Abstract
The food that we eat and more importantly discard creates a very large personal carbon footprint that is hugely understated or ignored by most general carbon footprint calculators. In this chapter we explore where greenhouse gases arise in the food industry and how we can significantly reduce them at both production and consumption levels. The problem of food security and scarcity are also explored.
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Impact of Global Warming on Agriculture
Counter View to Saving Air Miles
The American Food Carbon Footprint
Diets
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Homework!
Homework!
Start off by keeping a detailed food diary for a week or longer if possible. This will allow you to work out how frequently you eat high emission foods such as beef and dairy produce, or fruit and vegetables from less sustainable sources. Try and reduce the frequency that you eat these items.
Go through your store cupboards and fridge and put all the older dated cans, bottles and packets in the front so that they are used first. If something is getting close to its use by date ensure that you design a meal that uses it before the date runs out.
Then simply eat healthily, waste nothing and always read the label before purchase and put all the extra money you save into your pension plan because you are going to live a lot longer.
Lastly review your options about growing some food of your own. Remember that being wise about the food you eat can significantly reduce your personal carbon footprint as well as save you money.
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Gray, N.F. (2015). Having Enough to Eat. In: Facing Up to Global Warming. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20146-7_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20146-7_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
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