What we eat has changed the planet. Food production is not only the greatest contributor to wildlife loss, it also contributes to climate change. According to a study by Nature Food, over 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food. The smallest changes to our eating lifestyle can help reduce our carbon footprint and make the world a better place. Sustainable eating can help us meet our needs without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their own needs. What we eat impacts the planet, but we can choose the impact we make on our environment.
Here are a few ways to improve your eating lifestyle in a more sustainable way:
- Enjoy Seasonal and Local Foods
-
Enjoying seasonal foods is very important. When people shop for out-of-season foods, it is being shipped in from another area or grown in unnatural conditions, causing lots of energy waste. On top of eating seasonally, you can also shop from your local market! Most local markets have fresh and locally grown fruits and vegetables with much less plastic packaging. An added bonus is that buying seasonal foods has never been easier when shopping at a market! Make sure to take your reusable bags!
- Start a Garden
-
Got a green thumb? If so, there is nothing better than fresh, home-grown produce straight from your home. Even a small garden can help reduce the human impact on the environment and not only that, your own garden will help save a lot of money! There will be less trips to the supermarket and you will be less tempted to purchase unnecessary foods.
Here are some links to help you get started on a garden:
– How to Start a Garden – 10 Steps to Gardening for Beginners
- Meatless Mondays
-
Try to take one day of the week, maybe Mondays, and avoid meat all day. Farming animals for meat and dairy can use a huge amount of water and feed. Minimizing your meat intake can significantly help reduce your carbon footprint up to 70%! As the weeks go on, try to push meatless days more often.
- Compost
-
Every year Canadians waste over 2.2 million tonnes of edible food and an average person wastes 79 kg of food per year. To help avoid this, composting is the way to go! There are so many benefits for composting such as saving money, saving resources, improving your soil, and most importantly, it helps to reduce your carbon footprint. You can set up bins in your backyard for easy composting.
Here is a link to EWSWA that will help you with your composting needs here in Windsor:
- Everyday Habits
-
There are so many times a day where we cause unnecessary harm to the environment and most of these occurrences are preventable! If you grab a coffee from Starbucks every morning, consider buying a reusable coffee cup to avoid throwing one out every day. Or if you go out to eat, skip the plastic utensils and invest in bamboo ones instead. You can easily wash them and reuse them the next time you need. Small changes like this can end up making a bigger impact than you think!
Here are some links to affordable reusable coffee cups:
– JOCO Glass Reusable Coffee Cup
– Eco-Friendly Bamboo Travel Mug
Here are some links to affordable bamboo utensils that are easy to take on the go:
Learning to eat more sustainably is an easy lifestyle change once you realize that simple changes can help the world and reduce your carbon footprint. We can change the way we consume food and still meet our needs without compromising the ability for future generations to meet theirs.