This is Geneva, Switzerland:

Pretty nice right?

Oh and did I mention the chocolate? They're basically the chocolate capital of the world.

But wait, what’s that?

That’s not so pretty.

It’s pretty foul looking actually.

WHAT. What! What?!?!

While Geneva is one of the cleanest cities in the world, it still has a huge problem with waste.

This meteor, built by Swiss Design Firm, Fresh Design, is meant to represent the amount of litter collected around the city over a 3 day period.

If Geneva, with its chocolate and efficiency, has this much of a waste problem, imagine what other cities are like.

It's easy to forget where our garbage eventually ends up. These are children at a dump in Phnom Penh, Cambodia scavenging for food.

These kids don't need to starve. There is more than enough food in the world to feed everyone. The problem is wasted food that eventually ends up in landfills.

To make matters worse, food and non-organic waste like plastic bags produce methane gas, an emission with 21 times more heat-trapping potential than carbon.

We could solve so many problems if we all took steps to reduce waste in our everyday life.

As Global Citizens, let's try to remember the kids in Phnom Penh. When we buy food, let's only buy what we need so there is more to feed those who don't have enough.

It starts with small actions, like bringing reusable grocery bags to the store.

Sign up and commit to living a Day Without Waste so that every child has enough to eat and can live on a cleaner planet Earth.

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Tom Blake

Editorial

Defend the Planet

This is why we can't have nice things.