by Lottie Gregory
Most of us have been fortunate enough to grow up in circumstances where there has always been enough to eat – if not more than enough. However, all is not well in the world.
Food makes up a large proportion of our carbon footprint or ‘foodprint’. Choices made by consumers in the supermarkets are the beginning of all the unintended consequences happening down the supply chains. Should we all be questioning the ethics and sustainability of shops, restaurants and food producers? Do we need to change our habits now more than ever?
Why is food production a threat?
A large proportion of greenhouse gas emissions come from food production. Meat and dairy products are associated with much higher carbon emissions than plant-based food. Cattle produce methane gas that contributes greatly to the greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of methane is produced by livestock and it is 21 times more harmful than carbon dioxide emissions; and it this been retold in the recent documentary by David Attenborough on BBC 1 (Climate Change – The Facts).
In the food and catering industry, restaurants has a much wider footprint than home cooked food because of the additional overheads in restaurants. Emissions associated with heating, lighting and cooking for your meal all add up, with the catering industry accounting for around 20,600 million kWh of energy each year. In addition to this, one third of all food produced is wasted every year in the food industry ‘from farmers and growers to manufacturers and processors to wholesalers, retailers and food service companies’. In restaurants, it is difficult to control the amount of food wastage when a consumer has bought the food. There is a lot of surplus food in the supply chain of which 250,000 tonnes of the food that goes to waste each year is still edible and this is enough for 650 million meals.
What can you do to change that?
Start by questioning your diet. Living healthily is as important for you as it is to the planet. Buying fresh fruit and vegetables, natural products and reducing your meat and dairy intake is important for reducing resource depletion and the mass waste caused by production. Be more mindful about the expiration dates for perishable food, shop smartly and be realistic about the amount of food you can consume.
Start by questioning how your food is sourced and produced. There is plenty of choice when buying food today, but choosing to purchase locally and seasonally will generate a lower footprint. It depends how it’s produced and packaged, but it is more likely to have a lower environmental footprint. Not that buying food produced abroad is necessarily a bad thing. Food grown in a sustainable way and traded fairly can be vital for developing countries.
The United Nations states that the world population is projected to increase to 9.7 billion by 2050. Feeding the mouths of 9.7 billion people will require an incredible amount of resources and management, but ultimately, it requires a miracle with the state of the world today.
I hope this has made you question your food choices and the impact of your carbon footprint!
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