Eating to Save the Planet

A tasty veggie burrito with salad
in the Sustainability Centre Cafe

Consumers Choices Decide the Future

However bad global warming gets it's unlikely to destroy Planet Earth. When we talk about saving the planet we really mean saving human beings and the other lifeforms we share our planet with. The choices we make today, this year and for the rest of this decade are likely to decided whether our children inherit a warmer planet which is a bit more difficult to live on but has most of the animals they grew up with and on which most areas are still habitable, or whether they inherit a planet on which most lifeforms will soon die out. 

It's therefore vital that we choose wisely and carefully in order to give our children and grandchildren the best possible chance of a decent future without any more unnecessary suffering than is normal in the world as we know it

What we eat has an affect on our own health, but it also has an affect on the health of the climate and our environment, and so on the health of every living thing.  This means that the choices we make are crucial in shaping the future of life on our planet.

Eat Organic

If we choose some organic produce, not only are we consuming less potentially harmful chemicals, but the  fewer toxic chemicals there will be in the environment from spraying them onto conventionally grown crops and into the surrounding environment, and from rain washing those toxic chemicals into rivers and other water courses. This will help insects and all manner of other wildlife to have a better chance of survival, and we saw I my last blog how important wildlife, and particularly insects, are for a liveable climate and a thriving environment.

Moreover artificial fertilisers, weedkillers, fungicides and pesticides are all made from fossil fuels, so the more of them being used, the worse global warming with become.

You can buy organic fruit and veg in supermarkets or from veg box schemes, or you could grow your own.

Less Meat

If we eat less meat, fewer forests will need to be chopped down to grow grass for grazing. 

We need more farms like Racy Ghyll Farm, run by James Rebanks and his family the Lake District and other people like them, who sometimes call themselves regenerative farmers. They are not intensive farmers. Rebanks moves his stock around regularly so that no area of pasture is overgrazed allowing nature to thrive on his farm. He has also restored hedgerows which had been ripped out when larger fields with room for large farm machinery were the fashion. This more nature friendly form of farming produces less meat than if all the fields were being grazed to the maximum and supplementary feeding was implemented to make up for any shortfall in nutrition, but it's so much better for wildlife and the environment and produces far fewer greenhouse gases than if it were dependent on machinery, artificial fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. Healthy grassland absorbs more CO2 than overgrazed pasture. A more natural diet with a wider range of fodder plants could even result in better digestion for the livestock and less methane production. 

Moreover, large, intensive farms produce vast quantities of slurry, which can easily wash into rivers adding to the problems caused by the excessive amount of untreated sewage currently pouring into them. This increases the risk of diseases spreading to humans, other mammals, birds, insects and all other wildlife. I understand that it's thought possible that industrial scale poultry farms have helped to spread bird flu. Slurry finding its way into rivers can result in people who swim in them picking up diseases such as E.coli. 

More Food from Plants

If we want to be healthier we are encouraged to eat more vegetables and fruit and other food from plants such as beans, peas and lentils, nuts and grains. Eating less meat also helps to reduce climate change and keep our environment healthier, so basing a lot of our meals on vegetables, pulses, grains and nuts benefits everyone except those with intensive livestock farms. Cashews are great in stir fries and some curries. There are also lots of delicious curries, stews and soups using pulses instead of meat and fish.

Eating less meat doesn't mean eating no meat. You can have beans with a little bit of beef in chilli con carne or you can enjoy a meat free, three bean chilli, which is just as tasty in my opinion, and have the occasional meat based meal. The same applies to everything else. You don't have to become a vegan to make a difference. If everyone in the world ate half the amount of meat they do at the moment, then half the land used to raise livestock currently could be returned to nature and no more virgin forest or ancient woodlands or meadows would need to be destroyed for pasture or to build industrial scale farm units on.

Eat Pulses to Save Money

Eating pulses like peas, chickpeas, beans and lentils is usually cheaper than eating meat. To save money my mum would regularly make lentil soup, especially in the cooler months. Dhals and chilli made with beans but not meat are also cheap and easy to make if you prefer your food on the spicy side. By eating cheaper pulses some of the time you will be able to choose higher welfare meat raised in more environmentally friendly ways when you do eat meat.

So it's worth experimenting with some meat free meals for your health and the health of the planet, and maybe even for the health of your bank balance. What's your favourite meat free meal? Let us know in the comments

The Future is in Our Hands

Wind farm on Kefalonia
(Author's own photo)

So how do we stop pumping out greenhouse gases? How can we try to keep the global climate habitable so that Earth continues to be a place where human beings and most of the existing wildlife can live and thrive?

Renewable Energy is the Future

We have to switch from fossil fuels and transition to clean, renewable energy. We've started to do that in the UK and many other countries are doing so too.

Most of us here in the UK have lifestyles which depend on fossil fuels, so if they suddenly became scarce or unaffordable most of us would struggle. 

Speeding up renewable energy production could happen quickly if the government didn't restrict new onshore wind farms and solar energy.  If ageing wind farms are modernised they can produce much more energy more efficiently. As I write Scottish Power has started to dismantle 26 wind turbines which have been in place since 1995 and plan to replace them with 14 larger, more modern wind turbines which are expected to produce five times as much energy by 2025.

Governments must do more and faster

We need a government which will encourage the construction of the cheapest forms of renewable energy which it is possible to put into place as quickly as possible. The batteries to store renewable energy when the wind stops blowing or the sun doesn't shine now exist, and they will improve as research and development progress.  If we still need nuclear energy as back up then that could continue, but nuclear plants takes much more time and money to build and there are more safety aspects to consider and put into place.

Voters and Consumers have Influence

As voters we can elect candidates for positions in local and national government who are committed to a renewable future, a healthy environment and keeping global temperatures as comfortable as possible. These aspirations aren't compatible with a Neo Capitalist economic policy. We need business leaders to care more about the people they affect and the environment those people live in rather than believing that making as much profit as possible is the only thing that matters.

As consumers we can choose the most sustainable options we can afford whether we're shopping for food or clothes, or deciding which energy supplier to use, where to go on holiday or which car to buy.

A New Way of Thinking is Needed

It's not all about renewable energy. We need sustainable farming practices too. We also need to let mature trees live unless they are a real danger, leave the grass in part of our gardens and wider community to grow long, avoid using peat and generally take care of local wildlife. Losing so many of our wild flowers, insects. wild birds and other animals isn't just a shame, it's not helping us to tackle climate change either. Nature is our ally and we need to find out how to work with it instead of against it.

Last but not least we need to consider how much of anything we really need. Excess consumption is a serious problem not only responsible for large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, but also for the destruction of nature. Even buying more cheap things than we really need creates unnecessary harm, but the richer someone is, the easier it might be for them to buy more than they need. There's a lot to be said for learning to be satisfied with enough and not succumbing to the allure of clever marketing or peer pressure. 

Our Carbon Handprints Matter

Every small change we can make to reduce our GHG emissions will make a difference. These little things add up and become what is being called our Carbon Handprint. Carbon Handprint is an idea to help people realise that no contribution is too small. Anybody can make a difference to the environment, and the world will be a better place if we all try to do our bit.

We're Better Together

Whatever we do, most of us are likely to find it better to belong to a group of likeminded people who can encourage and inspire us, and whom we can encourage and inspire in return. Find out what's happening near you and if you can't find anything perhaps you can find a few people who want to start a group with you. Groups of local people will find it easier to influence what happens in their community too.