Fall is on its way, for sure

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The mornings, at least in most parts of Britain, are starting to feel quite autumnal now, with a chill in the air and heavy dew on the grass.

herbst-morgen1web Talking of the grass; it has started to slow down growing quite noticeably, thank G-d, as the days get shorter. This is reflected in the growth rate of all plants as they get ready for the winter. A horrid thought to in the middle of August think of winter but the start of Winter is, theoretically, only three months away now.

Harvesting and preserving are the big jobs for the next few months, whether it's wine and jam from fruit, making pickles or canning vegetables or finding and creating dark cool storage for vegetables and root vegetables especially. A root cellar is a good idea here or the old-fashioned clamp out in the garden. Let's face it, you've not got long to get everything stored before its time to batten down the hatches for Winter.

Canning jars of various types can now be found even in supermarkets such as Sainsbury's proving that home growing and home canning are about to have a real revival in Britain. Not until recently would you have had to go to specialist stores – even many hardware stores no longer stocked them – or get canning jars by mail order from Lakeland and such like. Now, all of a sudden, they are found in places such as Sainsbury's and that includes Kilner jars. All I am waiting to see now is them selling a decent inexpensive pressure or water bath canner for use with the likes of Kilner jars.

Let's face it, whatever the government is telling us as to the country not needing to aim for more or less self-sufficiency in food (we have enough money to import stuff say ministers) we must grow more of our own fruit and vegetables once again, as individuals, families and communities, as well as a country.

And then we must learn again – for many have no idea about those things – how to cook from scratch, and how to home preserve, from canning, pickling and drying to just root cellaring, and everything in between. We will need these skills in the not so distant future in earnest once again.

© 2011

Native Americans' Ten Commandments

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

NatAm1There are at least two version of the “Ten Commandments according to the Native Americans” and both of those two versions that I have found are equally valid and important and we, Western, supposedly educated and whatever, man would do well to take heed of them.

The first one here is attributed to Blue Feather Spirit:

1. The Earth is our Mother, care for Her.

2. Honor all your relations.

3. Open your heart and soul to the Great Spirit.

4. All life is sacred, treat all beings with respect.

5. Take from the Earth what is needed and nothing more.

6. Do what needs to be done for the good... of all.

7. Give constant thanks to the Great Spirit for each new day.

8. Speak the truth, but only of the good in others.

9. Follow the rhythms of the nature, rise and retire with the sun.

10. Enjoy life's journey but leave no tracks.

And the second one, which is equally as valid, goes:

1. Treat the Earth and all that dwell thereon with respect.

2. Remain close to the Great Spirit, in all that you do.

3. Show great respect for your fellow beings and especially respect yourself.

4. Work together for the benefit of all Mankind.

5. Give assistance and kindness wherever needed.

6. Do what you know to be right, but be careful not to fall into self-righteousness.

7. Look after the well being of mind and body.

8. Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good.

9. Be truthful and honest at all times and especially be truthful and honest with yourself.

10. Take full responsibility for your actions

We really would do well if we took heed of those ten commandments and applied them in our lives.

Had we been living by something like those above rather than the ones that many of us in the so-called Christian countries have been living with maybe, just maybe, we would not have ended up with a planetary crisis as we have.

Even if climate change is not – or not entirely – down to us the rest of the destruction of pollution of the Earth, our Mother, is, and there is not getting away from this.

It is amazing that already in the 1960s and 1970s we al were talking about recycling and the need to reduce waste and pollution but the powers-that-be, due to the lobbying by the vested interest groups on the side of the polluters decided to do nothing and the poisoning of the Earth was allowed to continue unabated.

We must be mad...

© 2011

Is the State of Texas turning into a theocracy?

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Govnr Perry First we have only Creationism allowed to be taught in schools in Texcas – no mention must be made of Darwin and evolution. Now the Governor, in the face of the worst drought for a long time in the State, calls for a Day of Prayer for Rain via a Governor's Proclamation.

This proclamation, more or less, made it compulsory for Texians to join this prayer crusade for rain, and somewhere along the line it would appear that the Governor has not noticed that there should be a separation of church and state in the USA.

Creationism is as much a “joke” as it total Darwinism simple because evolution cannot explain many things but neither can creationism on its own.

The chicken and the egg question could be brought into the conversation and equation here and it still remains an unanswered question.

If we would still be running with the belief that the Bible alone gives the answers and that science, including and especially evolution has no place in our schools, we would still believe and teach that the Earth is flat. In fact I am wondering as to whether the Governor is someone who does hold that belief, maybe.

To start running around like a headless chicken when a lake turns red from poisonous algae and to claim it as the sign of the End Times is about as far fetched as the garbage that was being spread by the man from – no, not Delmonte – Family Radio.

A reality check is called for: The Scriptures mention water courses running red “with blood”, or “from blood”, depending on the translation, and not “like blood”. You may begin to panic once you do find rivers and lake being turned red with or from blood. Until then, however, stay calm and keep taking the tablets.

I would suggest that people in Texas keep a very close eye on the antics of their Governor before he turns their great State into a theocracy on Christian lines in a similar vein to Iran.

Enough religious communities and communes have gone down the tube, being led astray by their leaders, and this could also happen with a charismatic enough person at the helm of a State such as, and especially, Texas.

When the attendance of Church on Sunday is being made compulsory (again) I would suggest that the time has then come to leave in a hurry and head for them there hills, or even the big open spaces elsewhere.

Be vigilant people of the Lone State State.

© 2011

Rethinking the built-in kitchen...

Is it time to rethink the built-in kitchen?

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

I must say that I hate the built-in kitchen with a vengeance and that for more than one reason, probably.

When I grew up there were two ways we had a kitchen, either outdoors when we were “on the road” or a discrete build one when in the house. When I say here discrete then that is the same term as is used in electronics where it means no integrated circuits and everything either on a printed circuit board or just in a case wired together.

There was a wood cook stove several cupboards of different kinds even – a mix and don't match sort of affair – the kitchen table and the chairs and the rest I cannot really remember now.

The great thing was that, when needed, and that happened once, and you need more storage, you can just get another or additional cupboard and place it in the kitchen. No need to completely remodel the entire thing. You don't like a certain way the kitchen sits; you rearrange it.

Until a hundred years ago, nobody really had fitted kitchens as we know them; they had stoves and iceboxes, but everything else was kept in pantries or cupboards, and work was done on a table in the middle. In some places fitted kitchens never came in until after the Second World War, such as in most places in England and even continental Europe.

Kanz Outdoors has a great little kitchen arrangement that would go well for those that don't cook too often and/or have but a small place, and that is a field kitchen that can be folded up and stored away in a closet. Not that it was designed for that but...

The kitchen that is not built-in can be, as said, changed, expanded (if the room is large enough), and thus be one that can be tailored, without the help of expensive workmen, exactly to your wishes and needs.

Sometime after 1900 the fitted kitchen was invented by Christine Frederick and the famous Frankfurt Kitchen, was designed by Grete Schütte-Lihotzky and the rest is history, as they say. Kitchens became fixed and stuck to the wall. Then they just grew, got islands in the middle again, and even separate pantries because there were not enough cupboards.

Kitchens kept expanding, if you were in America, that is, and so did the amount of junk inside them. New products were supposed to make life easier on housewives, but often they had the opposite effect; more stuff just meant more upkeep. In Britain, on the other hand, it would appear that in the 1960s kitchens began ti shrink and only about 30 years or so later did we begin to build bigger kitchens again.

Theoretically all you really need in and for a kitchen is a stove, a sink, a refrigerator, some pots and pans, a knife or two and some serving spoons. All else is optional.

I would like to advocate, while we are at redesigning the kitchen, to being it back into life as the center of the home, the hub, where meals are cooked and eaten and where the family gets together informally around the kitchen table, which also doubles as dining table.

In days gone by it also served as writing desk for the kid's homework, the place where Mom did her sewing and mending, and much more. The kitchen was the hub of the home and family life. The parlor was used for entertaining. This changed with the advent of the goggle box and kitchens no longer where were everything happened as the family gathered around the TV in the parlor.

Farmhouse kitchens were the prime example for the large family hubs and this was reflected also, in a smaller scale, in the ordinary home, rented or owned, until about the 1950s and 1960s. It was then, in Britain, that kitchens became the size of large broom closets – OK, I exaggerate a little – and things changed drastically.

Our life could change for the better, methinks, if we brought back the old style kitchens though keeping the modern things we have so much gotten used to, but do we really need all those gadgets?

I did, for example, buy a deep far fryer a while back but it has been used about ten times if that and I find that I can do fries as well if not better in a saucepan and that with less oil.

There are a few other gadgets too that I bought and have never ever really used, some electric and some non-electric, like the mandolin for slicing veg. I can do that better and easier with a knife on a chopping board, thanks.

What I really hate on modern kitchens is the built-in units and such to which you cannot add and which, more often than not, also means that there is no space, mostly, to bring in a free-standing kitchen cupboard (if you can find one).

Bring back the real kitchen...

© 2011

BBC’s Bill Turnbull helps London festival to celebrate capital’s honey

London, August 15, 2011: Make your weekend a little sweeter by attending the London Honey Festival on Sunday 21st August at the Royal Festival Hall. This free festival gives Londoners the chance to judge a tasting competition from a large selection of the capital’s diverse honeys, from Bexley to Battersea, Greenwich to King’s Cross, Ealing to Wimbledon, and the Royal Festival Hall itself. The winners of London’s best honey will be announced by the BBC TV presenter Bill Turnbull.

The honey festival is just one of many activities across London this August to celebrate the capital’s honey, with shops and restaurants buying honey direct from London’s beekeepers. You can make a meal of local honey by visiting one of the 13 restaurants celebrating links with local beekeepers by putting 'London Honey Specials' on their menus. A staggering half a tonne of urban honey has been made available to the capital’s restaurants by 18 apiaries. Restaurants will be using the honey in a range of ways, from cocktails and flapjacks, to dressings and glazes [see list of participating restaurants and their ‘London honey specials’].

Emily Crawley of Ethical Eats explains, “this is the first time in the UK that caterers have come together on this scale to celebrate their city’s honey. We hope that many of the relationships established between caterers and beekeepers will continue so Londoners can support urban bees and community hives when they eat out.”

Several shops are also stocking honey from over 18 of the capitals apiaries. Londoners can find local honey at Budgens in Crouch End, The People’s Supermarket in Bloomsbury, La Bouche in Broadway Markey, and Farm:shop in Dalston. London honey is a seasonal crop, so stocks tend to run out fast!

The London Honey Festival itself offers honey massages, educational stalls, events for kids, film shows, a demonstration of honey extraction, and a chance to buy local honey. Mikey Tomkins, of Capital Bee 4, who is organising the festival, added, “Amongst the bee‐themed bunting, music, and waggle dance troupe, the event will provide a great opportunity for beekeepers to reach a wider audience, sell honey, and show‐off their urban craft. There’ll be a honey map so people can find their local beekeepers and the chance to see bees in observation hives.”

The Honey Festival comes after the London Mayor Boris Johnson launched Capital Bee, an innovative campaign to encourage ‘bee-friendly behaviour in the capital including growing plants that bees like, finding alternatives to garden pesticides, and opting for organic choices where possible.

The London Honey Festival is part of the 60th anniversary celebrations for the Festival of Britain on the Southbank this summer, and is supported by the Southbank, the Co-operative and the Mayor’s Office. The event is during the Royal Festival Hall’s Land Weekend, which gives visitors the chance to live the rural idyll in London for a weekend. More information is available at http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/learning-participation/tickets/the-london-honey-festival-60380

Participating restaurants and their London Honey Specials:

Ethical Eats is a network for restaurants and caterers across the capital interested in sustainability. It is part of Sustain’s London Food Link network – www.ethicaleats.org.

Capital Bee is helping to set up new community beehives and training beekeepers. More information is available at www.capitalgrowth.org/bees. Capital Bee is part of Capital Growth, a project funded by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, and the Big Lottery's Local Food Fund, and run by Sustain’s London Food Link network. It aims to boost community food growing, creating 2,012 new food growing spaces by the end of 2012. There are already over 1,000 plots in a diverse range of places, such as schools, by railways, on housing estates and on roofs.

Source: Sustain

Dumpster Diving for your needs and wants

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

dumpster_diving The new film 'I Love Trash' is a documentary that follows two friends as they live for three months by getting everything they need out of the trash. They arrive at an unfurnished apartment with the clothes on their back and a flashlight, and we slowly see them decorate their apartment and make clothes from things they've found in dumpsters. The film is a compelling journey of two friends as they make a life out of what others throw away, calling into question our society of consumption. You can watch watch the whole documentary for free here.

Dumpster Diving is a real means to an end and is becoming a little bit of a religion to some people. In Britain it is also being done but, it would appear there are a little more of perils attached than there seem to be in the USA and some other countries. This is especially so if it is a case of taking from dumpsters and bins at the back of stores, whether locked, or not, and whether in a “secure” are or not, as it is considered, under UK laws, theft, and that regardless of the fact that the stuff has been tossed out.

Even taking stuff put out for the dustmen, the waste collection service, municipal or otherwise, is, under the criminal law of Britain theft. While this does not make sense, to me or anyone, I am sure, this is the way things are legally in the UK. Thus, beware.

The book “FREE, Adventures on the margins of a wasteful society” by Katherine Hibbert, is a great guide here as to how things work in Britain. It is also worth the buy and the read simply because it is a great book and tremendously well written.

© 2011

British government evading green governance

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Conservative UK Prime Minister David Cameron is failing at his now a little over a year old vow to lead the “greenest government ever,” according to a scathing report released in May 2011 by environmental group Friends of the Earth. But then, did it really need a report. I think we all could see that happening; at least those that are not wearing blinkers.

Cameron had made the promise days after taking office as head of a coalition government with Britain’s Liberal Democrat party last May, noting that he “cares passionately” about the environment. At the time he even backed up his mission with that most trustworthy of assurances, telling civil servants at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, “I mean that from the bottom of my heart.”

Turns out to be either a cold or shallow heart according to the FOE report, which says the chances of achieving such greenery are “vanishingly remote.” The report was written, incidentally, by the former head of Britain’s Sustainable Development Commission, a group that Cameron’s government axed.

“It is clear that the ‘growth at all costs’ lobby has won out over the advocates of sustainable economic development,” says the author, Jonathon Porritt. “The state of the economy has clearly played a big role here; understandably, that has been the overarching priority for the Government. But that’s a bit of a cop-out.”

The report evaluates progress on 78 items across the government’s agenda, spanning several broad themes such as the green economy, climate change and protecting the national environment. It ranks each of the 78 as either “moribund,” “limited progress”, “encouraging progress” or the “birds are singing.”

Of the 78, 29 rated as moribund and 27 as limited progress, marking 72% that are way off course in FOE’s estimation.

According to the report, the government has been “moribund” at enacting plans for transitioning to low carbon energy by securing a low carbon future that would attain 80% cut in greenhouse gas by 2050; at imposing an aviation tax; at establishing marine energy programs; by easing business regulations to encourage growth at the expense of environmental protection; by proposing cut backs in feed-in-tariffs that would deny benefits to installations of over 50 kilowatts; by creating indirect measures to favor the nuclear industry; by cutting public transport subsidies; by attempting to sell of certain forests (since rescinded); by a failure to uphold “fair rail fares” as promised- rail travel in the UK is expensive, as a 120-mile peak hour standard class journey can cost £140 ($230); and in many other categories.

Some of the moribund rankings read more like a critique of the government in general, and less of an evaluation of its green progress. It gave the government a “moribund” grade for raising value added tax to from 17.5% to 20%, faulting the government for not granting a lower rate to environmental products. And the “moribunds” included the government’s closing of libraries.

FOE noted “limited progress” on a green investment bank and at establishing a minimum price for carbon –a shortcoming that bedevils emissions trading.

The report praised the government with “birds are singing” distinction for denying additional runways at various London area airports; for a £860 million ($1.4 billion) program to encourage businesses and consumers to tap alternative heat sources including solar thermal, ground source heat pumps, biomass and waste heat; and for a smart grid plan including the installation of smart meters in 30 million homes and business starting in 2014.

“The 78 individual items pretty much speak for themselves: the bad and the positively ugly indisputably outweigh the good,” Porritt concludes, noting the record is not what one might have expected from a prime minister who “has made public displays of cycling to work.”

I would also suggest that with all the cuts in services now and more to come that the Cameron-Clegg coalition government is going to go even further back on its green promises of the honeymoon period in May 2010.

This can also me seen more than anything by the fact that eight new nuclear power stations are to be built. Rumor has it, in fact, that some of those are built already and this was done rather secretly and are just awaiting the green light to power up.

The “greenest government ever” my backside. They wouldn't know what green is, that way I can see it, bar few MPs, with Zack Goldsmith and Caroline Lucas in the lead. The rest of them have only one interest and that is money and power and the Planet does not count in that equation.

So, why is anyone so surprised that the Cameron-Clegg government is failing to deliver? Only a government of really committed and interested people of all political colors could lead us to a proper green economy and country. Is that going to happen? Hardly unlikely until the people wake up and while they have the TV and Play Stations they are not.

Maybe further rises in fuel costs might make the people rethink things but then again they might just go and riot.

© 2011

Sikhs were guarding a Mosque in Southall

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

London, August 2011: During the recent troubles in various cities and towns across England amazing things were seen. On of those cases is when Sikhs were guarding a Mosque in Southall so Muslims could pray their Taraweeh prayers in peace.

The same things happened in Birmingham where Sikhs went to guard Mosques, their Gudwaras, Hindu Temples. as well as Christian Churches. from rioters and looters.

The riots brought in many places remarkable human bondings about, such as also in Birmingham in the case of the three young men that were murdered trying to protect their neighborhoods when a Sikh went to lead a prayer vigil for them.

Those are the things which make thins country great even though there is racism and xenophobia about in some places. Often, this, however, is due to ignorance and arrogance. We may be different in religion, creed, and race, but we are all human beings.

Whether many of those rioters can be regarded as human beings, though, is something that must be questioned in some cases but, as some people summed it up, a great deal has to do with bad parenting and also and especially with consumerism and the want for instant gratification.

This is something we must reexamine in the strongest way and pronto.

Parents struggle, as someone said, to bring food onto the table and work all hours but it is not just for food and the necessities that they work those long hours leaving their kids alone often. They work to be able to keep up with the Joneses and the pressure to have all the latest things, they and their kids.

Having said about working though, the fact also is that there have been many of the rioters whose parents or parent, for it is often only one there, the mother, have never done a day's work in their life and always lived on the dole, on welfare, demanding more and more from the state.

We are entitled to it, you hear again and again and those cuts, they say, make it difficult and so we have to go out and thieve. Really?

But it was not just kids of the poor families. Amongst the rioters were children of millionaires, and many others that definitely are not of disadvantaged background. Maybe bad parenting is simply the main reason for this for bad parenting also comes in when the child gets all the money thrown at him but gets no guidance in any way.

On the other hand, though, those that rioted were but a minority of young people of this country and even the hooded yobs, per se, of whichever color and creed, are but a minority. It is here a little as with Gypsies and such when all get tarred with the same brush because of a small number being criminals and hooligans.

Everything has to be seen in perspective and while there are a disproportionate number of black youth are in trouble and are causing trouble it is not the system that has created them; it is bad parenting and absent fathers.

As to the Sikhs, here we can see what their Faith can do and how the warriors and guardians of the Hindu faith, basically, took it upon themselves to be the protectors of all faiths in the UK during this time of trouble. The Big Society in absolute action and I just hope that we all take some notice of this.

© 2011

New campaign aims to untap the UK’s free drinking water sources

A campaign to improve the public’s access to free drinking water has been unveiled.

London, August 2011: The ‘Find-a- Fountain’ project, developed by environmental entrepreneur Guy Jeremiah and now part of the 1859 Drinking Fountain Association, aims to record all publicly accessible drinking water fountains across the UK via a specially designed interactive website. Also optimised for smartphones, the service will enable individuals to key in their location to find their nearest free water source or to share the whereabouts of a new site.

The Find-a-Fountain project hopes to start a renaissance in the use of drinking fountains in order to reduce the UK’s reliance on inefficiently produced bottled water, and lessen its negative impact on the environment1. It is hoped that this campaign will also lead to a second phase which will facilitate the installation of new drinking water fountains around the country and the restoration of old fountains which have fallen into disrepair.

Through public records, www.findafountain.org has so far logged over 600 of the nation’s drinking water fountains and is now calling on volunteers to upload details of their own local facilities or free public drinking water sources.

Guy Jeremiah, founder of Find-A-Fountain, said: “This is an ideal opportunity for anyone to play a part in reducing the environmental damage associated with the consumption of bottled water. The average person in the UK buys 85 bottles of water a year and a typical local authority in the UK has to dispose of up to 10 million bottles a year, at a significant cost to tax payers. So, we’re calling on everyone to join us in helping to find fountains and free drinking water sources. It’s a great project for walkers, photographers, students, cubs, brownies, geo-cachers, urban explorers, local historians and anyone who cares about the environment. It’s a small thing to ask with the potential to make a big difference.”

To encourage volunteers to get involved, Aquatina collapsible pocket-water bottles will be given away to the first five hundred people to add a fountain to the website.

The average person in the Europe buys 85 bottles of mineral water a year.

A typical UK local authority disposes of up to 10 million bottles a year at great cost to tax payers. Last year, humans worldwide threw away 5,000 bottles a second - 150 billion bottles a year, enough to circle the world a 1000 times or stretch to the moon and back 50 times.

Go to www.aquatina.com to find out more about the Aquatina Pocket Bottle which is being given away to the first 500 people to add details of a drinking fountain to the Find-a-Fountain website.

The Find-a-Fountain Campaign was founded in 2008 by Aquatina Ltd. In February 2011 the Garfield Foundation donated £15,000 to support the campaign to the Drinking Fountain Association which acquired the domain name and intellectual property rights to Find-a- Fountain. (www.drinkingfountains.org)

The maps on the website also include data provided by tapwater.org, a not-for-profit organisation that shows the location of indoor taps where you can refill your water bottle for free. This currently includes over 1000 restaurants, pubs, cafes and shops across the UK.

For more details about the fountain treasure hunt go to www.findafountain.org.

Source: Aquatina & Find A Fountain

New Study Will Make People Think Twice About How They Discard Food Waste

Processing food scraps at wastewater treatment plants results in less global warming potential than landfills

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

ISE_LOGO_300 RACINE, WI, August 2011: Consider the apple core. From an environmental perspective, what’s the most responsible way to dispose of it, or a banana peel, or any food waste?

A new study about the impact of various food waste disposal systems has shown that putting it into a garbage disposer results in lower global warming potential than putting it in the trash and sending it to a landfill. That’s a key finding of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) commissioned by InSinkErator, a division of Emerson, and the world’s leading manufacturer of food waste disposers.

As set forth in the report, if a community of 30,000 households (the size of Newport Beach, Calif.) switched from sending food scraps to the landfill to using a disposer instead, the reduction in global warming potential would be the equivalent of eliminating nearly 2,100 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This is akin to eliminating about 4.6 million miles of car traffic.

According to the EPA, landfills are a major source of methane, a greenhouse gas at least 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Because food scraps are a significant component of waste that municipalities send to landfills, diverting it for recycling into resources is becoming a major goal of cities worldwide. Enter food waste disposers, which pulverize food scraps and send the resulting slurry to the various wastewater treatment systems evaluated in the LCA.

Many advanced wastewater treatment plants can convert food scraps into renewable energy through a process called anaerobic digestion. At these plants food scraps can also be turned into fertilizer products, also known as biosolids, which can help build healthy soils.

“The LCA confirms a multitude of research and validates that food waste disposers are more than just convenient – I like to think of them as an environmental appliance,” said Tim Ferry, president, InSinkErator. “After people look at the environmental benefits of using disposers instead of landfills, we think they will be compelled to bypass the trash can and put food scraps down the disposer instead.”

LCA Goes Further, Extends Understanding

Unlike studies that review and compare competing products, the LCA assesses the environmental impact of the four primary systems for managing food scraps – wastewater treatment, landfills, incineration and advanced composting. Camp Dresser & McKee (CDM) conducted the initial analysis used by PE INTERNATIONAL, Inc. (formerly PE Americas) to produce the LCA following ISO 14040 standards, including review by an independent panel of experts.

The LCA analyzed several critical environmental impacts: global warming potential (trapping heat that would otherwise pass out of the earth’s atmosphere), eutrophication potential (excessive vegetative growth in bodies of water from high concentrations of nutrients), acidification potential (increase in the acidity of water and soil), smog formation, and the energy demands associated with each system.

The report states that food scraps processed through a wastewater treatment plant with anaerobic digestion and cogeneration (e.g., San Francisco, Milwaukee and many others) can even result in a reduction of global warming potential. It also concludes that processing of food scraps at these advanced wastewater treatment facilities has lower energy demand – less than landfills, incineration and centralized composting.

“In thinking about systems for managing food scraps, wastewater treatment systems are often overlooked despite their surprisingly effective role in turning liquid waste into valuable resources,” said Michael Keleman, senior environmental engineer, InSinkErator. “Composting is good but it isn’t the only option.”

More information about the study and the InSinkErator environmental story is available at www.insinkerator.com/green.

Headquartered in Racine, Wis., InSinkErator, a division of Emerson, is the world’s largest manufacturer of food waste disposers and instant hot water dispensers. For more information about InSinkErator, visit www.insinkerator.com.

Emerson (NYSE: EMR), based in St. Louis, Missouri (USA), is a global leader in bringing technology and engineering together to provide innovative solutions to customers in industrial, commercial, and consumer markets through its network power, process management, industrial automation, climate technologies, and tools and storage businesses. Sales in fiscal 2010 were $21 billion. For more information, visit www.emerson.com.

Let me, personally, put it this way, however, and let me say “they would say that, wouldn't they, because they want to sell their waste disposal units” and I don't think that I would be wrong there.

Disposing of food waste down the drain is not one of the best methods, but it may still be better than sending it to landfill. However, where it really should be going is to a food recycling plant which makes the waste into valuable compost.

In the first instance, however, there should be as little food waste as at all possible though it cannot always be avoided and I know that very well myself. But a reduction is possible by buying responsibly and the supermarkets must come in for criticism here also.

Having most stuff – including fruit and vegetables – washed and pre-packaged in amounts that cannot, for instance, be used up by a single person fast enough for the stuff not to go off, is how they make a contribution to this waste.

As consumers, obviously, we have the choice to go to the greengrocers, as far as fruit and vegetables are concerned, and buy only the amount that we can use in a given time.

Tonnes of food are wasted daily in our shops, restaurants and homes, and in homes we do have the control over this and should ensure – and yes, I am guilty too – to only buy as much as we can use in a given period.

Our parents and grandparents did just that but then there were no big supermarkets around in those days and everything was sold through local stores or on the markets and they did go to the shops on a daily basis to buy the ingredients for the day's or next day's breakfast, lunch and supper, etc. This may be something that we will have to consider again too, I guess, and therefore we must find a way to square that away with working and all that.

© 2011

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