In May of 2008, Obama said to a crowd in Oregon that:
“We can’t drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times, whether we’re living in the desert or we’re living in the tundra…”
In an effort to make President Obama’s statement come true, earlier this month the EPA and the USDA joined forces in order to push a Voluntary program to help reduce what they called ‘food waste’. An email sent to their subscribers mentioned a new program titled the U.S. Food Waste Challenge. The Government email then goes on to state that this challenge will help companies adopt more ‘sustainable’ practices since food waste adds to ‘Green House Gases’ which contribute to ‘Climate Change’ :
EPA and USDA Join Together To Help Americans Reduce Wasted Food
Release Date: 06/04/2013
Contact Information: Enesta Jones (EPA), lp more Americans do their part to reduce food waste.“Food waste is the single largest type of waste enjones.enesta@epa.govWASHINGTON – Today EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe joined U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to announce the launch of a challenge that asks farmers, processors, manufacturers, retailers, communities and government agencies to reduce wasted food. The U.S. Food Waste Challenge builds upon the success of EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge to hetering our landfills — Americans throw away up to 40 percent of their food. Addressing this issue helps to combat hunger and save money, while also combating climate change. Food waste in landfills decomposes to create potent greenhouse gases and by reducing this waste we can in turn reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe. “I’m proud that EPA is joining with USDA today to announce the U.S. Food Waste Challenge. With the help of partners across the country, we can ensure that our nation’s food goes to our families and those in need – not the landfill.”
“The United States enjoys the most productive and abundant food supply on earth, but too much of this food goes to waste,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Not only could this food be going to folks who need it – we also have an opportunity to reduce the amount of food that ends up in America’s landfills. By joining together with EPA and businesses from around the country, we have an opportunity to better educate folks about the problem of food waste and begin to address this problem across the nation.”
Americans send more food to landfills and incinerators than any other single municipal solid waste (MSW) – 35 million tons– even more than paper and plastic. When wasted food is sent to landfills, it decomposes and becomes a source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. In addition, the production and transportation of food has a number of environmental impacts; by reducing wasted food our society helps conserve energy and reduces environmental impacts.
In 2010, EPA began challenging organizations along the food lifecycle to adopt more sustainable practices through its National Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) program’s Food Recovery Challenge (FRC). EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge provides direct technical assistance, a tracking system, and recognition to help support and motivate organizations to reduce their food waste. Through the simple act of measuring food that is wasted, organizations can immediately identify simple changes that lead to big reductions. More than 200 organizations are now participating in the Food Recovery Challenge.
As the email stated, while the joining of the EPA and the USDA to push this program is new, the concept itself has been around since 2010 as the National Sustainable Materials Management Program (SMM). According to the EPA’s SMM website, this program is not only about tracking food through its ‘life cycle’, but about making sure that the food is used in the ‘most productive and most sustainable way’:
EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management Program
Rethink. Think Beyond Waste doesn’t just mean making good decisions about the end of a product’s life cycle (recycling, composting, energy recovery, and landfilling). It refers to sustainable materials management – the use and reuse of materials in the most productive and sustainable way across their entire life cycle.
One of the ‘Resources’ that is listed on the SMM / Food Waste Challenge website is described as a ‘Food Waste Log‘. The Food Waste Log tells participants to keep a log of all the food which is thrown away listing what it is, why it is being thrown away and even its weight. It even suggests that trash in general should either be monitored using a log book or tracked using an automated system. (You catch that one? Automated tracking???)
So what’s the big deal you ask? This is not the first time we have seen the Obama administration push ridiculous ideas to fight fictitious Climate Change, besides it’s voluntary, why should we be worried about it?
Because I have definite proof that this won’t be voluntary forever, it will eventually become a requirement for all Americans.
How do I know you ask?
That’s easy, because it’s already apart of the Smart Grid.
In 2011 I discovered how the Obama administration was working through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in cooperation with the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) in order to create international standards for the Smart Grid utilizing Priority Action Plans (PAP).
The type of information that would be collected through the Smart Grid was released in a document called PAP-10 NAESB Energy Usage Information Model. Some of the things that the Smart Grid will track is listed below in a screen shot from the PAP-10 document. Read the highlighted word:
Refuse also known as Trash.
In August of 2011, PAP-10, as it was written above, was officially adopted by the NIST as one of the first 6 standards for the Smart Grid. Which means that eventually the Smart Grid will have the ability to track your garbage from creation to the trash.
And since the Smart Grid is all about sustainability, it is not a stretch of the imagination to say that a program like SMM will be forced upon all of us in order to guarantee our food is being used in the ‘most productive and sustainable way’.
Makes you lose your appetite… doesn’t it?
