How to Eat with Less Carbon Impact.

A cabbage not packaged in plastic and grown locally under environmental standards will have a notably lower carbon footprint than a prepackaged and imported cabbage.

A cabbage not packaged in plastic and grown locally under environmental standards will have a notably lower carbon footprint than a prepackaged and imported cabbage.

 
 

Eating is one of the areas of lifestyle that alter someones environmental impact most significantly; the diet, including the activity of grocery shopping can more dramatically alter your carbon emissions than the type of car you drive.

Despite having an outsize impact on a consumer’s environmental footprint, altering eating habits are not necessarily a simplistic solution, partially because some typical options viewed as environmental alternatives provide no actual benefit.

One of the means of reducing environmental damage associated with food consumption is to purchase food from more sustainable sources. This typically entails purchasing food from local vendors as found at farmers markets.

Farmers Markets typically have several advantages in the form of more environmentally sound growing procedures and the advantage of having products available that are locally grown and or produced. Transportation of farmers market products have the benefit of resulting in minimal environmental impact. However, if local farms do not follow environmental practices, such as the use of renewable energy for greenhouses and efficient land use, they eliminate the environmental benefits typically associated with these smaller, local vendors. It is worthwhile to inquire about the practices of the farmers at the local farmers market to ensure that your choices are having the environmental benefits you intend.

Another method in altering food habits is the limitation or complete elimination of meats and other carbon intensive foods; certain fish and almost all traditional farm animal processed for meat contribute most significantly to the environmental damage caused by average diets. Removing meat from ones diet, according to a University of Michigan study, would positively effect a consumer’s carbon footprint to a greater extent than purchasing a low or ultra-low emissions car, such as a hybrid vehicle. If removing meat from one’s diet is not an option, then more selective use of meat and the elimination of certain larger fish from regular meals can also have a significant impact; small scale, local sources are typically the best solution.

Purchasing organic foods, despite the many demonstrable health benefits, has little to no environmental benefit; this is mainly because land use and growth practices associated with organic farming are more carbon intensive, and generally compensate for negative practices of industrial farming, such as the use of pesticides.

Homemaking foods, as seen here with beans, can have numerous environmental and health benefits.

Homemaking foods, as seen here with beans, can have numerous environmental and health benefits.

Changing your diet to one that is more plant based and using different types of venues to obtain food are not the only method for reducing your environmental impact; the packaging that the food comes in also contributes to your diet’s ecological footprint. As packaging and other sources of waste also contribute to environmental damage. Purchasing fruit and vegetables without packaging such as plastic wrapping, when an option, can noticeably reduce the rubbish from the kitchen; this way, if composting is an option, then it can eliminates all potential waste associated with these foods.

Homemade food is the best means of reducing waste and often come with many health benefits. It provides the opportunity to source your own ingredients, more likely assuring quality and eliminating the environmental damage associated with processed food; there are also numerous cost and health benefits with homemade food.

Overall, diet and food shopping habits comprise a significant portion of the average individual’s carbon and general emissions footprint and as a result changing them in the ways outlined can help make improvements and have positive health effects. 

Note: This is the first in a series of articles regarding environmental eating and food.

Sources;

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/local-organic-carbon-footprint-1.4389910

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/organic-food/art-20043880

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/farmers_markets_and_sustainability_part_two

https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/09/04/how-green-is-local-food/