The term carbon footprint is pretty well-known these days. But just in case you haven't heard, it is basically the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activities. Recently, a new and related concept has emerged: the carbon food print, which I'm sure you can deduce is simply the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by our diets. And no, I'm not talking about flatulence (at least not the human variety).
Okay, so let's get serious. Yes, it's true that a diet high in red meat is related to large emissions of the most potent greenhouse gas, methane, from cow flatulence, but there is a lot more to this issue than that.
How did your food get to your plate? How many machines used how much energy to plant, and harvest it? What amount of pesticides, which are petroleum-based by the way, were sprayed on it? How much energy was used by the manufacturers to transform it into its final product? How far did it have to travel to get to the store? Did it need refrigeration in transport, and at the store? How did you transport it from the store to your home? How much food waste, which releases gases when breaking down, did you put into the the landfill? Honestly, I'm probably even missing something (if you can think of what that may, please write it in the comments!).
It's a pretty complex issue when you break it down like this.
Some ways to lower your carbon food print:
(1) Eat local, or better, hyperlocal *
Eating local cuts down on food miles, the number of miles your food has had to travel to get to your plate. A lot of locavores sprung up when the book 100-mile diet was published in 2007. Now, there is a new movement of hyperlocavores, people who eat food they grow themselves - the ultimate reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
(2) Eat organic *
Food that is grown organically never involves petroleum-based pesticides. Enough said.
(* See my Aquaponics Technical Description (coming soon!) to learn about this organic food production method that can be used to grow food locally.)
(3) Eat a diet low in animal products
Alright, so there's the cutting down on the flatulence issue. But it's not only that: SO much energy is put into producing feed for livestock. That's a lot of energy consumption!
(4) Compost!
When food breaks down, it releases methane into the atmosphere, which contributes to global climate change. So, compost your food waste instead. Live in an apartment? See my instruction set on how to vermicompost indoors (coming soon!) to get started.
These are pretty basic. If you want to figure out your own carbon food print, check out the Low Carbon Diet Calculator.
I realize that eating local and organic can be (okay, it is) more expensive, but think of the expense on the environment and your own health. Plus, climate change seriously threatens our food system by creating extreme weather events like drought and severe storms that damage crops. How much more expensive is food going to get when it becomes in short supply? Think long term, not short term. Thinking short term got us into this problem in the first place.
More on the real cost of food next time. Until then, if you would like to better understand how our food system is dependent on oil, watch this:
FoodPrint from Charla Barker on Vimeo.
One last thing: if there are any food-related terms that you haven't understood, check out my Food Studies Glossary for definitions.
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