Sustainable Eating Reducing your ecofoot print through diet

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Sustainable EatingReducing your eco-foot print
through diet

• Kirsty Shaw
• Accredited Practising Dietitian
• Open to Organics
• Nutrition Solutions for Body, Mind Planet

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Session overview
Which part of our daily lives is the single
biggest contributor to climate change?

• What is sustainable eating?
• Principles of sustainable eating
• Putting it into practice

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What is Sustainable Eating?

• Never-ending packet of Tim Tams??

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Sustainable EatingDefining the concept

• Sustainability means capable of being maintained
  over the long term and meeting the needs of the
  present (Herremans Reid 2002)
• What needs to be maintained?
• The food system biodiversity, soil, land,
  energy, water, and air.

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Sustainable EatingDefining the concept

• A sustainable diet is composed of foods that
  contribute to human health and also encourage the
  sustainability of food production (Herrin
  Gussow 1989)
• Sustainable food should be produced, processed
  and traded in ways that
• Contribute to thriving local economies and
  sustainable livelihoods both in the UK and, in
  the case of imported products, in producer
  countries
• Protect the diversity of both plants and animals
  (and the welfare of farmed and wild species), and
  avoid damaging natural resources and contributing
  to climate change
• Provide social benefits, such as good quality
  food, safe and healthy products, and educational
  opportunities.
• (Sustain 2008)

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Sustainable EatingDefining the concept

• A way of choosing and eating foods that benefits
  the health and well being of the individual, of
  the community, of the food producer and of the
  environment, often in a symbiotic relationship.

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Why sustainable eating?

• ensure our food supply into the future
• Slow climate change prevent natural disasters
• Prevent destruction of our natural eco-systems
• Interesting diverse diet
• For OPTIMAL HEALTH!

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1. Sourcing local foods

• Transportation of food contributes significantly
  to carbon emissions.
• Centre for Education and Research in
  Environmental Strategies in Melbourne conducted
  first Australia-specific food miles
• Data was collected to establish food miles and
  greenhouse gas emissions estimates for a typical
  food basket in Victoria.

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CERES Food Miles in Australia

• Total distance of the road transportation in the
  food basket was estimated at 21,073 kilometres
  (km), almost the same distance to travel around
  Australias coastline (25,760 km)!

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Total distance for all transportation was
estimated at 70,803 km, nearly twice around the
circumference of the Earth (40,072 km) (CERES
2008)
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2. Eating foods in season

• Seasonal produce results in less energy and water
  being "embedded" in our foods (through growing,
  transport and refrigeration).
• Seasonally appropriate crops are more likely to
  work with, rather than against, local biological
  and environmental systems and species, minimising
  the requirement for pesticides, glass houses,
  etc
• foods grown in sync with the seasons are more in
  tune with our intuitive nutritional needs

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3. Buying organically or biodynamically grown
foods

• Review of the Rodale Institute Farming Systems
  Trial, the longest running (22 yr) comparison of
  organic vs. conventional farming in the United
  States concludes
• Organic farming produces the same yields of corn
  and soybeans as does conventional farming, but
  uses 30 percent less energy, less water and no
  pesticides
• Require less fertilisers
• Nutritionally superior (Shane Heaton, Literature
  review, Dec 2005)

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4. Eating more vegetarian/vegan meals

• Global animal agriculture contributes more
  greenhouse gas emissions (in CO2 equivalents) -
  18 of the total - than all forms of
  transportation (13.5).
• (FAO Livestocks Long Shadow 2007)
• In Australia livestock emissions represent 69.7
  of the Agriculture sectors emissions and 10.9
  of net national emissions.

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Agriculture is the main contributor of methane
(59) and nitrous oxide (83.9) (Australia's
National Greenhouse Accounts 2006)
Methane is between 20-25x more detrimental for
the environment than CO2
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Environmental costs of Livestock Farming

• Waste contributes nitrates, can introduce
  disease-causing parasites (eg Cryptosporydium and
  Giardia) to surface water, which threaten
  eco-systems human health
• (Tegtmeier Duffy 2004)
• Overgrazing
• Soil impaction and erosion

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Environmental Costs of Livestock Farming

• Overall, animal protein production requires
  25kcal for each kcal produced as food, whereas
  grain protein production requires only 2.2 kcal
  per food kcal
• (Pimental Pimental 2003)
• Grass-fed vs grain-fed

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Environmental costs of Livestock Farming

• A day's food for a meat eater requires over
  15,000 litres of waterA day's food for a
  vegetarian requires 5,000 litres of water.A
  day's food for a vegan requires only 1,500 litres
  of water.(http//www.veganaustralia.net/ June08)

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Better Health

• Vegetarians suffer less from
• Cancer- 40 less risk than meat eaters (Oxford
  Vegetarian Study)
• Heart disease- 30 less risk than meat eaters
  (Oxford Vegetarian study)
• High blood pressure
• other common health problems
• Vegetarians are 20 less likely to die of any
  cause (Oxford Vegetarian Study)
• The less animal products eaten, the healthier
  people are (The China Study)

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Eco-sources of meat

• Kangaroo
• http//www.kangaroo-industry.asn.au
• Bacteria in kanga's gut produce acetate, which
  is then used by them as an energy source.
• Nutritionally superior

Emu
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5. Eating more fresh foods

• Decreasing highly processed foods in your diet-
  inputs into processing energy, water,
  ingredients
• Reduction of partially hydrogenated fats

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6. Choosing Fish Seafood from Sustainable
sources

• Choosing fish in abundance in Australian waters
• Examples
• Eastern Western Australian Wild Caught Salmon
• Bream
• Calamari
• Butterfish/Mulloway/Jewfish

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7. Purchasing food that carries the Fair trade
logo

• Farmer gets a fairer price, which hopefully
  ensures there is enough money for sustainable
  farming practises.
• Guarantees a fair price regardless of market
  price.

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8. Choosing to buy foods with little or no
packaging

• Energy inputs to produce petrochemical products
• Landfill
• Plastics and health

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9. Reducing energy usage in cooking preparing
foods

• Minimise oven pre-heating times
• Check door seals
• Use oven timers
• Double up
• Appropriate sized/good condition cookware
• Turning electric hob off a few mins earlier
• Defrosting food in fridge
• Eating more fresh/sprouted/ fermented and
  uncooked foods

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10. Reducing the amount of food you waste

• Contributes more to landfill than food packaging
• When food rots it produces methane

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Practical Ideas for reducing food waste

• Use leftovers on sandwiches
• Order entrée-size at restaurants
• Takeaway leftovers
• Any vegetables can be made into a
  Frittata/Soup/Bubble squeak
• Juice leftover fruit and vege
• Stew overripe fruit and have it with yoghurt as a
  dessert
• Freeze overripe bananas and use in banana bread
• Ferment vegetables to increase the lifespan
• Freeze leftovers and use for TV dinner

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11. Growing some of your own foods

• YOURE THE EXPERTS!!!!!
• Doesnt have to be complicated
• E.g. sprouts, herb pots, tomato plants

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12. Avoiding foods containing GMO

• Safety hasnt been assessed
• Encourages monoculture and threatens diversity in
  eco-systems
• Threatens organic and biodynamic farm systems

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13. Choosing filtered tap water rather than
bottled

• bottled water in Australia takes 314,000 barrels
  of oil to package and transport each year
• (SEQ Sustainable Food Project 2008)

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Changes in Practise

• Think of 2-3 ways your could change your eating
  habits to make them more sustainable?

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References

• Dept of Climate Change. Australias National
  Greenhouse Accounts 2006.
• Gaballa, S. Abraham, AB. Food Miles in
  Australia A preliminary study of Melbourne,
  Victoria. March 2008.
• Herremans IM, Reid RE. Developing awareness of
  the sustainability concept. J Env Edu.
  20023416-20.
• Herrin M, Gussow JD. Designing a sustainable
  regional diet. J Nutr Educ. 198921270-275.
• Lang, S. Organic farming produces same corn and
  soybean yields as conventional farms, but
  consumes less energy and no pesticides, study
  finds. Bioscience 2005 Vol 557.
• Pimental, D Pimental M. Sustainability of
  meat-based and plant-based diets and the
  environment. Am J Clin Nutrition. 2003, 78
  (suppl) 660S-663S.
• SEQ Sustainable Food Project http//www.qldfoodcha
  llenge.com/ (accessed June 08)
• Tegtmeier, RM. Duffy, MD. External Costs of
  Agriculture in the United States. Int Journal
  Agricultural Sustainability. 2004 21-20.
• The United Nations Food and Agriculture
  Organization report, 'Livestock's Long Shadow'
  http//www.veg-soc.org/cms/html/ June08