Food Demand & Climate Change

Have you noticed the food headlines (e.g. here and here) of late? A new study published by engineers, plant scientists, and food specialists from the Universities of Cambridge and Aberdeen used a transparent, data-driven model to demonstrate that projected food demand will drive agricultural expansion, contributing to critical environmental issues such as the loss of biodiversity, climate change and pollution. The authors, Bajželj et al. (2014), warn that it is absolutely essential to find ways to achieve food security without promoting the negative side effects of agricultural expansion and increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Cattle livestock. Source: The Guardian (2014)

Bajželj et al. (2014)'s study aimed to estimate the environmental implications of the projected increase in food demand by 2050. They were also interested in quantifying the extent to which measures including sustainable intensification and demand reduction could reverse these negative effects. The authors' approach was to use a model of the current global land system based on emprical data, with 2009 as a base year. The model included 2 main components, namely an analysis of land distribution leading to the allocation of land-use change, natural ecosystem losses, and GHG emissions, and a map of agricultural biomass flows. Based on their analyses, the authors concluded that an increased demand for inefficient pathways of food supply such as livestock products causes the food production system to become larger and increasingly inefficient. 

The authors then went on to investigate 6 future scenarios based on agricultural intensification, waste reduction and dietary preferences. Their results indicated that increases in agricultural expansion and agriculture-related GHG emissions were only prevented when significant elements of demand reduction were included. Bajželj et al. (2014) suggest the reduction of meat consumption and an overall improvement of diet as potential solutions to avoid reaching dangerous levels of climate change.

We touched on meat consumption in previous posts (e.g. here and here), and saw that demand for animal products has been increasing in recent decades. Based on the evidence presented in scientific studies such as the one described above, would you be willing to decrease your intake of livestock products to take action on climate change? I, for one, am certainly convinced!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on meat consumption and climate change, or any aspect of the food production system at all. Feel free to share in the comments section below. 

Info Graphic

Once again, I've disappeared from the blogosphere for an extended period of time - my apologies, dear readers! 

After my term papers and exams were completed in the beginning of May, I envisioned myself having much more free time to dedicate to blogging about food and the environment. But things have been in  full swing with my Masters dissertation since then, and I have been spending most of my time in the lab and behind a light microscope examining fossil pollen. For my project, I am reconstructing recent anthropogenic vegetation changes using detailed ultra-high resolution pollen analyses from the Portuguese Margin. I'm really enjoying it so far, but I must admit it's quite the learning curve with these biological proxies of environmental change! Below are a couple photos of some of the types of taxa I typically encounter under the microscope:

    

Figure 1. Light microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of fossil pollen grains. Left: Compositae tubuliflorae, middle: Pinus (SEM image), right: Tilia. Images courtesy of the University of Arizona.

But all things pollen aside, let's talk about food and our individual environmental footprints. As we touched on in previous posts (for instance here and here), I often think about the environmental footprint of the food I consume and cook with each day. Living in a big city like London, it's all too easy to fall into the "to go" and "disposable" mentality. With a busy schedule and constantly rushing from point A to point B, the thought of washing extra dishes or even cooking a simple meal can seem daunting - especially when all of your heart's culinary desires can be delivered to your doorstep within minutes.

Sometimes all that's needed is a gentle reminder and some simple ideas for more environmentally-friendly food habits. In the spirit of all this, I found this really interesting info-graphic created by Food Establishments Recycling Nutrients (FERN), a Lebanese non-governmental organisation that specialises in facilitating composting and recycling in restaurants (below). 

This info-graphic is filled with great tips and habits that can really improve our individual environmental footprints. My favourite aspects include: "first in, first out", "expiration dates aren't throw-away dates" and the focus on food waste. Personally, I find that making a grocery list and a meal plan and sticking to it is an excellent way to ensure that all the food you purchase is used. I also found the idea of keeping a list next to the garbage can for a week to monitor how much food is wasted is an excellent one - I may conduct the experiment and report my results on the blog, so stay tuned for that!

What are you favourite aspects of this info-graphic? Are there any wasteful habits you'd like to kick? What is your favourite tip on reducing food waste at home?

Until next time!