UAE is taking giant steps in enforcing the message of green living and urging people to ensure that their actions are aimed at environmental conservation. It was heartening for me to read an article about the religious leaders cautioning the public against wastage of food in a pre-Ramadan message issued last month. Now that the government, the religious leaders and the common man are all working for this cause, I am sure UAE will be able to considerably reduce it's carbon footprint.

I have appended below for easy reference, the text from a newspaper report in the 7Days newspaper dated 6th June. A link for the online article is also given below.

Imams at mosques across Abu Dhabi will on Friday urge people not to waste food.

As some people tuck in to the ritual of Friday brunch and weekend indulgence, worshippers at every mosque in the UAE capital will hear a sermon urging them to think twice before cooking up too much food and to ponder on how far ingredients have travelled to get to the UAE.

The pre-Ramadan message is in agreement with the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, a government body that is hoping to create a greener planet while helping people watch their waistlines. An EAD spokeswoman told 7DAYS that the -reduce your food print-message will be heard in every Abu Dhabi mosque tomorrow as part of its message for World Environment Day, which was celebrated on Wednesday.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), every year 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted around the world - the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.

Worshippers will be told that if we cut down on the amount of food we consume, fewer fertilisers, pesticides and air miles will be swallowed up. The sermons will come just a day after the end of the Muslim festival of Lailat Al Miraj, which the EAD hopes will give the campaign an extra boost.

Preachers will encourage the public to make wise decisions when buying their groceries and when cooking their meals in order to waste as little food as possible, said an EAD statement.

The move is part of a campaign called Think.Eat.Save, the theme of World Environment Day. Fozeya Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, director of the environmental outreach division at the EAD, said that 39 per cent of Abu Dhabis waste is made up of food.

She also added that this was contributing to landfills, carbon emissions and ultimately contributing to climate change.

Source: http://www.7daysindubai.com/Abu-Dhabi-s-imams-dish-plea-food-wastage/story-19193545-detail/story.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter