According to “our world in data”, Food production accounts for almost 26% of greenhouse gas emissions globally. They are also responsible for waterways pollution, endangering of wild mammals (almost 24000 species are under threat from agricultural industry) and 70% of freshwater had been used for agriculture. So in short our food habits are responsible for climate change and tackling it is necessary to fight global warming.

We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in change. Small acts, when multiplied by billions of people, can transform the world.

HOWARD ZINN

So let’s all make a small change in our life so that we all can make big impacts on climate change. Here are the 5 easy tips for food habit change to fight climate change.

1. Buy Locally

Buying locally grown food is very important from the food Miles Perspective. Food miles is from the point the food is produced (farm) to the point where it is consumed (Your table). It included the complete transportation miles from farm to packaging facility to distribution center to supermarket/grocery store to your home. So reducing the number of miles that your food travels reduces the carbon footprint exponentially. Check the chart below for the 1 ton of food to travel a Km. It’s alarming!! On Average American Food, produce travel around 1500 to 2500 miles

I live in California, so I have options here to choose between California-grown produce in supermarket/grocery store, farmers market, Direct from the farm, Co-op, etc., I do so much research before buying the food produces from the market. For eg. I buy Houweling’s tomatoes and they are the leader in sustainable farming but the best part is their farm is significantly closer to my home and I am able to buy them in Costco for a really good deal. So sustainable living is not expensive.

For people in India, buying from small store/corner grocery store (annachi kadai) and street vendors are the best option to reduce your food miles. For people in other parts of the world, I would suggest to do your own research to reduce your food miles.

I also have plants that are simple to maintain such as green leaves(fenugreek leaves, spinach, lettuce, mint). We use all these greens every single week, so we are reducing our food miles carbon footprint significantly by just having few greenery in our apartment.

2. Buy Organic

Even though many research suggests that organic farming may eventually lead to higher greenhouse gas emission due to low yield, there are some promising study that shows otherwise.

At the Rodale Institute, studies have shown significantly different and positive results. Started in 1981, the Farming Systems Trial (FST) is the longest-running side-by-side comparison of conventional and organic grain farming in North America.

Based on the results of that research, scientists said that yields for organic crops are lower in the first five years of transition as soil biology is restored, but that those decreases don’t continue over the long term. Also, in climate change scenarios, like years of drought, organic farming keeps performing better than conventional with a 40% higher yield. That difference is attributable to healthy soil that allows water to penetrate and then retains moisture for longer; Rodale’s studies have also shown organic farming builds organic matter in soil over time.

Organic Farming also uses 45% less energy, reduces soil pollution by not leaching chemicals, releases 40% less carbon (GHG), and also helps the nearby birds, animals, and pollinators.

3. Reduce Food waste

Tackling food waste is one of the top 10 solutions to combat climate change. 1/3rd of the food produced goes to landfills some are intentional waste such as misshaped produce in supermarkets/grocery stores and some are unintentional waste such as spoilage due to improper storage or unavailability of proper infrastructure for storage.

According to PLOS journal by John Hopkins researchers, 11% of the greenhouse gas emission, 35% freshwater consumption, 31% of cropland, and 30% of fertilizers account for the wasted food.

Here are the simple steps to reduce food waste

• Weekly Meal Planner
  • Create the menu and shopping list and shop only what’s on the list. It helps to reduce impulse shopping and don’t ever shop hungry 🙂
• Proper Food Storage
  • Read the instructions and store appropriately and for produce learn the best storage method to prolong the life.
• Leftover are life saviors
  • they are delicious the next day, save time & money, reduces the food in landfill
• Decode dates on products
  • Understand the actual meaning of the dates on each product before throwing it out

4. Adopt a Flexitarian diet

Most climate activists are currently saying that the Mediterranean diet is much more sustainable and helpful for climate change with respect to carbon emission. But that diet doesn’t recommend the reduction of Fish and so leading to the overfishing of the already strained resource. So the next best option is a Flexitarian diet, which suggests consuming more fruits and vegetables, concentrate on consuming plant-based protein. It also allows the inclusion of animal products and meat from time to time. So you will not be going completely vegan or even vegetarian. (Check out the carbon footprint of foods we eat in the below chart)

This diet helps us to lead a healthy lifestyle and also be able to live a sustainable life reducing our carbon footprint from our food habits. (Carbon footprint chart for each dietary category)

5. Compost food waste

Sometimes food wastage is unavoidable and in those cases, composting help. Even the food scraps that reached the landfill will produce a notorious greenhouse gas “Methane” which is more potent than CO2. But when you compost the same food scraps and wastes are decomposed to manure (garden food). If you cannot compost at home then you can find the local composting site and take your compostable material there for proper composting. This also includes the compostable produce bag, cutlery, and many more.

Source:

• Farm to Fridge: Food Miles in Action (2018) “wp.geneseo.edu” Karleen west
• The tricky truth about food miles “http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/”
• FOOD WASTE: BY THE NUMBERS (2015) “https://www.jamesbeard.org/”
• Why I should eat one more vegetarian meal than I would normally eat each week “http://sustainability.tamu.edu/”
• The carbon footprint of 5 diets compared “http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/”
• Environmental scientists call for sustainable flexitarian diet “https://www.integrativepractitioner.com/”
• farming system trail (Since 1981 till now) “https://rodaleinstitute.org/”
• Composting “http://www.nelson.govt.nz/”
• What to compost “https://sustainability.uiowa.edu/”

Please check out my “5 easy tips to reduce your plastic consumption” if you haven’t already.