Food, Glorious Food!

Many of us love food; many of us buy food and all human beings need food and water to survive. 

This aspect of life offers plenty of opportunities to reduce our personal carbon footprint. 

Here are the headlines:

Dos

~Buy SEASONAL and LOCAL – this is a win for both you and the planet. Local food will usually be fresher and better quality than food from far away. It will contain more vitamins and minerals and taste better because it is fresh

~Consider some NEW RECIPES – maybe vegetarian or vegan. It is too easy to keep cooking and eating the same things because we are used to them and understand how to prepare them. There are some delicious recipes on the internet, in cook books and on TV – why not have a bash at one of them and see if you like it?

~RESPECT FOOD and use up the food you buy – stuff popped into the council food waste container is just that: a wasted opportunity (and money)

~GROW YOUR OWN – if you are lucky enough to have a garden. It is not as difficult as you might think and very satisfying. Runner beans are a great first crop

~BUY UNPACKAGED foods whenever possible to help reduce the plastic mountain and reduce carbon

Donts

~EAT AS MUCH RED MEAT. If you love meat this may be a difficult action to take, but remember a reduction will help eg eating meat 5 times a week rather than 7. The carbon footprint of meat is very high and any reductions we can make in consumption will be useful. 

~EAT AS MUCH DAIRY PRODUCE as you do now. Production of milk and cheese are also high in carbon so reducing your consumption of these items is useful. There is some evidence to suggest that organic production methods are less likely to encourage methane production. It might be worth switching to organic meat/dairy when you can afford to. 

Under the present pandemic conditions, our contact will be mostly digital but in the future we plan to run meetings, workshops and visits. If you want to contact us in the meantime, our email is greenchewmagna@gmail.com.