Bye Bye Meat Pies?
The effect of what we buy in the supermarkets has always been linked with the rate at which our planet is changing, and this is leading to significant changes in our spending habits. There are many actions that we as consumers are taking in order to become ‘greener shoppers’. But, a new report suggests that, although buying local produce does make a difference to the Carbon footprint of our meals, the best thing we can do to reduce the speed at which climate change is occurring is to eat less meat.
This surprising report, commissioned by the Food Climate Research Network states that in order to slow climate change people should be rationed to four modest portions of meat per week, along with a limit of one litre of milk per person per week. The report also maintained that food consumption on a whole should be reduced; particularly foods or drinks with low nutritional value such as sweets, chocolate and alcohol.
The Food Climate Research Network found that, when measure, the UK farming sector produced the equivalent of thirty three million tonnes of carbon. Surprisingly the most amount of CO2 produced within the food chain did not come from the packaging, as much media hype would suggest. Rather, agriculture itself ranked highest, largely due to the methane produced by cattle with wind!
So, if farming and particularly meat and dairy, are contributing so highly to climate change, what can we do to reduce the carbon footprint of the food we eat?
The Food Climate Research Networks report suggests that we should revert to the cooking habits that were held by our predecessors; we should aim to have at least one meat free meal a week, but should ideally reduce our meat consumption to four portions a week.
With various health scares about red meat also rife at present, could finding other sources of protein within your diet be a sound move? It would appear that, environmentally, there is a lot more to gain than there is to lose.
