World Food Day

Watching the Waterglass

Monday the 16th of October marks 2023’s World Food Day – an initiative started to commemorate the date the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation was founded to fight hunger and inequality worldwide. Today, it’s an opportunity for all of us to carefully consider our food usage and wastage, and 2023’s theme of Water is life, water is food is especially pertinent as systemic droughts force us to consider our agricultural and procurement practices. 

Why are we worried about water? 

Although we commonly leap to food as a necessary component of life, there’s no underestimating the extreme importance that water holds in this equation. Water might make up approximately seventy percent of the earth’s surface by volume, but there’s no avoiding that it’s one hundred percent of the reason life on Earth is sustainable. 

Unfortunately, this vital resource isn’t an unlimited one. A combination of exponential population growth, rapid urbanisation, economic growth, and climatic degradation have seen fresh water resources decline an estimated 20% per person in the world. As a result of poor management, groundwater over extraction, pollution, and climate change an estimated 10% of the global population are left living in a critically water-stressed state. 

Now more than ever, it’s important for both businesses and individuals to do what they can to reduce water wastage. Here at Cater Care, we’re always working to improve our sustainability practices, and the fight to reduce wasted water is just the next step on the road.

How can you help make a difference?

While it might seem at first glance like it’s impossible to make a difference in the face of such a major difference, this thankfully isn’t the case. Here at Cater Care, we place an emphasis on using recycled water wherever possible to lower our overall usage, and take steps to prepare our food with water-efficient preparation methods wherever possible.

By stopping taking our water supply for granted, everyone from individuals to business owners can help use water more efficiently while reducing wastage and pollution. Consider taking a few of these simple steps moving forwards: 

• Start following a water friendly diet. In-season fruits and vegetables typically require far less energy and water to produce, and including foods that need less water to farm such as nuts and millets can help the planet while breaking up the meat and three veg.
• Where you might normally reach for a soft drink or a juice, consider reaching for an infused water. Water infusions consume considerably less water to create and prepare than other kinds of drinks – and are healthier for you too! 
• Work on reducing food waste. Food and water usage are directly linked, and as growing food is a large water investment, food wastage represents a further loss of valuable water. 
• Learn to love recycled water. Even if it’s not always appropriate for drinking, recycled water has a myriad of uses, from washing and cleaning to operating showers and toilets. 
• It takes a lot of water to produce energy, and saving one will help save the other. Use energy-efficient appliances where possible, turn off lights when you’re not in the room, and shut off devices that aren’t actively in use. 
• Conserve your overall water usage by taking shorter showers, keeping your plumbing in good repair, collecting rainwater, or reusing unsalted water to boil foods. Not only will this save water and energy – it’s more than likely to help you save a few dollars. 

Conclusion

Tackling the world’s growing water supply issues might seem like a daunting problem, but it’s by no means an insurmountable one. By working together, we can make a lot of small changes that can add up to a big impact. These small but impactful changes can be made in all areas of our lives, and they don’t need to be dramatic ones – next time you’re setting the table for a social gathering, consider serving up one of our fresh fruit water infusions rather than reaching for a bottle of your favourite soft drink.

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¹ USGS. 2019. “How Much Water Is There on Earth? | U.S. Geological Survey.” Www.usgs.gov. United States Geological Survey . November 13, 2019. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/how-much-water-there-earth.

² Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. n.d. “World Food Day 2023.” Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Accessed October 5, 2023. https://www.fao.org/world-food-day/en.