I am in a postion of struggle these days. I find myself coming upon moments of issues that seem to me to be a true cause worthiness, however, I am one person, and I don't have the time, energy, or monetary support to follow through on every strong sense of civic duty or human outreach to solve these issues.
I would like to think that everyone has these moments in life, and sometimes writing a letter to your local official or newspaper can help move society or local organizations towards action or change. I'd like to think that this website will one day be one of those sources of community engagement that pushes people into action, one step at time though, that is the common phrase of belief right?
Let me get to the point, my specific cause came to me Sunday night at the grocery store. I talked with the cashier about the sudden disappearance of pumkins and other October goods I had still seen just last week. He told me that all those products were seasonal and were now gone. We talked about pumpkins and he said that many of them were written off and thrown out. He went on to tell me that the deli has similar occurances all the time, they have unused portions of deli products and for all intense purposes are still good to use, but they write them off and throw them out, how wasteful!
Waste, that is what I have been noticing in small amounts, but as a greater society, we watch show after show about recycling and companies that are more and more green, and what about the cooking network that opened up about wasted food that could be cooked and used. (February 2012 Waste & Recycling News ) I am not sure how local communities can change grocery store policy and waste habits, but it seems to me that something needs to be done. There are homeless communities in all parts of the United States and food shelters do their best to stock up, but year in and year out they still call up local news stations and radio shows for support and food drives.
What if the gap between grocery store waste and shelters that need food could be closed?
What if jobs could be created to remedy waste from happening?
What if FDA food limits could be pushed to the very edges so that hungry people could eat and survive one more day?
Isn't that worth a cause?
Isn't that worth the time and energy of people and resources to make happen?
I am happy to stir up conversation, encourage comments, support communication in multiple media outletts, and research networking avenues to get people together.
If you have answers or conversation on the topic, please write back.
There are many causes every day that go by because in the moment, you are one person, what can you do, right? I hope to change that feeling of hopelessness. There has to be a better way. When I talk with people, they know, they see, they have similar hopes. Mine is to turn thought into action in many ways, for many people, and many issues or projects to be taken up. There has to be a better way...
-The Establishment