Earth Keepers from St. Peter’s, St. Luke’s, and St. Alban’s Episcopal churches collaborated to invite Susanne Lee to give a presentation on food waste in the U.S. at St. Luke’s Cathedral on September 22, 2024. Susanne is a faculty fellow with the Senator George Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions. She educates individuals and works with institutions such as retail stores, care facilities and manufacturers. Her presentation was eye-opening.
She began by explaining that our faith instructs us to take care of our earth. She gave us some dismaying statistics. 40% of food purchased by US households (including Maine) ends up thrown in the trash. Food waste is a huge greenhouse gas emitter. Perils of industrial food waste also include methane gas production and water and soil contamination.
Household food waste can be reduced by first tracking how much food your household wastes so that you can buy more appropriate amounts. If you still have excess food, in order of importance feed others, feed animals, then compost or convert to fuel.
We plan to work with Susanne for more presentations in the future and include more parishes.