Work: Feed the World...or Eat the World
Author: Anna Betley
object - lollipop of silver - silver, cloisonné
A lollipop as a tidbit, a tasty morsel. This is what (often) the Earth and its resources is to people. But only to some of them… but such attitude generates an enormous cost that all of us will pay in the future, regardless of circumstances, place of living, or social status.
The title of the work paraphrases the refrain of Bob Geldof’s famous song: “Feed the world...”
At the expense of ruining nature, we produce food, almost half of which is wasted. And at the same time more than 800 million people in the Earth starve. To feed the hungry world, 37 billion dollars would suffice, whereas only in Italy, 34 billion euros worth of food is thrown away every year. A food product means packaging production, transportation, energy for production and storage, and industrial waste emission. Discarded food means hectoliters of wasted water. The production of 1 kcal of food consumes 10 kcal of fuel.
Huge expanses of rainforests are felled to make place for animal farms and fodder production. Costa Rica is a good example. In the last 20 years, over 80% of its forests have been clearcut.
Do we really want to feed the world? Or to eat it?