Digest This

When we look at the meal on our plate, we often fail to consider it’s origins. The truth is it's easy to disassociate our food from our life, but that often means we are forgetting to look at the ecological impact it has. We need to be more aware of how our decisions about food affect our planet. This article hopes to educate you about how our choices affect the environment, as well as the role of large corporations and their methods in producing goods to satisfy our demands.

Food accounts for about 26% of the world’s global emissions.

Half of the world’s habitable land is being used for agriculture which seems ridiculous, when we consider that food shortage is still a problem today. Agriculture causes the deterioration of soil. While we assume that soil is renewable it takes around 100-1000 years to develop, so we cannot take it for granted. Most of the methods used to grow crops are harmful and cause damage. We try to replenish the lost nutrients by using commercial fertilizers, but experts have proven that we can not restore all of the nutrients that have been lost. Which highlights the problems with our day to day agriculture.

Over a quarter of the world's entire land area is used to graze or grow crops for animals. Which seems abysmal, when we realize that we only receive a minor part of these nutrients being grown. It takes less space to grow food for humans directly instead of feeding animals for humans to eat. The inefficiency of our current system is dismaying, and says a lot about the effect of consumers on the producers.

As long as there is a demand for meat, it will be supplied, even if it makes little to no sense.

People try to capitalize on the demand for it, and take extreme measures to increase their production. In Brazil, farmers start forest fires in order to clear land for new pastures. The fires pollute the pastures and decimate populations of the forest fauna, many of which are endangered, and the implications of this are horrifying. Reducing the gene pool could make it tougher for species to adapt and adaptation will take longer. With less space there’s also going to be more competition for resources amongst the animals.

Additionally we have to consider the greenhouse gasses that are emitted by the manure and animals. These include ammonia, carbon dioxide, and methane. These contribute to climate change by adding to the greenhouse effect. By 2050 the quantity of food related greenhouse emissions should reach 11.4 gigatons of CO2- equivalents. Meat contributes to ⅔ of this predicted number, and this just means that things are going to get worse. While climate change rises, the future looks dire.

So now that we know what the problems are, what can we do?

Well in California, the smog-forming emissions from imported food is equivalent to the annual emissions from 1.5 million cars. Imported food adds to global warming, and when you buy local we’re supporting the community instead of franchises. Organic foods help the environment too, because they don’t use pesticides. Regular use of pesticides reduces water and soil quality, threatens the health of farmers and encourages the mutation of pests. Organic agriculture is void of pesticides and encourages alternatives such as natural pest control and organic nutrients. It is therefore prudent to purchase organic food. Avoiding the consumption of products containing palm oil as these have some of the highest carbon footprints amongst food products. We should also switch to the more sustainable and efficient vegetarian diet or the use of only lab grown meat.

In the end food is your choice, and that shouldn't change. But if your choice is healthy for you and the environment- it’s not going to hurt anyone. Attaining sustainability is difficult if we look at the big picture but even the little steps we take add up together. Food is a simple way to start a movement to protect our planet.

By Alika Sharma