OPEC, speculating investors, or the oil companies, but no one wants to even consider the prospect of Peak Oil.

A friend of mine wrote me an email this week with a recent article by The Economist, where they actually mention and discuss Peak Oil with some quotes by the renowned Matthew Simmons. In his email he says "maybe you are right about Peak Oil". I want to make two comments about his statement:

1) I presented the concept of Peak Oil to him several months ago. Being the smart person that he is, I'd think that he'd go research it instead of waiting for some mainstream news source to talk about it before he thinks it is a subject of importance.

2) My goal is not to be right about Peak Oil. Actually, it's all fine by me if I'm wrong. I really don't mind if 5 or 10 years from now worldwide production of oil continued to increase at the same rate as the past 2 decades, and my friends tell me I have to credibility and ridicule me for that. I really will not mind and can live with that.

Regarding the article again, the truth is we eat oil. That is a simple way to look at it and yet it is true. As oil gets scarcer, food production necessarily gets more expensive. So we should just keep that in mind.

Food is a central topic in the Peak Oil discussion for many reasons. One is that fertilizers and pesticides used in our conventional agriculture are derived from oil. Another reason is that the machinery used on farms runs on liquid fuels that come from oil. And another reason is that the food is delivered by vehicles that use fuel that come from oil. The food is produced with the use of oil, then delivered by diesel trucks that travel very long distances. Any disruption in this process can potentially cause a food shortage. And remember that cities, which have the highest population density, are not where food is produced.

I have been eating organic food for quite some time now, as much as I can. This is part of my goal to have a healthy lifestyle. Peak Oil will force us to produce organic food because the conventional food production processes we have do not work without oil. This is a good thing. This is why I think Peak Oil is good news rather than the opposite. Wouldn't it be great if we were forced to eat organic food due to having no other choice? At that point we could stop calling it organic food, and simply call it food.

I was at Whole Foods this week in their sitting area after I bought some of their hot foods. I was near the coffee bar where their trash and recycling is. Someone had left two plates full of food right on both sides of me, with one plate right next to the garbage. This plate looked delicious, with mashed potatoes and meat and some vegetables. It crossed my mind that that food was going in the garbage. It crossed my mind to try to take that food home before a tragedy happened. In my hesitancy and before I could think clearly, this woman (a customer) came up from behind and dished out all the food that was on the plate right into the trash can. She did not even put the food in the compostable bin. I was flabbergasted. I was upset with myself for permitting the waste of such good organic food. I had to remind myself that this woman had the right to throw however much food she wanted away since she had paid for it and it was her food. I do regret not asking her to give me the food, though.

I sat down in disbelief and watched her. She took the other plate and sat down at another table not far away. She picked her food as if nothing tragic had happened. I considered walking up to her and saying "excuse me, just out of curiosity... why did you throw that food away?" I was afraid of scaring her by coming across as confrontational, so I refrained from doing that. But trust me, should I find myself in a similar situation in the future, I'll take very different actions to make sure that good food goes into my stomach instead of in the garbage. And I don't mind that someone I don't know may have touched it first. I don't find that repugnant or disgusting, and chances are that people that do, do other things that I consider much more disgusting.

Perhaps the food was tainted. I doubt it, though. I remember that when I moved to the US it was common for me to see Americans throw food away. I found that a very wasteful habit. But to stand against it to me meant I'd be forcing my values (from another culture) upon Americans for whom throwing away food is normal.

So, Britons are being urged by their officials not to waste food. The nation that was once the world's superpower is now having to learn to not throw food away because they may not have it tomorrow. I believe this day will come to America also. We are so wasteful in this country. We are overfed and throw food away when other countries have people who are malnourished and starving. Peak Oil will change that. Peak Oil is good news, people.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080711/ap_on_re_eu/britain_war_on_waste

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25642713/

Britain urging return to wartime food frugality

Families urged to cut food waste to combat rising global prices

LONDON - Waste not, want not.

Evoking an era of World War II austerity, British families are being urged to cut food waste and use leftovers in a nationwide effort to fight sharply rising global food prices.

It's not back to ration books, "victory gardens" or squirrel-tail soup yet, but warning bells are being rung by experts at all levels of Britain's government as well as from the World Food Program.

With food and energy prices soaring around the world, a constant supply of high-quality, affordable food is no longer guaranteed, the officials are warning Britons. That could mean an era of scarcity like Britain's 1940-54 food rationing, during the war and its aftermath.

"Well, of course, in the war years it was not only immoral to waste food — this was one of our slogans then — it also was illegal," said Marguerite Patten, 92, who worked at the Ministry of Food during World War II and urges a return to those more thrifty days.

"I know it's old fashioned, but some old fashioned things are worth doing," she said.

During the war, Nazi Germany's U-boats crippled the flow of ships carrying food to Britain. Diets were tightly controlled by rationing. Bananas and pineapples became exotic treats, and enterprising housewives traded recipes for baked hedgehog and carrot fudge.

Food staples up 83 percent

The experts say the postwar era of cheap food has ended — squeezed by the demands of a growing world population, a greater appetite for meat among emerging middle classes in China and India and the pressure on agricultural land from biofuel production.

"Recent food price rises are a powerful reminder that access to ever more affordable food cannot be taken for granted," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a foreword to a bleak new report by Britain's Cabinet Office.

The report says the task of feeding a larger, richer world population, while simultaneously tackling climate change, is far greater than imagined. The World Bank estimates the cost of food staples has risen 83 percent in three years.

Tim Lang, professor of food policy at London's City University, said junk food will remain readily available, but good quality, nutritious produce could become scarce worldwide.

"There has been 60 years of silence on this issue," he said. "We haven't had any sort of overview of food policy since the end of the Second World War. I think we need to accept that food is once again in a wartime state."

Some Britons might find it a tad galling to take advice on food frugality from the prime minister, who along with fellow Group of Eight leaders dined on sumptuous feasts during their summit this week.

But the government says the public might find one solution by looking into their garbage pail. Britons throw out 4.5 million tons of edible food a year, or about $830 worth per home — wastefulness the government says contributes substantially to rising prices.
'If I throw away food I feel guilty'

Brown wants Britons to store their fruit and vegetables better to avoid waste and plan their meals more carefully. Some municipal authorities want to go further and increase taxes on those who throw away the most rubbish.
"If I throw away food I feel guilty — even if it's just a little bit," said Tania Carbonare, a 45-year-old jewelry seller at the Camden Lock market in London.

Those who remember Britain's 1940s "Dig for Victory" campaign to turn home gardens and soccer fields into vegetable patches say the past holds lessons for any food crisis.

Eggs, butter, meat and cheese were all strictly rationed, prompting an adventurous few to turn to squirrels or horses for protein.

"We didn't live very grandly, but we learned to make do with what we'd got," said Helen Trevena, 82, who recalled sweetening her tea with jam when sugar was scarce.

Britain's Women's Institute, launched in 1915 to help cut waste and encourage thrift during World War I, is once again offering classes on cutting food waste and livening up leftovers.

"People want those skills," said Ruth Bond, an institute stalwart from Cambridge in southern England. "Apart from anything else, it helps them save money."