Hello, I hope you are well wherever you're reading from! Episode 4 of A Little Bit of Lagom is now available to listen to on Spotify, and in this episode we are looking into the footprint of food.
Before sharing the episode notes, I just want to say there will be some shocking facts, I’ve done a lot of research specifically for this episode. I did this in the hope it can help you make more informed choices in your purchases, and maybe give you an insight into parts of food production you may not have had so much awareness about.
I also cover some things we can do to reduce our food footprint, something that will continue on into future episodes.
I think it can be easy to forget about all the other energy and resource intensive processes involved in food production. As well as the carbon footprint we need to think about in relation to food, there’s also the ecological footprint, which is the amount of natural resources required in food production.
Current demand for resources exceeds what is sustainable on earth, so it’s crucial we protect these finite resources by making better choices about the food we are consuming.
Clearing land, growing food, processing, packaging, transporting, and marketing are all part of food production and each stage of food production has an impact on the environment.
The damage to the environment is not limited to CO2 emissions.
Other destructive aspects of food production include deforestation, Excessive and unsustainable water usage, release of gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, especially in animal agriculture.
According to a university of Oxford study, food production is responsible for a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming. However, the researchers found that the environmental impact of different foods varies hugely. And this is why our food choices really matter when working towards solutions for climate change.
So, what can we do?
The biggest thing we can do to help is to switch to a plant-based diet, according to a major report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which says the West's high consumption of meat and dairy is fueling global warming.
Their findings showed that meat and other animal products are responsible for more than half of food-related greenhouse gas emissions, despite providing only a fifth of the calories we eat and drink.
A few food footprint facts:
Meat products have larger carbon footprints per calorie than grain or vegetable products because of the inefficient transformation of plant energy to animal energy, along with the methane released from manure management and enteric fermentation in ruminants.
Eliminating the transport of food for one year could save the Green House Gas equivalent of driving 1,000 miles, while shifting to a vegetarian meal one day a week could save the equivalent of driving 1,160 miles.
It is still important to consider transport of food though, especially for foods where the production is less energy intensive for example fruits and vegetables.
Going local is useful for fruit and vegetables in season, but the carbon emitted by growing them in greenhouses in Winter means that importing from a country where the produce is in season may mean a lower carbon footprint.
Of course, best of all would be to eat in synchrony with the natural seasons where you live, if possible.
So basically, the best bet is to eat seasonally! Going to your local greengrocers if you can.
It's not just CO2 ..
You can find these facts below, along with many others in a book I can’t recommend enough – ‘The Sustainability Secret’ by Kip Anderson. Definitely worth adding to your reading list!
“not only is methane more destructive than CO2, its levels have a much more immediate effect on the environment.”
“Methane has a global warming potential 34x greater than CO2, and because methane also had a more immediate effect on the climate, Methane is 86x more destructive than co2 on a 20-year timescale. Nitric oxide incredibly damaging also, with 310x more global warming potential than CO2.”
“Food production emissions consist mainly of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (NO2), and methane (CH4), which result primarily from agricultural practices”
“Globally, cattle produce 150 billion gallons of methane a day”
When looking at figures like this, it’s easy to see how animal agriculture can be so damaging for the environment. So trying to eat a more plant based diet, or transitioning to a fully vegan diet really can make such a big difference.
WATER IN FOOD PRODUCTION
There’s a great website called water footprint that allows you to take a look at a product gallery which shows you the water footprint of certain foods.
You can also calculate your own water footprint and see what foods you’re consuming that are having the biggest impact with regards to excessive water waste.
You can access the website here - https://waterfootprint.org/en/
A few examples I found on the website:
In India, the largest banana producing country in the world, the average water footprint of bananas is 500 litre/kg. The global average is 790 litre/kg.
Global average water footprint: 130 litres for 1 cup of coffee.
The water footprint of white rice is 2500 litres of water per kg.
The global average water footprint of potato is 290 litre/kg. Potato crisps cost 1040 litres of water per kilogram of potato chips.
Beef cattle (15400 litre/kg)
Pigs (6000 litre/kg).
Chicken meat is about 4330 litre/kg.
A report in the journal environmental research letters states “the water footprint of any animal product is larger than the water footprint of any crop alternative with equivalent nutritional value”
1 dairy cow = 145 pounds of feed and 35 gallons of water PER DAY
It’s clear that animal agriculture, as well as being damaging in the sense of greenhouse gas emissions, It is also incredibly water intensive!!
Most of the impoverish world doesn’t have access to clean drinking water, yet trillions of gallons are being used in food production. This is why our food choices are so important, not just with regards to CO2, but excess water usage also.
Myths around almonds:
Based on a 2012 Pacific Institute Report, almonds use 10% of California’s water supply, which is a very considerable amount.
However, 47% of California’s water footprint is associated with meat and dairy production! The greatest water requirement of anything grown in California, even greater than water intensive almonds and avocados.
Water used for fracking, a process of extracting fossil fuels from shale rock, is incredibly high at 140 billion gallons per year, another reason to opt for renewable energy!
But again, animal agriculture is a worse culprit at 340 trillion gallons.
Adopting a plant-based diet, or even starting to reduce your intake of animal products really does appear to be such a crucial factor in lowering your food footprint.
MYTH BUSTING SOY
Before I went vegan, I definitely remember using the soy argument, I was aware of how bad it was for the environment, deforestation, water intensive etc.
However at the time, I wasn’t aware that soy is used drastically more to feed livestock than to feed humans...
According to USDA estimates, 87% of the global soy output is processed into soy oil and soy cake, with the latter used almost entirely as an animal feed.
Only 6% of global soy output is used for foods for human consumption that are produced from whole soybeans (e.g. edamame beans, tofu, soy milk, soy sauce, or tempeh).
TREES
Deforestation is incredibly detrimental to the environment for a multitude of reasons – impacting climate change, leading to species extinctions and driving indigenous people from their homes.
“Cattle grazing and clearing land to grow crops for livestock are responsible for as much as 80% of all rainforests worldwide” Kip Anderson
Palm oil is also a terrible contributor, and I can’t stress enough the importance of checking your food labels, so much food contains palm oil!
it's in close to 50% of the packaged products we find in supermarket!
I just wanted to raise the awareness, so you can try to see next time you go shopping how much it really is in everything, and if there is anywhere where you can do some environmentally friendly swaps to a palm oil free alternative.
On Land Usage:
In 1.5 acres of land = 37,000 pounds of plant-based food could be produced, but in the same area, only approximately 370 pounds of meat could be produced. This is a drastic difference!!
Think how many more people could be fed, how much less land would be required if more people adopted a plant-based diet.
1 hamburger = 660 gallons of water & 55 square feet of cleared rain forest = showering for 2 months
Being vegan for one day save 1100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain that would’ve been fed to the animals, 30 square feet of forested land, 20 pounds of CO2.
You can also calculate your footprint on the wwf website:
If becoming vegetarian or vegan doesn’t feel possible for you, even just cutting back on the animal products you consume would make such a big difference to your food footprint and how you’re impacting the environment.
Some of the content in this episode may have left you a bit overwhelmed, it’s a lot to take in, but I hope that it has offered another perspective and reminded you that your choices really do matter and can make such a difference in creating a more sustainable and compassionate world.
Remember, you don’t have to do everything all at once.
Building in one new habit at a time is a super positive step to take. Whether that’s swapping out one animal product at a time, cutting out meat one day a week, swapping milk for a plant-based alternative, they are all positive choices ultimately helping the planet.
Additional Links:
Carbon footprint calculator:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46459714 - Carbon footprint calculator
Other Carbon Footprint Resources:
Information about Soya:
Video about how your diet impacts on climate change:
Video on food wastage footprint:
Video on food and ecological footprint:
Ecological footprint and carbon footprint explanation:
If you have any thoughts or questions that arose from the episode, feel free to email me on alittlebitoflagom@gmail.com or drop me a message on Instagram @alittlebitoflagom, I’d love to hear from you.
Give the episode a listen on Spotify!
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