Responsible Consumption and Production

Responsible Consumption and Production Global Goal 12

The developed world lives with a disposable mindset, which leads to taking resources for granted. When resources appear plentiful, they are more prone to be wasted.

Need light? Flip a switch.

Need water? Just turn on the tap.

Hungry? Grab something from the fridge or pantry.

Did you know that over 70% of the energy produced globally, ends up dissipating as waste heat?

Waste heat is a byproduct of doing work. Engines, machines, and even chemical reactions generate waste heat.

Waste heat only accounts for about 1% of climate change, but it is still waste. What if we could harness it? It's not a new idea.

When you turn on the heat in your car, it uses waste heat from the engine to warm the air.

Data centers generate a lot of heat. Many companies with large data centers, like Facebook, are working on heat recycling to heat nearby homes, cutting down on the need for fossil fuels.

In the developed world, water appears to be an infinite resource, which leads to waste that has global consequences.

Agriculture uses around 70% of the available freshwater on earth.

Most farms rely on flood irrigation. Fields are saturated with water, and the excess runs into nearby streams and rivers. This wastes a significant amount of water and often leads to pollution.

Farmers can conserve water by using drip irrigation or sprinklers that are more targeted, creating less waste.

Crop choice also creates a big impact on the state of water in agriculture. It will be important for farmers to grow crops that are well suited for their climate, reducing the need for water.

Can you believe that over 1/3 of all food produced globally goes to waste? That's about 1.3 billion tons of food per year at a cost of around $1 trillion!

Every hungry person in the world could be fed on less than 25% of the food wasted in the US and Europe.

One-quarter of the world's fresh water supply is used to grow food that is never eaten. Wasted food is wasted money, labor, and resources.

An area larger than China is used to grow food that will never be eaten. Wasting food increases greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to climate change.

What can you do?

Turning off lights when you leave a room, electronics when you aren't using them, and being mindful of your thermostat setting can go a long way to helping to conserve energy.

You can protect water resources by turning off the tap when you brush your teeth, take shorter showers, and repairing leaky faucets and toilets.

Being mindful about over-shopping, using leftovers, donating surplus, and composting are easy ways families can help cut down on food waste.

Waste not, want not. Using resources responsibly means that they last longer. Getting involve by reducing, reusing, and recycling can go a long way to ensuring a brighter tomorrow.

What's Next?

Learn more about Global Goal 12: Responsible Consumption, and Production.

Appreciate

Credits:

Created with images by Denys Nevozhai - "Times Square is definitely one of the best places on earth for night street photography. I had a chance to shoot several pics while my girls went to Disney shop for another Barbie." • Patrick Tomasso - "Bright Ideas" • Kazuky Akayashi - "untitled image" • Peter Lewicki - "red white breakfast" • Tim Mossholder - "Clean" • Patrick Hendry - "Took a walk on lunch break to create a collection of industry and “gas punk” type photos. " • Yuvraj Singh - "untitled image" • imgix - "Data Servers" • Jake Gard - "Field in sunrise" • Nicole Geri - "Long sprinkler in the field" • Kai Pilger - "untitled image" • Dan Gold - "w/ Platterz" • Joshua Hoehne - "Apple Family" • Harits Mustya Pratama - "untitled image" • Dan LeFebvre - "untitled image" • Sasikan Ulevik - "untitled image" • Markus Spiske - "untitled image"