THE HEAT IS ON THOSE WHO WASTE RESOURCES

07:00 - 13 May 2008



S Ummer is here. It's my favourite time of year. But the sudden change in temperatures here in Bristol has made me ask whether this change in the weather is natural or whether it is an indication of something more sinister - global warming.When I see how utterly selfish and short-sighted we are, considering the rate at which we are extinguishing the diversity of life on this earth and the amount of waste we produce, it is hard to feel positive.

It's lunchtime and a city worker buys a can of fizzy drink from a supermarket. In another part of the world, a child picks a mango from a tree in a village.

The fizzy drink is consumed in a few minutes and the aluminium can is tossed into the bin. It leaves behind a trail of pollution, including the carbon footprints of all the players in its chain of production. Then there's the can itself, which if not recycled will be dumped in a landfill site to interact with other toxic materials, releasing a hazardous chemical cocktail into the ground and air.



Now consider the child eating a mango in its natural environment. The fruit is consumed and the seed and skin is discarded. Another tree can grow from the seed, giving more fruit. The skin will compost in a matter of weeks enriching the soil. The whole act is natural and organic, with no food miles, no recycling and above all, no waste.

As urban populations continue to grow at the expense of rural communities, this kind of natural consumption is bound to become a minority activity. More than half the world's population now live in cities. We too enjoy mangoes, but ours are individually wrapped, some are rejected for being the wrong shape or size and are transported across thousands of miles. In short, they involve more packaging, more waste, more recycling and more greenhouse gases.

This is the conundrum we face and there are two parallel movements attempting to solve it.

The first is to grow as much of our own food as possible. For those who have gardens this could be a healthy, enjoyable and challenging experiment.

The second is to be selective when buying goods at supermarkets and attempt to force change through consumer demand.

Organic food is popular but consumers are not so discerning about where the product comes from (the further away the exporting country, the greater the carbon imprint of what one is consuming). It is far better buying locally produced foods either through the supermarket or, better still, directly through farmers' markets.

Food and water are high on the list of things we waste most in the first world. In the US nearly half of all edible food is wasted. That's about 43 billion (£22bn) of dumped food - an absolute disgrace considering those who go without.

Those who waste the least are the poor. Those who have to walk long distances for their water do not know what it means to leave the tap running.

Muslims are clearly instructed in the Qur'an not to waste: "But waste not by excess for God does not love the wasters." Muslims believe God has made human- kind stewards on this earth. We have been given enormous ability to do both good and harm.

As the Prophet Muhammad said: "With the dawn of each day, we rise to bargain with our soul as a stake, either we ransom it or we ruin it."

Whatever we do, good or bad, we will not leave this world unchanged. We must therefore do our best to leave it for the better.