Wednesday 13 May 2015

Care for God's Creation by considering what you eat

You might not realise it, but what you choose to eat can damage the planet. The processes involved in moving our food from where it’s grown to our plates, packaging and preparing it all take enormous amounts of energy. And it's not news that the amount of meat and fish we eat is also damaging our planet - and our health.

The good news is that it is possible to eat a diet that's good for the planet. Eating more sustainably is a great way to feel better and care for God's creation too. But what is a sustainable diet?

- Eating more plant based foods

- Eating less and better meat and fish

- Eating more fresh food and less highly processed food

- Wasting less food

- Eating locally and seasonally

Where can I start?

One good place to start might be to try to eat less meat and fish – and it’s a great time to do just that because Friends of the Earth is running Meat Free May. There are lots of easy and tasty meat-free recipes, free tips and advice on the Friends of the Earth website that will help you: www.foe.co.uk/page/meat-free-may. You don’t have to sign up to go completely meat-free: just substituting some of the meat and fish you usually eat with something that’s grown more sustainably will help.

Why eat less meat?

The problem is not meat-eating per se but the scale on which we practise it. To keep up with demand livestock production has become highly intensive. Its dependence on oil-based fertilisers, chemicals and imported feed mean that it carries a particularly large carbon footprint.

Here are some facts:

In the last 50 years worldwide production of meat has quadrupled.

Livestock production is worse for the planet than trains or cars, causing between 14.5% and 21.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, whereas transport accounts for around 13%.

70% of the deforestation of the Amazon has been caused by the livestock industry.

Over 70% of the world’s fish stocks are over or fully exploited.

Resources needed to create animal protein are enormous: it takes 54 calories of fuel energy to create one calorie of beef energy and each kilo of beef will additionally need 10 kilos of feed and 100,000 litres of water to produce.

75% of agricultural land in the EU is used for livestock production.

A vegetarian in the UK requires less than half the area of land to grow their food than someone following a conventional diet.

A shift to low-meat diets in the UK could prevent 45,000 early deaths each year.

Another interesting website: https://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/flexitarianism-environmentally-friendly-diet-47222.pdf