This week's discussion was all about food waste. What is it, what are the consequences, and how can it be avoided? Here's what our student interns answered: When you think of the worlds biggest problem you often think global warming but we should take a step back and analyze the factors of it. One of them being food waste now you may be thinking how does food waste in any way affect global warming well when any organic waste decomposes it releases many gases such as carbon dioxide and methane gas. But that's just one apple right? No because 40% of food that is produced, grown and transported in the U.S. will go to waste and this also affects people in poverty and people who can't get food, 40 million people every day face hunger. All this information may discourage people from helping but there are major ways anyone can help. You can buy less food, try to eat all your food, recycle your food, don't serve large amounts of food and eating imperfect produce witch is food that looks different than it's supposed to. All this can help but more than just one person should be doing this with everyone's help we can stop global warming. - Angel Espiritu, 10th grade Food waste is a big problem. In fact it affects all of us, but before we discuss this major issue let me tell you what it is. Food waste is food that is wasted, lost, or uneaten. Did you know 40% of all grown, processed, and transported food in the U.S. will go to waste. Meanwhile there are over 40 million people that face hunger in the U.S. each day, and that's just in the U.S. One must take into account that this is a very serious topic in today's society considering that 15% of the food that gets wasted each year could feed 25 million people, but instead it is thrown away which actually just makes are problems worse because it affects our environment. 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions are produced by agricultural activities. In fact 21% of all freshwater is used in the service of producing food that will only end up in the trash. In other words stop wasting food if you care about our planet!! Now you probably want to know how to reduce food waste. Well you can start at home. 43% of food waste occurs at home. That is to say people aren't finishing or using all their food. Here are 3 simple steps to reducing food waste in your home. 1.) Don't over serve food when cooking. This is a big reason why food is getting wasted at home. Only serve amounts you know you'll finish, then you can get more if your still hungry. 2.) Don't waste food just because you’re full. Save it for later so you can make a whole new creative dish later on. 3.) Shop smart, next time you go to the grocery store, buy items that you know you need, not items you think you need. In other words don't buy food just to fill your fridge up. Doing these 3 simple steps can help us in reducing food waste. And if you don't want to do any of these steps, you can always donate uneaten food or reuse it for compost. We are very fortunate to have access to food we can eat everyday, so it’s important that we don't waste it because there are people who don't have the same access we do. -Daniel Finis Perez, 10th grade Food waste is the food that is left over from our meals that is thrown away. This is seen as a waste of food because it could’ve been saved for another meal. Food waste also has a big impact on the climate. When the food rots in the heat, it releases chemicals into the atmosphere that add on to the amount of chemicals that are causing shifts in the climate. Food waste also causes others to be hungry. We throw away leftover food that could have been given to someone who needed it. - Marvin Lopez, 10th grade
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Our weekly discussion was on the importance of soil health. Here's what our Berkeley High students had to share: Soil Health, quality soil that sustains plants, animals, and humans. Made up of a combination of minerals such as rocks, water, air, organic matter (plant and animal residue), microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, and a variety of insects and worms. This helps the production of healthy crops that in turn help people and animals. Currently our soil is being damaged by high demands of crop production due to a growing population. Our population is expected to grow to 9 billion by 2050. This means that there will be a higher demand in crop production, which could affect the soils productive capacity and food quality. This could leave us with bad quality food that can impact our health in a negative way. Soil quality is directly linked to food quality, meaning that good quality food can only be produced if our soils are healthy soils. We don't want to end up with bad quality food, so it's important that we make sure are soil is healthy and safe so it can benefit our lives - Daniel Finis Perez, 10th Grade In this community there are many problems such as the ones I’ve talked about but I feel that the one that affects us the most is food deserts. Having to go a long distance for healthy food is something that affects us everyday so I must stress the importance of healthy soil. If everyone had healthy soil in there gardens and farms, then it would help us be more protected from droughts and it would be able to help us during dry seasons because it acts as water storage. There are many ways to improve the health of your soil and this only helps you and your community, some are composting , adding organic material and rotating crops. You may think that plenty of things can harm soil because its looks something that can be harmed easily but we have found out that it is only the following things. The first being how we use the land with the soil like construction and mining. But the most surprising one being farming, the reason this harms soil is because of the harmful nutrients farmers put in the soil to make their crops grow but the nutrients actually harm the micro organisms in the soil and they are necessary for the soil to stay healthy. - Angel Espiritu, 10th grade Soil health is important because it gives the world more healthy and nutritious food. Having healthy soil is a great factor in growing healthy food because it also gives an ecosystem for other plants, animals and humans to survive. The minerals in the soil give the plants nutrients and water to grow and create fruits and vegetables that are healthy to eat. It also gives the roots of a plant something to hold on to so that they can stay grounded and absorb the water in the soil. The soil also gives the plants a water reservoir, giving them a backup water supply to move the nutrients through their stems and leaves. - Marvin Lopez |