PPHEAD'S 夢不落格

回想起有一次跟a wing吵架，是住在一起準備托福的暑假，她煮了好吃的咖哩，我開心的盛了一大碗但是最後吃不完要倒掉，阿Wing很生氣的罵我說，下次吃多少就盛多少！這不是我第一次浪費食物了，她只是當下爆發我想她看不慣已經很久，於是從那時開始，我才注意到她是一個很節制的人，吃不完的東西也會盡量想辦法解決。 但是之後我還是沒有改掉習慣，尤其是到英國之後，往往不是因為到超市買大量食物比較便宜或是在傳統市場買一堆水果，因為傳統市場通常是一缽一磅，每次都吃不完就壞掉了，加上我住了好幾個月才知道放水果旁邊那暖爐其實都有在運作以致於水果很快毀壞，或者是根本忘記有買過的東西以致於在還沒吃完前就又買新的，我覺得我浪費食物已經到一種天理不容的地步。 在彷彿全世界都在討論全球暖化議題，現在設計課不乏充斥提倡Green design，以及我自己的研究計畫也是跟綠設計相關，這陣子接觸到相關資訊才知道，原來食物本身已經是世界前幾大的污染了。上次看到wife swap節目裡那對撿垃圾吃的夫婦，現在想想其實應該不誇張，我相信隨便去翻垃圾桶應該有還可以吃的食物，根據我相信有很多人跟我一樣。 感謝阿Wing當初罵我，果然是忠言逆耳。 以下是食物污染相關報導，大家參考看看嚕！ Waste Pollution and the Environment (1) The USDA reports that animals in the US meat industry produce 61 million tons of waste each year, which is 130 times the volume of human waste - or 1/5 a ton for every US citizen. (2) North Carolina’s 7,000,000 factory-raised hogs create four times as much waste - stored in reeking, open cesspools - as the state’s 6.5 million people. The Delmarva Peninsula’s 600 million chickens produce 400,000 tons of manure a year. (3) According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hog, chicken and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states. (4) Pfiesteria, a microscopic organism that feeds off the phosphorus and nitrogen found in manure, is a lethal toxin harmful to both humans and fish. In 1991 alone, 1,000,000,000 (one billion) fish were killed by pfiesteria in the Neuse River in North Carolina. (5) Since 1995, an additional one billion fish have been killed from manure runoff in estuaries and coastal areas in North Carolina, and the Maryland and Virginia tributaries leading into the Chesapeake Bay. These deaths can be directly related to the 10 million hogs currently being raised in North Carolina and the 620 million chickens on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. (6) The pollution from animal waste causes respiratory problems, skin infections, nausea, depression and even death for people who live near factory farms. Livestock waste has been linked to six miscarriages in women living near a hog factory in Indiana. (7) In Virginia, state guidelines indicate that a safe level of fecal coliform bacteria is 200 colonies per 100 milliliters of water. In 1997, some streams had levels as high as 424,000 colonies per 100 milliliters. Sources: (1) Horrigan, Leo, Lawrence, Robert S., Walker, Polly, “How Sustainable Agriculture Can Address the Environmental and Human Health Harms of Industrial Agriculture,” Johns Hopkins University’s Center for a Livable Future, July 9, 1999 (2) Chris Bedford, “How Our food is Produced Matters!”, AWI Quarterly, Summer 1999 (4) Zakin, Susan. “Nonpoint Pollution: The Quiet Killer,” Field & Stream, August 1999, p.86 (5) Environmental Protection Agency, 1998 (6) Centers for Disease Control, Mortality Weekly Report, July 5, 1996 (7) Washington Post, June 1, 1997 Facts and data provided by GRACE (Global Resource Action Center for the Environment), www.gracelinks.org. For more information on factory farming and its impacts, visit the GRACE Factory Farm Project at www.factoryfarm.org.