Food waste happens throughout the production, transportation, and use processes.  Per a recent article by CNN, “The world wasted 1.05 billion metric tons of food in 2022, meaning about a fifth of the food available to people was squandered by households, restaurants and other parts of the food service and retail sectors. This is on top of the 13% of the world’s food lost as it makes its journey from farm to fork.”  The BBC article below states that “In the UK, about 60% of all food waste comes from homes, and in the US, 40-50% does. The statistics are similar in Japan.”  A significant amount of food waste is associated with your refrigerator.  Things get lost in the back or you buy too much at a time.  The BBC article discusses several ideas for managing the food in your refrigerator to reduce the amount of food that is wasted.  Many of these ideas are applicable to your pantry or kitchen cupboards, too.  In addition to organizing your refrigerator and planning your shopping trips, learn the difference between “best by” and “use by” dates on food items (see the explanation in the BBC article). 

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240715-the-simple-japanese-method-for-a-tidier-and-less-wasteful-fridge

It is always interesting to talk to others about climate change.  Some deny it; some agree the climate is changing but don’t believe it’s caused by humans; some believe in human-caused climate change but don’t believe that individuals can do anything about it; and some passionately want to do everything they can to combat any and all potential causes of climate change.  In most cases, arguing with someone only causes them to dig deeper into their beliefs.  So, how can we best talk to others about climate change and possible solutions?  Here are a few ideas.  The article below features climate scientists talking about how they talk to others about climate change and has some good information. 

• Gentle, short discussions are almost always much more effective than long impassioned rants. 
• If you are talking with someone who wants to help but thinks the problem is too big, have a few suggestions ready and make it clear that baby steps are a good place to start.  Remind them that baby steps add up. 
• Lead by example.  If others see you implementing personal sustainability activities, they may follow.  A TED talk I posted several months ago stated that once a few people in a neighborhood get solar systems, within a short time, many other homes will follow. 
• Make it easier for others to participate.  Volunteer to implement programs or changes in your workplace, school, or neighborhood.  
• If you know the person you are speaking with, think about their perspective and what explanations might be meaningful to them. 

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-to-talk-to-people-about-climate-change

Here’s a good article that not only talks about the environmental impacts of bottled water, but also talks about how to know about potential contaminants in your tap water and how to choose a filter to remove specific contaminants.  Bottled water is necessary or appropriate sometimes but is not always better or healthier than your tap water.  Some bottled water is simply municipal tap water in a bottle.  In this case, you’re getting the same water but with the added environmental impact of a plastic bottle and transportation of the bottled water to your location.   A reusable water bottle and a home filter might provide better water for less money and environmental impact.  And please recycle the bottles if you do use bottled water. 

https://greenamerica.org/drinking-water-risk/bottled-water-vs-tap-which-best
 

We’re hearing a lot about the promise and perils of AI, but not much about the environmental impact of AI.  Here too, the potential impacts are mixed.  AI can be used to optimize systems and operations, reducing emissions and use of resources, providing a positive impact.  Scientists may be able to use the power of AI to develop solutions to some of the earth’s environmental problems.  Conversely, AI may provide industries with improvements that allow more use of the earth’s resources.  And of course, the large computing systems used for the larger AI models use significant energy and water resources (for cooling).  Per a recent article at Nature.com, “The direct impacts of AI on climate so far are relatively small. AI operations for large models require millions of specialized processors in dedicated data centres with powerful cooling systems. AI processors installed in 2023 consume 7–11 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity annually, which is about 0.04% of global electricity use. That is less than for cryptocurrency mining (100–150 TWh) and conventional data centres plus data-transmission networks (500–700 TWh), which together accounted for 2.4–3.3% of global electricity demand in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).”  However, AI is in its infancy and its use (and therefore use of energy, water, and computing hardware) is expected to increase rapidly.  What does this mean for our daily lives?  For now, unless your job or education requires you to use AI applications, use the AI applications when appropriate, but recognize that even a simple AI query uses energy and make conscious choices whether to use that resource. 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ais-climate-impact-goes-beyond-its-emissions/