World Clocks

Okay, we all know we need to reduce waste and act environmental friendlier. We should separate our garbage, not throw food, especially leftovers, away easily, and buy organic groceries. I have been taught to do so since kindergarten and I, more or less strictly, focus on fulfilling these tasks. But when I stumbled across the World Food Clock it really hit me. I take the world for granted - the environment, the food I am able to consum, being able to flush drinkable water down the toilet, drive a car or use a bus, travel and so on. Basically, everthing I ever saw or consumed. When I looked at these numbers on the screen, I got really angry. Humans believe to possess this world. They buy land and claim to own it, reform it, and abuse it to serve their needs. What egoists! (including me). I get it, yes, we need food, it has to be produced somewhere, the world's population is raising - but do we really need mass production or genetically modified crops and seeds, which harm our agricultural fields and contaminate water. Why do field workers have to die because of pesticides so that our fruits and vegetables in the stores are fresh longer and look like as if they are made of plastic. Why do we buy imported products when our farmers struggle to sell their products? Ok, I know I don't have an answer and I assume you probably don't have one either but it really aggrevates me. There has to be a balance between give and take. We can't just overfish our sea and then dispose our trash there. It doesn't work like that. Nature has been on this plant first and we just come and ruin this planet. But we all know, nature seeks revenge and will win, provided that we don't destroy ourselves with nuclear bombes first. The hurricans, earthquakes and storms are just little warnings. Alright, let's calm down a little. 
See for yourself and take a look at the World Food Clock.
 
 






 




I'm normally very sceptical with statistics and numbers and rarely trust them. You know, how easily they can be faked or manipulated.
This one, however, is provided with reliable sources. 

The World Food Clock itself is a great interactive infographic. It draws from four different reports — State of Food Insecurity in the World and Food Wastage Footprint by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Global Food Report from the Institution for Mechanical Engineers, and the Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme — and breaks down the numbers and statistics to give a second-by-second look at exactly how food much we produce, consume and even waste.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekquinox/world-food-clock-reveals-vulnerability-warming-climate-000204541.html

There are 'island' of plastic swimming in the sea. Smaller islands are about the size of Texas. 

 

 Amazing, considering the average age a human being lives, isn't it?
For full size see here

Got interested in these clocks? Well, me too. Want to know how many divorces there are in the US right now? How many cereal, vegetable or fruits there are produced in this very second? How many new babys are born today?

This is the fantastic World Clock:
World Clock by Poodwaddle.com

Last but definitely not least:

The hunger clock
 
I won't give you a whole lecture on how unfair it is that people even have to suffer from hunger when there is an systematic overproduction of food. I know, you know it. My favorite ones are those obese ones who complain at a store when their favorite cookies are out of stock. I mean, really?
Ok now, I always tend to be to general. So, let me ask you (and me) some questions:
How much money did you spend on food for your pet this year and how much money did you donate to children suffer from hunger? Do you support any global food aid programs or any food charity in your area? Maybe if everybody did, these numbers wouldn't be so terrible.

To be clear, this is not about first world problems like dieting, anorexia, to fulfilll the female ideal of beauty, dieting pills, the I-need-to-get-a-bikini-figure hype, the what-should-I-cook-today problem; this is about people dying from hunger.


I put the image here because I know some readers don't like to (and won't) open links.
Those numbers are not accurate, so I really suggest you have a look at the actual clock.

World Hunger
7,234,043,262	current total world population
891,105,111	undernourished people in the world right now
1,591,398,425	overweight people in the world right now
530,466,142	obese people in the world right now
22,120	people who died of hunger today
4,218,173	people who died of hunger this year
Economics
$ 344,213,949	money spent due to obesity related diseases in the USA today
$  85,055,404	spending on food purchased and then tossed by US households today
$ 3,954,905	spending on global food aid today
$ 25,713,119	amount that would allow to feed the hungry today
$ 136,737,401	spending on weight-loss programs and products in the USA today
$ 1,185,224	food aid budget spent on domestic processing and shipping today
$ 692,420	revenue for four large US agribusiness corporations derived from food aid programs today
$ 33,629,166	spending on pet food in Europe and USA today
Food
94,943	tons of food wasted in America today
19,781	tons of global food aid provided today
80%	percentage of harvested corn, grains, and soy beans fed to animals in Europe and North America
78%	percentage of malnourished children who live in countries with food surpluses
90%	percentage of hungriest nations on earth that are net exporters of food to rich nations (36 out of 40)

If some of my readers actually look at the clocks or think about this for second, this is all I want to achieve with this post; raise awareness.
Thank you,
Julia