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Can what we eat really change the world?
Yes, what we eat really can change the world. Making changes to your diet is your chance to influence the world you want to see. Whether you want to fight climate change or protect the world’s species, food empowers you to be part of solutions. Let’s explore the ways that you can change the world through eating.
Fight climate change
Our global food systems cause around a third of human-made greenhouse gases. In other words, the food we eat now impacts climate change.
Every food item or ingredient has a carbon footprint. Fertilisers, fuel for tractors, and packaging all produce greenhouse gases as byproducts of making food. You can’t avoid CO2 in the food manufacturing process, but you can reduce it with some simple changes.
Some ingredients have a higher carbon footprint than others. Making a can of baked beans, for example, needs more resources and energy than growing a carrot.
By choosing food with a lower carbon footprint, we have an opportunity to change the world for the better. And you can create demand for lower-carbon ingredients and influence a more sustainable food system.
Choosing more climate-friendly ingredients reduces the carbon footprint of your own diet and the overall greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change globally.
Support biodiversity of species
Biodiversity is like M&Ms. Open your packet of M&Ms and there’s a spectrum of colour inside. Everyone has a favourite colour. Let’s say yours is blue; they’re the ones you always eat first.
You hate green M&Ms and give them away. Occasionally you find rare purple M&Ms, at a special time of year or when a seasonal ingredient is added to the mix. There’s always a fight for the rare ones and some people buy M&Ms just for that colour.
One day, the CEO of M&Ms announces they won’t make blue anymore. So… you can’t get your favourite colour? But, hey, you still like M&Ms and carry on eating the others (except for green of course). After a year, you realise you haven’t seen a rare purple M&M. Well, of course! There’s no more blue to create that indigo hue.
A few years later the CEO decides only to make green M&Ms. They’re the cheapest to make and give the biggest profit. So you decide to get your sweet treats somewhere else. Only the customers who like green M&Ms are left. But some years after, it turns out all the resources needed to make green colouring are used up. They can’t make their product anymore. Now, no one will have M&Ms.
Our food systems follow a similar story. Like different colour M&Ms, some crops or food items are valued more highly because they’re tastier, cheaper or more profitable for humans.
Impact of your diet
Think about your diet. What do you eat most? If you’re not sure, take a look at the back of your food packets. Chances are you’ll notice the same ingredients in different forms: wheat, corn, palm oil, sugar, eggs, potatoes, milk, and rice. We could imagine these ingredients as green M&Ms: cheap to make and mass-produced.
More of the world’s land is taken up by crops and animals to make these few ingredients on industrial-scale. But this means there is less diversity in the species, or M&M colours, available. It makes the food we produce more vulnerable if diseases spread and changing weather caused by climate change. In short: it puts our future food sources at risk.
It also means the animals, wildlife and people that thrive off this diversity can’t access the nutritious food they need anymore. The rare species have gone and their predators too. We find that only the species that can eat green M&Ms remain. This is why butterflies and bees struggle to survive on farmland and are being lost in the UK.
Eating a more varied diet helps to encourage biodiversity. If you can grow your own at home that’s even better. Choosing different food protects the fine balance of the world’s ecosystems, and it’s better for your overall health too.
Create a compassionate community
Three years ago I decided to go vegan for the planet. I shifted my attention from simply enjoying food to the type of food I ate. My food choices became more noticeable than ever before. Then I noticed a few other things started happening too.
I began to think of livestock, like cows, chickens and pigs, as beings. I thought about how we treat farm animals for eating compared to wild animals or our pets. Then, I started noticing the people who make our food and appreciating their knowledge of the land, working hours and care they give to ensure we have food to survive.
I found myself experimenting with new ingredients and different techniques to ‘veganise’ my favourite meals. I wanted to share these with friends and family and sustainable recipes in the app.
It might sound a bit hippy but I truly believe that all these changes have made me a more compassionate person. I often talk about the power of small steps, together. If all of us pay more attention to the food we eat, imagine the compassion and understanding that can be created in our local communities and across the world.
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Protect water: the liquid of life
There’s a lake in Mexico called Lago Chapala. It’s the largest freshwater lake in the country, bigger than the entire West Midlands county of the UK.
Deep in a valley of lush tropical mountains, people flock to this beautiful part of the country for weekend trips from the city or to retire in its almost-perfect climate. Standing by the edge of the lake, you can dream of diving in for a refreshing dip. Except you can no longer swim in Lago Chapala.
Runoff from nearby farms has dumped phosphates and nitrogen into the lake, giving algae the perfect conditions to thrive. Deforestation of the local mountains for pastureland has made it easier for runoff to reach the lake too.
Blue-green algae now cover the lake’s surface, blocking out light and oxygen for the creatures below and making the water toxic for humans and local wildlife. This is a process called eutrophication. It’s caused by fertilisers on farms, which wash into nearby rivers and it happens all over the globe.
Eutrophication affects the local ecosystem for fish and birds, and it also contaminates water for nearby communities. Lago Chapala is the main drinking water source for millions of people around Mexico’s second city, Guadalajara.
Some foods, like cereal and fish, require less nitrogen and phosphates to grow, so they need less fertiliser. These foods have a lower eutrophication potential. Dairy products and red meat, like beef and pork, are most likely to lead to eutrophication. They need more nitrogen and are more likely to cause deforestation for grazing space.
If you choose to eat less red meat and more foods like cereal and fish, your diet is more likely to protect and preserve the world’s water.
Put your money where your mouth is
The ideas of capitalism and sustainability don’t traditionally go hand in hand. The economic model of capitalism relies on a business to keep growing, normally at speed. Or it folds. This means that a business needs to keep making more and more money. In contrast, sustainability preaches balance. A sustainable system is one that’s maintained at a certain level.
Nowhere are these ideas more at odds than in the food system. Many forces have turned agriculture into a resource-intensive, profit-driven sector rather than an activity done in equilibrium with nature.
All said, I do believe food has a role in harmonising capitalism and sustainability. Our food purchases fund economic growth. So let’s fund the growth of organisations creating more sustainable ingredients and food products instead.
Since 2020, a plant-based diet has featured in the top-three global health trends. This study shows that the rise of plant-based products and meat alternatives is caused by increased consumer demand.
In other words, people investing their grocery-shop budget into food that matches their values has created a market for even more food that matches their values. Putting your money where your mouth really does have an impact.
Start changing the world now
Buying more sustainable and ethical food really can shape the world you want to see. Our food systems are so closely linked to our environment and communities, it’s impossible for the food we choose not to change the world for better or worse.
PS. No M&Ms were harmed in the making of this blog. All colour changes are hypothetical. We think.
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Want to learn more about how to choose climate-friendly food? Download the Floop app now to calculate the carbon footprint of your favourite meals and discover low-carbon recipes.
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