The United Nations released a study Wednesday with the astounding and sad fact that 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted each year. That amounts to nearly 1/3 of all the food produced for consumption in the world. This has led to increased food insecurity, which means higher prices for food across the board. Wasted food also directly combats efforts to eradicate hunger in the world’s poorest nations.

The report also details the difference between food loss and food waste. Loss refers to inefficiencies in food production and processing. Food waste, on the other hand, is much worse and refers to when retailers and consumers simply throw away edible food. Developed nations waste around a quarter of a billion tons of food every year.

“Much of the blame is on retailers in rich nations that throw out food simply because it looks unappealing, and the food industry’s ‘all-you-can-eat’ marketing tactics, which encourage consumers to buy more than they need.” (source)

Here are just a few tips to reduce your own food waste:

• Eat up all your leftovers! It’s easy to forget about them when they sit in the fridge. Also, make sure to take leftovers home with you from restaurants. It may not look like much on those huge plates, but it usually goes further than you would think.

• Grocery shopping: make a list and don’t shop when you’re hungry. Make sure you stick to your list, and you won’t get tempted by all the sales trying to lure you in.

• Rotate foods in cupboards and fridges. How many times have you found moldy food in the back of your refrigerator? When you get home with new groceries, put them in the back and bring the old stuff forward.

• Start composting! Throw out a lot of fruits and veggies? Start a pile in your back yard and turn it into soil!

• Portion control — one of the most important tips here! You will generally eat the food that is front of you, and you generally don’t need as much as you think. Try putting just a little less food on your plate, and see the difference it makes!

• Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation – Type 1 diabetes is destructive both to children and to childhood. Controlling the disease requires 24/7/365 vigilance and imposes a grueling regimen. It includes eating a carefully calculated diet, checking blood glucose levels several times each day (by lancing a finger) and insulin injections—as many as six per day—or delivery of insulin through a pump just to stay alive. It means children and families living by the clock, day and night, for the rest of their lives—lives that turn out to average about 15 years less than normal.
• Japan Disaster Relief – As of this writing, more than 100,000 people are homeless and living in shelters as a direct result of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami and nuclear plant failure. We had nearly 200 customers in the areas hardest hit, and we do not know whether they survived, so this tragedy really hit home for us. As a result, we immediately sent over 500 pounds of soaps to our japanese friends who lost their homes or had to be evacuated. Since our resources are limited and we cannot provide for enough people, we decided to run a BUY ONE – GIVE ONE campaign in Japan. This way, the people who were less affected can buy from us and support their less fortunate countrymen in the process. For every bar of soap sold in Japan in 2011, Maui Tropical Soaps will donate one bar of soap to a disaster survivor.
• People Who Serve People- We should never forget the people who take care of us. In 2011, Maui Tropical Soaps is committed to supporting our firefighters and our troops stationed in harms way.We have been giving away lots of free stuff to our customers as a little extra thank you. For 2011 we will be sending your regular gift to a person who puts their life on the line to protect us. We sincerely thank you for supporting this program. Please know that your gift will make someone special very happy, and we will post their thank you letters and videos which will surely warm your heart.

Make your own decorative soap balls

Today we have a fun little project for you that will add beauty and fragrance to your home! From eHow.com comes this quick and easy step-by-step process for making balls of soap to place in a bowl or elsewhere as a unique decorative feature. They also make a great gift!

1. Choose your favorite soap that comes as a bar. You can use any fragrance, color, or brand of bar soap to make homemade soap balls.
2. Grate your bar of soap, or multiple bars of soap. You can use any standard cheese grater. Grate as much soap as you want to make into soap balls into a large bowl.
3. Wet your hands with water and scoop up a handful of grated soap. Firmly press the soap shavings together.
4. Wet your hands again and add more grated soap to the soap ball you are forming. Continue adding shavings to your soap ball until it is the size that you prefer. You can make multiple small soap balls or one large one per bar of soap.
5. As you make soap balls you may need to adjust how much water you add to the shavings. If the grated soap will not stick together, add more water. If it is beginning to lather up and become very mushy, use less water. If your soap ball is too wet, you can let it dry out before adding more shavings, or re-grate it and start over.

Try grating multiple bars of soap that are different colors or fragrances, and combining the shavings together to form new scents and interesting color combinations. And the most important part: have fun!

(source)

How will you celebrate Earth Day 2011?

Everything from energy-efficient lighting, giving to “green” causes, starting compost piles and vegetable gardens, etc.

Another great option is to try out organic and handmade soaps for the first time. At Maui Tropical Soaps, we are in full control of every single bar of soap from start to finish. You have our promise that we never put in harmful ingredients, and we go as natural as we possibly can while keeping our product soap. With many “green” products, you simply cannot get it to be 100% natural – it will lose the qualities that make it soap. What we can guarantee is that the synthetics we DO use are completely safe and effective.

Many of the larger companies use detergents and often lie in ingredients lists. When you go local and handmade with your soap needs, you know exactly what you are getting. There a ton of things you can do to celebrate Earth Day. Switching to organic skin care products is a small way to do your part. If you’ve never tried them before, buy a bar or two to try it out, and come back later if you find you really enjoy it!

Should you choose to go with handmade soaps, give Maui a try! We are having a special deal that gets you a free 8-bar gift set whenever you buy $50 worth of product at our online store.

Thanks so much, and have a great Earth Day 2011!

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Hi, Richard-san. I am really glad that you call us FRIEND.
I have never had a friend in U.S. You are my first friend in U.S!
Domo Arigato! You make me proud.
~ Aki from Hokkaido Japan

I really love your soap. I have been using them for 10 years now.
I know people heal by your soap. Soap is a very important item in daily life!
I recommend your soap and your company to all of my friends.
~ Mika from Japan

Wow, you give us a lot! I cannot believe you, living outside of Japan and not Japanese, helping us!! That is a very big thing, Richard-san!
I say thank you from a bottom of my heart.
~ Masako from Tokyo Japan

When you need our help, we help YOU!
Thanks a lot!
~ Kazuhiro from Chiba Japan

I hope you realize that by yourself that YOU ARE DOING A GREAT THING!
Do you need anything from Japan?? Maybe I can send you!
~ Yuriko from Osaka Japan

Domo Arigato, Richard-san! We are feeling your kindness.
You are my friend too!
~Terumi from Kyoto Japan

We are happy and eager to announce a new special, starting right now! From now until around the end of May we will give you an 8-Bar Gift Set of Maui Soaps (valued at $23) with any other purchase totaling $50 or more! (Note: purchase amount before shipping). You can’t beat that deal!

One thing to note: Our online store is not everything that we want it to be, and will not show the deal. We promise, however, that you will get the gift set when we ship your order.

The 8-Bar Gift Set is one of our most popular items and is known to be a popular choice of Bed & Breakfast joints. It contains an assortment our 8 popular fragrances and comes wrapped in a nice organza bag.

Love Maui Tropical Soaps? Spread the word on our new deal!

What are you waiting for?! Head on over to www.MauiTropicalSoaps.com and get your today!

Our 8-Bar Gift Set -- You'll get this free!

Words of Hope for Japan is a campaign to send an encouraging letter to every single evacuee living in a shelter. That amounts to at least 300,000 people. Here is a blurb from their Facebook page:

__________

“Words of Hope for Japan is the world’s effort to make sure the Japanese people know they are not forgotten. Schools, churches, scout troops and other organizations as well as individuals can provide that hope simply by writing a letter sharing concern and encouragement. Children who can’t write can draw pictures. What is important is to do something to brighten the lives of the survivors and reassure them that they are not alone.

Our goal is to collect 300,000 letters – one for every man, woman and child in a Japanese shelter. Letters can be mailed to:

Words of Hope for Japan
P.O. Box 636
Fulton, MD 20759

All letters will be hand-delivered to the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. for shipment to the shelters. Please do not enclose cash or checks.

Thank you in advance for your help!

For more information, contact Kathleen Koch.
kathleenlkoch@gmail.com”

__________

Make a difference. Send a letter. Thank you, in advance, for your kindness.