As part of SIGBI Day of Action, we listened to a podcast and discussed what is happing to our food. We looked at where we buy our food from ( e.g. local shops, supermarkets, delivery) and where it originates from. Whether we buy food from another country which has the appropriate climate compared to growing it in the UK under ‘forced’ conditions. In this situation, importing food and shipping may be more viable economically and create less greenhouse gases from carbon emissions. Buying seasonally grown vegetables and fruit in this country is also advocated.
We discussed waste, for example preparing too much food and throwing it away or throwing away food that goes beyond its sell- by date. Making batches of food and freezing it is a good process to use as well as using up ingredients already in the fridge or cupboard and inventing new dishes.
Too much food consumption can be dealt with through portion control, for example weighing out rice and pasta or using the size of a fist to calculate portions. One outcome from the discussions included introducing cooking sessions for members to participate in together. You can listen to the podcast here: BBC Radio 4 – New Year Solutions, Food
This week, the Club were encouraged to take a simple Carbon Calculator Quiz and send in their scores. At present, 2 members have already completed the quiz and have come out with low scores of producing 6.7 tonnes of CO2 annually. The average per person in the UK produces 8.3 tonnes of CO2 annually. You can try the quiz here: Home | clever carbon
First published July 2021.