The way in which we produce and consume food—the food system—is pushing our planet to the brink. This global system is a major driver of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions and the loss of habitats and wildlife.We need a food system that conserves and restores nature while ensuring there is enough to feed current and future generations, nutritiously. Achieving this will take a transformation across the board, from fishing boats to crop fields, farm to market, kitchen to landfill.
WWF has released Bending the Curve: The Restorative Power of Planet-based Diets, a global research report and calculator to help people understand the health and environmental impact of their diets. Around the world, or even across the street, everyone’s diet looks different. It depends on our bodies, our budgets, our cultures, our geography, our seasons, what’s available or accessible.
Here are five ways you can think about eating for our planet:
1. Choose more sustainable ingredients
There’s no ingredient that is universally sustainable or unsustainable—it all depends on how and where it is farmed or fished. Sustainably produced ingredients have minimal impacts on nature; they are produced responsibly and don’t threaten wildlife populations or their habitats. Nor do these ingredients pollute water or leave soil less healthy, because they aren’t reliant on excessive fertilizer and pesticide application.
2. Eat more fruits and vegetables and moderate animal intake
One way to improve your environmental impact is to balance the amount of fruit and vegetables with the animal products you eat. Meat, poultry, pork, fish, eggs, and dairy are all important sources of nutrition, that also have a high environmental impact. In many places there’s no need to moderate their consumption because some people don’t get enough of these crucial nutrients.
3. Diversify your diet
Your mother may have said there can be too much of a good thing. This is true for what we eat for our health and the planet! Our bodies need a variety of nutrients, and the planet benefits from crop diversity. Soils are healthier when different types of crops are grown together, and fertilizer use can be reduced by integrating different crops and livestock with trees and other plants. Cultivating a wider variety of foods also helps us be more resilient to shocks like pests, diseases, or extreme weather.
4. Eat minimally processed, nutritious foods
The more processed a food is, generally the greater its environmental impact will be because more energy is used during its creation. Products also often lose nutritional quality during processing, meaning more food must be produced to deliver minimum nutrition, though some value-added processing (such as freezing and canning) helps to alleviate food loss and waste. Try focusing on fresh, frozen (especially fish), and canned fruits, veggies, and foods that are minimally processed and have fewer additives.
5. Watch what you waste!
Wasting food wastes environmental resources like energy, water, and land, and unfortunately, in the US we waste nearly 40% of what we grow! By reducing food waste, we can ease the burden on our resources and work ensure more food is available to those in need.
When it comes to diet, there is no one-size fits all approach. There will be times in life when you need more of one food than another. It is important that diets are flexible and respect local cultures. But people all over the world can eat different foods in different amounts while still following these steps. Trying to make these healthier, more sustainable choices will help us create a future in which our planet can feed everyone.
Source: WWF
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Finnish site