This Version Of Ed Sheeran's Shape of You Will Make You Think Twice About Wasting Food
There are many ways to become acquainted with the problems of food waste and its environmental impact, but possibly our favourite is through pop music.
Food waste is a huge problem in India. Did you know that India wastes 67 million tonnes of food annually? That's enough to feed the population of Bihar, one of the country's biggest states, for one whole year!
And that's not all, the amount of food wasted is closely linked to India's malnutrition deaths because 40 percent of the food produced in the country is wasted even before it reaches customers.
Food waste is also a major contributor to climate change as it sits in landfills and rots, sending out methane into the atmosphere. Besides, think of all the energy losses food waste represents - from the energy needed to grow the crop to the fuel spent in transporting it to you that's a massive waste of energy!
If that's too much data and too much grim news on a Friday, here's Ed Sheeran making the problem of food waste easier on the ears. Countless versions of the song have broken the internet but this one by social action platform, Global Citizen, might just be the coolest yet because of its pertinent message. The track is just as catchy and addictive as the original but with far more meaningful lyrics, making it the kind of song you can sing in public without fear of judgment.
Here's a sample of its lyrics:
Now I’m singing like
Girl, did you know how much
food in the world gets wasted? 1 point 3
Billion tons of food from stores restaurants,
homes, and companies?
boy, boy, you talk too much
1 in 9 people on on earth go hungry
You should take a doggy bag please
You should take a doggy bag please.
The video features a guy forsaking the club for a better place to save the planet - a restaurant where he spies his love interest emptying her half-eaten burger into the trash. He turns what could have been a deal-breaker into an opportunity to fill her in on the serious issue of food waste. The song addresses simple and practical ways in which individual and household food waste (and consequently, environmental footprint and food costs) can be minimised:
- Only take as much as you know you can eat
- Request a doggy bag at restaurants
- Buy the misshapen fruits and vegetables
- Don't take all expiration dates seriously
- Maintain optimum refrigerator temperature to slow down spoilage.
Watch the video and sign Global Citizen's petition here.
Featured image: Screengrab (source)
