A Third Of All Food Is Destined For The Bin

Britain throws away a staggering £8 billion worth of food every year - a third of everything we buy, according to campaigners.

We throw away a whopping 6.7 million tonnes of food from our homes a year, according the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

And most of the grub we dump could have been eaten, experts said.

That's the equivalent of waste needed to fill Wembley Stadium eight times over and it means for every three bags of shopping brought home, one in effect ends up in land fills.

Experts said too much food was being thrown away because consumers let it go off in the fridge or cupboard, - or portions are too big and leftovers are just binned.

And that's just the amount thrown away by households - with the figure likely to be much higher when food wasted by businesses is included.

WRAP said most of the waste was edible - not just peelings and bones - and estimate that if the squandering ended it would save 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is the equivalent to taking one in five cars off the road.

It comes after a Christmas period in which it was estimated the amount of food wasted soared by 80 per cent - with 230,000 tonnes of food - worth around £275 million - thrown away.

But a poll found nine in ten people don't have a clue how much they throw away.

As well as the cost, the wasted food is a major contributor to the production of greenhouse gases in the UK. Most of the food thrown away ends up in landfill where it produces methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas.

And campaigners say energy used to produce, package, transport and deliver the food to our homes produces the equivalent of at least 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

WRAP have launched a campaign - Love Food Hate Waste - in an attempt to raise awareness about just how much food Brits waste, with a website giving advice on how to be more food efficient.

Richard Swannell, director of retail and organics programmes at WRAP, said food wastage was a "very major problem" - with financial and environmental implications.

He said: "The food being wasted is at a cost of £8 billion - we throw away 6.7 million tonnes, and most of that could have been eaten.

"So if we ate it all we would save a staggering amount, and reduce our impact on the environment."

Mr Swannell said nearly all ages and social classes were culpable, apart from some people over 60.

He added said the causes of the problem could be put into two categories, saying: "First, we let too much food go off in the fridge and in the cupboard.

"And the other is we cook too much food and don't get portioning right, so people get full up and leave stuff on their plates and it goes in the bin."

But Mr Swannell admitted they faced a difficult task getting the message about wastage across as so much of the country was in the dark about the problem.

He said: "There is a huge mountain to climb in terms of doing this. But you could make a big difference.

"The important thing is we are doing this day by day and it is costing us a lot of cash. One of the easiest things people can do to help the environment is throw away less food.

"It's not just for us, it's for our children."

Keep your Hearts Happy

Happy Hearts Need Clean Air
recent study in Denmark demonstrates the value that clean air in the home or other closed environments has on healthy heart function. In the study, cardiovascular differences were measured when participants breathed recirculated air purified with a HEPA air filter and then without the HEPA filter.Working from Copenhagen’s Institute of Public Health, Professor Steffen Loft, MD, DMSc, enlisted the help of 21 healthy couples aged from 60 to 75, all non-smokers, who lived near busy public roadways, in a two-part study.

During the first part of the study, the home of each couple was outfitted with a standard air purifier equipped with a HEPA (high efficiency particle air) filter which was allowed to operate for 48 hours. During the second part of the study, the air filter was used, again for 48 hours, but without the HEPA filter.

Measurements of each person’s MVF (microvascular function) were taken after each 48-hour period. Impaired function, or damage, to these tiny blood vessels is a known predictor of cardiovascular disease.

Continuous measurements of the air particles in the home were taken throughout both phases of the experiment. The HEPA filter removed about 60% more of the air particles, measured from coarse to ultrafine, than the air purifier did when operating without it.

Loft claims his team was “heartened and surprised” by the impressive improvement in MVF when the HEPA filter was used. Overall rate of improvement for study participants was measured at 8.1%.

Full results of the study, which indicates that the fewer the air particles in recirculated indoor air the better the MVF and thus heart health, are published in a February issue of the American journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a publication of the American Thoracic Society.

Living Your Essence – A Global Perspective

Why is it, with so much resource and opportunity in the world, the sheer volumes of information we have on the Internet, and the litany of spiritual venues available, that people would continue to be riddled with unhappiness and plagued by depression? Why do so many of us feel utterly powerless to make a significant difference in the world? Why does it seem like this mysterious force, "out there," is in charge of what's happening? And why do we continue to live in fear of one another? Most importantly, what can we do to overcome all of this?

On one hand, one may comment that the world seems like its spinning out of control; people killing people, a prevailing consciousness over the threat of terrorism, governments that act above and beyond true representation of the people, and economic decay that is creating its own sort of terror. We have had a significant event in history that has changed the way we think, and fear seems to be the prevailing force of our consciousness. Children have guns in schools and the most promising careers are made up of completely fabricated personas. Good virtue goes unheralded and unrewarded. We have reality television shows that reward unscrupulous behavior and exalt people who have no moral esteem. And as people do become aware of the world's problems, growing subsequently weary and stressed out as they realize the seemingly unworkable situation we are in, they are diagnosed with some type of stress disorder and sedated. To a large extent, we have been moving away from our personal empowerment and most of us have no idea how to regain control over life. And that is just the short list!

There is hope though, and that is the point! I want to share some things that have made a difference in my life and for thousands of others, and hopefully impart to you, it is indeed within your ability to be a major force in the world. It is possible to regain your emotional and spiritual health and be at cause in the universe - to live your Essence. We are part of a time now, in history, which is significant in many ways. The Internet has given us access to limitless forms of communication and cooperation, and Quantum Physics has grown up, showing verifiable proof of the similarities between science and spiritual philosophy. It's an exciting time for us as everything accelerates around us and the decisions we make as a people become more and more critical to the sustainability of the planet.

To paraphrase Einstein though, "we will never be able to solve the problems of our current situation from the same consciousness that created it." That is to say that fear cannot and will not overcome fear. You cannot fight terror with more terror; for all that does is compound the problem!

As we evolve, and our sense of discernment grows sharp, we must start to understand and take responsibility for our beliefs. Simply stated, our beliefs create the reality we live in. By allowing the burgeoning corporate interests and media empires to use propaganda, sensationalism, and psychological prowess to shape our opinions, we are living at the effect of what we see and experience on television. Quite frankly, our subconscious does not realize the difference between a real life experience and an experience it remembers from a picture.

In order to regain control, we have got to become more selective and fill our minds only with information that is useful and critical to our success!

Jack Trout, in his book, "Differentiate or Die," expounded upon the number of messages that come at us on a daily basis. It is estimated that the average individual is exposed to 30,000 messages on any given day; quite an astounding number. On one level, we have a filtering mechanism that allows us to function despite this full frontal attack of messaging, however on another level, we have very little defense, unless of course, we live in a cave somewhere. It is virtually impossible to escape the proliferation of "Consumerism" and thus, we need to take proactive measures to live within our Essence.

Health can be directly correlated to your ability to process and subsequently stand clear of negative thought. Conversely, we typically pay dubious attention to the negative stories that run us and subsequently persist in ways that will seemingly resolve these negative thoughts - such as listening to negative banter on the news. Each of us, face lessons in life that make us bitter or they make us better. The real trick is to take each obstacle and process both the pain and the wisdom that goes with it. As we resist these lessons, they become imbedded in our consciousness and make us unhealthy and negative - we start to chase conversations that validate negative data. The point is not to deny our experience, resist it, or try to overcome it, but rather to embrace it, asking questions and finding answers that facilitate the highest and best wisdom. The same goes for concepts and words that clog our minds with negative meanings and unclear outcomes.

True discernment is the ability to assert Choice. When you let your negative reactions dictate the way you feel and act, there is no Choice, only reactive behavior. This reactive behavior is the biggest problem we have. Life can certainly be lived reacting to everything that goes on around us. We can try to build walls to keep out the evil forces and put guards at the gates, but at the end of the day, you really have to ask yourself, how much energy is that going to take? You see, ultimately you can never have enough energy to fight off and react to the consciousness of fear and therefore, it is a losing struggle. This is the underlying reason for depression. The alternative is simply to discard the fear based thought and regain Creative Choice, the underlying nature of Essence. Therein lay the answer.

It would be a disservice though, to write at length about what Essence is, Lord knows, the religions have been trying this for Ions and that is fine. We feel the approach best taken to your own Essence is to allow you to stand clear of your reactive fear based thoughts and listen. Listen for what calls to you. Listen for the synchronicity that life hands you every day. Acknowledge the spectrum of Choice at hand and allow yourself to just be still. Everything you need to live the Essence based life is right in front of you, and that is a promise.

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