This month we have a lot on food to get your teeth into.

Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE

is one of the academics helping the University of Bath’s VIP project. A psychologist and environmental scientist, she runs the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST). Her research shows that almost 60% of the measures to teach our UK carbon targets will require at least some change in consumer behavior. By 2030, our average carbon footprint has to go from 8.5 tonnes to 2.5 tonnes, which is quite a diet

 There are many ways to get there: insulating houses better, using public transport more, wasting less and so on. But a big part of the equation will involve food, a topic that aroused a lot of interest and enthusiasm at the village hall meeting last month. So there’s now a Food Team which has written the following piece about how we can all start to think about our food choices and their impact on our carbon emissions.

 

Making Sense of What We Eat by FoodPrints

 

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions created by cultivating, processing, cooking, and disposing of the food we consume we call a Carbon Foodprint. The gasses can remain in the atmosphere from a few years to a thousand years, trapping additional heat near the Earth’s surface and causing temperatures to rise. Food production and consumption are responsible for approximately one quarter of the global GHGs emissions. So what we eat matters a lot. The key factors to consider when attempting to measure foodPrints shown above (Source: Neufeld 2021)

The emissions counted have to reflect many different things: the quantity of pesticides used, the area of land deployed and the energy required to produce the food. So the complexities of the supply chain often makes it hard to see the environmental consequences of what we eat.

Because the emissions caused by food production have to take into account the fertiliser used, land usage and the way food is distributed, as well as the crops grown to feed livestock and the emissions which those animals themselves produce, meat has a far greater carbon footprint than vegetables and grains. As a result, consuming meat adds approximately 0.8 tonnes to your average annual carbon foodprint.

Healthy plant, healthy bodies (healthier bank account?)

 

Adopting a greener diet can be challenging, but our planet and health can both benefit from it.

One of the most effective ways to decrease your foodprint is to reduce meat consumption, as much as is feasible for your family. This doesn’t have to be drastic or restrictive. In fact, it can be fun to shake things up in the kitchen, experimenting with meat and non-meat combos - like a shepherd’s pie with half beef and half lentils, for example. Replacing some meat with veggies and grains can save a surprising amount of money, too. Since beef farming has a far greater environmental impact than other types of animal farming, why not consider swapping it out for pork, chicken or fish?

Drastic dietary changes can be difficult to implement, so small changes (e.g. meatless Mondays) can be a great start. Worried that eating less meat will leave you feeling hungry? No problem - the high fibre content of plant foods will help you to feel fuller for longer. There’s no need to eliminate meat entirely, simply including more soya, lentils, tofu, grains and mushrooms in your diet can help to reduce your carbon foodprint, boost health and save money. It’s also crucial to remember that the energy involved in cooking and refrigerating our food also contributes to our carbon foodprint.

Here’s a summary of things to be aware of after buying food (and some simple steps for reducing carbon foodprint at home)

Cooking

●        PAN COVERAGE - Covering your pans will allow them to heat up faster, using less energy. Try to choose a pan with a base that covers your hob; any uncovered parts allow heat to escape, without warming your food.

●        APPLIANCE SIZE - Where possible, use smaller appliances to cook food (e.g. a toaster oven instead of a traditional oven)

●        GAS COOKER FLAMES - Blue flames are ideal. Yellow flames could indicate that gas is burning inefficiently; in this case, you may want to have your stove inspected.

●        COOKTOP CLEANLINESS - For gas cookers, a grimy hob surface is less efficient at reflecting heat onto the undersides of pans. For electric cookers, a dirty cooktop means some energy will go into heating the dirt and not your food!

Storage

●        FRIDGE FROST - Frost build-up decreases fridge efficiency, so regularly defrosting is a good idea. Try not to let frost accumulate to more than half a centimetre in thickness.

●        FRIDGE DOOR - Lots of energy can be wasted if your fridge door is not airtight. Here’s a simple ‘airtightness test’ you could try:

1.       Close the door on a piece of paper and try to pull it out.

2.       Repeat this around the edge of the door. If the paper can be pulled out easily at multiple locations, the seal may need replacing.

Waste

‘If food waste was a country, it would be the third-highest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US and China’ (How cutting your food waste can help the climate - BBC ).

 When we scrap what we don’t eat, we’re not just wasting food; we’re wasting all the energy that went into producing and transporting that food too. So here are some tips for how to reduce your carbon foodprint by reducing food wastage:

●        COMPOSTING - If you have the time, composting is a great way to dispose of uneaten food. It’s better than sending it to a landfill! Most people in the village do compost, which is great, though a number of survey respondents said that they didn’t really understand what could and couldn’t go into the brown bins that the Council provides. We have reported that back to B&NES which is trying to get composting rates up.

●        PORTION SIZES - Consider taking a small portion of food initially, and then going back for more as needed; you’ll reduce the food you leave on the plate, so you’re likely to have more leftovers too!

What happens next..?

In May, we’ll be calculating our own carbon foodprint for a week - we welcome you to join us!

Contact Mel at mk2529@bath.ac.uk and we’ll update you on the process - and we want more volunteers, just for one week. Please contact Mel at mk2529@bath.ac.uk and we’ll show you how easy it is!

Great Nature Writing

 

Concern about climate has some unexpected bright sides: a whole new category of great writing about nature: not just what we’ve done to it but also how we can appreciate and repair it. Here are some of the best. If you’d like to borrow any of them, please just email [email link]

 

WILDING: The return of nature to a British farm. The original book about rewilding, by Isabella Tree, it tells the story of renewing a 3,500 acre estate in West Sussex. Since 2001, the land – once intensively farmed - has been devoted to a pioneering project that has seen extraordinary increases in wildlife. Extremely rare species like turtle doves, nightingales, peregrine falcons and purple emperor butterflies are now breed there and populations of more common species are rocketing. How did they do it? You can read the book. You can also visit the estate and see for yourself.

 

ENGLISH PASTORAL: An inheritance. A beautiful book by a Lake District farmer, James Rebank, this tells the story of how three generations of farmers: how the land has changed and the role they now play in renewing our inheritance. Rebanks writes from the heart but with a tough pragmatic eye to what works and is truly sustainable. A gorgeous family story.

WINTERING by Katherine May. If the news cycle is driving you to distraction, this is a wonderful book about the need for human beings (as well as the land) to rest and recover. A gentle book about the consolation of nature and the small things that inspire us, when we take the time to notice.

 12 BIRDS TO SAVE YOUR LIFE: Nature’s lessons in happiness by Charlie Corbett. One of the ironies of the climate crisis is that the more we work to confront it, the more we cherish what’s around us. From dawn choruses to the first chiffchaff calls of spring, the book shows how the seasons bring natural rhythm to times of hardship and anxiety. A beautiful book about the power of nature to heal.