Right at this moment, cockroaches (蟑螂) are doing more to save the environment than you are. A big overstatement? Not if you’ve ever thrown away leftovers from your plate or bought more food than you could manage to cook in a week. You’re part of the food waste problem. But just like cockroaches, you can also be part of the solution.

For example, some farmers in Asia and Africa collect tomatoes in big bags, which means that many of them get crushed out of shape and spoiled before they can be sold or eaten. Switching the bags for large wooden containers already lowers the amount of food lost. Similar successes can and have been achieved in various regions with weather-protected storage facilities.

Let’s focus on China for a second. It’s one of the few countries with an innovative approach to minimizing the environmental impact of food waste. How does it do it? Cockroaches. Millions of the tiny creatures are kept in farms in the suburban districts of big cities. Every morning, food waste is delivered by the tonnes and fed to the cockroaches. Just like tiny pigs, they’re not picky and devour everything quickly. After they die, they’re processed into protein-rich feed for animals such as cows or sheep, or used for cosmetic products and Chinese medicine. It’s an efficient and environmentally-friendly alternative to dumping leftover food in a landfill. Cockroaches aren’t going to solve the problem with food waste, but they can serve as an inspiration for finding other similar solutions on a wider scale.

To avoid food waste completely, improvements are needed at every step of the food supply chain, from production to retail. These take time and are often out of your hands as a consumer. But a meaningful reduction of food waste is definitely in your hands. You can not only buy less and shop more often, but also cut down on animal products.

Some observers detect a bit of green washing. Building a solar park that would generate the island’s electricity will not get started before the tourist season ends. A single wind turbine (涡轮) will not be fixed before 2026 even if the licensing process goes smoothly. On the other hand, the islanders worry that tourists will go elsewhere if the view is destroyed by aturbine 200 metres high. And even then, the hybrid power unit is planned to cover only about 80% of summer demand. But it is a start.

In recent years, organic farming   ________ (popularity), so our class had a discussion about it. ________ (opinion, topic).

80% of students are in favor of it. Firstly, they think organic farming ________ (beneficial, environment) by reducing the level of pollution. Secondly, it reduces the costs of agricultural production. However, 20% of them insist that now organic food ________ (meet, demand), and that there is still a long way for organic farming to provide sufficient food.

In my opinion, we should ________ (attitude, organic farming), and I believe that it will be very mature in the future.