“There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore be openhanded”
According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), 1 billion meals of food are discarded every day at a time when 800 million people of the world are in hunger. The United Nations Environment Program said in its Food Waste Index Report on the 27th (local time) that more than $1 trillion (1,350 trillion won) worth of food has been dumped around the world according to 2022 statistics.
This is more than 1 billion tons of food, which will make 1 billion meals every day, the UN Environment Program explained. With more than 800 million people struggling with food shortages, food that can provide them with more than one meal per day is wasted.
The report pointed out, “The number of 1 billion meals thrown away every day is a very conservative estimate, and the actual amount of waste may be higher.” Households accounted for the largest portion of food waste at 60%, followed by 28% for service establishments such as hotels and restaurants, and 12% for retailers such as butcher and grocery stores.
The report explained, “Buying more food than necessary at home causes a waste of food, and in developing countries, food is sometimes disposed of as it goes bad due to lack of refrigeration facilities or damage during transportation.” The report pointed out that food waste has a serious impact on greenhouse gas emissions.
“The creation of agricultural land is a major cause of habitat loss in the natural ecosystem, and food waste is equivalent to maintaining 30% of the world’s agricultural land,” the report said. “Food waste accounts for up to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions.” (Source: Yonhap News Agency)
If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land. (Deuteronomy 15:7, 11)
God, I repent of our shameful greed and sin at the news that when people are suffering from hunger in some places, a large amount of food is being discarded in other places. Help us shine the gospel of the cross on our sinful nature that causes the neighbours and everything around us to suffer through greed and sin so that we are restored to true life obey the word and be openhanded to each other in the name of the Lord. Thus, let food and resources together with the gospel of life be delivered to the poor and in need so that the kingdom of God be restored, and people live together in the land.
Prayer 24·365
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