Published on 12, July, 2020
So I have heard the reports that meat is high on the carbon footprint scale, although I believe chicken isn't sooo bad.
But I also received an email from an online 'heritage butcher' that I've used before. The owner is starting a campaign called 'Save our Season', to try and lobby for a seasonality tax. The idea being, we pay x for British Asparagus, and y (which is nigh on the same) for imported asparagus, when British isn't in season. I say asparagus... I do use lidls as well as waitrose...
But this got me thinking... his aim was it would promote reduced food miles, seasonal eating and quality/welfare. He also suggested that the commonly published footprints for various meats aren't what they appear... as they take into account the average food miles as well as cow farts...?
I'm not anticipating getting any livestock, but I am wondering how much of our veg I can grow myself?
Has anyone got some suggestions for useful things to grow? (That are legal!) I'm going to have another go at Trinidad Perfume Chilli's, and I've got a good stock of Red Bull sweet pepper seeds from the last couple of years. But trying to think of some more things to grow, in particular (but not limited to) those that tend to be imported (?)
I'm also tempted to have another go at growing mushrooms, but probably from a proper kit rather than grain spawn like I did last year...
chocolate, coffee, and farmed prawns are really high up on the list and most people aren't aware of it. here's a useful chart.
The carbon footprint of foods: are differences explained by the impacts of methane? - Our World in Data
I saw something very similar on the BBC homepage a few days back. My issue though is: I can't work out if this included the average transportation emissions. For instance beef from Argentina? I see on that link that it includes "transport to slaughter", is that all they've included is my main thought?
good qns. this is why when i buy meat i only buy british.
i have to laugh when the planet saving vegans talk about how much good they do while stuffing their faces with quinoa that has been lugged all the way over from south america.
Yeah but thats more due to economies of scale than anything about transport costs!
Buying local may well be more expensive though, but that is fine by me.
https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-04/FINAL-WWF-UK_Carbon_Footprint_Analysis_Report_March_2020%20%28003%29.pdf
May be of interest. Apparently half of British food emissions are "offshored"....
Well yeh, that was my thoughts! I did my own mini study when I was trying to hydroponically grow a grape vine... Electric for lights was going to work out £20/btl for a good harvest... So was trying to find any reason (propoganda) I could to persuade myself it was beneficial... Including calculating the Carbon footprint of importing bottles of wine from various places: France, Spain, Australia... Still didn't stack up!
I also started this post because I've been more tempted to adopt the vegetarian one day a week (at least) thing. I've been becoming a bit more conscious, and swapping out beef and lamb for more chicken/turkey to lower my footprint.
I guess another crux of the question is not just the location, but also the farming method. Like the Brazil issue... Burning down forests to make way for cattle ranches.
interesting. but still british lamb vs nz lamb - guess which is worse for the planet given that we live in the UK. that's my approach when i buy meat. i only eat meat on weekends now, veggie during the week.
Tbf, I just did a quick search and the site you linked also has a page on "home-grown vs imports":
https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local
They seem to suggest it isn't a massive part...