What is the Most Sustainable Food?
I am one of many who believe that breatharianism is a myth. There is no way human can sustain life without sufficient amount of nutrition to fuel body metabolism and keep the body functioning. Yes, food is inevitable necessity for human life. As the world's population grows, global food consumption increases. Increase of demand on food production is not only caused by the population growth. The world's food consumption per person per day has increased from 2,250 calories in 1961 to 2,750 calories in 2007, and is projected to become 3,070 calories by 2050 (Alexandratos and Bruinsma 2012). The rise of middle income society is partly responsible to this significant rise in food consumption. Consumption of animal protein, for example, has more than doubled since 1970 (PBL 2009).
Global trends in food consumption (CCAFS n.d.)
Despite the increase of overall food consumption, vast income disparity still causes several parts of the world (especially South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa) experiencing food crisis and hunger. A report suggested that from 2012 to 2014, one in nine of the world's population (around 805 million people) were chronically undernourished with insufficient food for an active and healthy life (FAO 2014). Below is an infographic from FAO showing facts confirming that threats of food crisis are real.
FAO Hunger Map 2014 (FAO 2014)
Due to significant growth of global population, an increase of overall food consumption rate, and threats of climate change in depressing agricultural yields, food crisis is imminent. What can we do to prevent more damages and at least doing less bad in this context?
Let's take a look back to the paradox: increasing overall consumption while at the same time, huge number of people suffering from undernourishment. How could this happened? It can be traced back to the way some parts of world consume (their lifestyle). If everyone in the world lived like an American, for example, we will need at least 4 earths to keep everything going (McDonald 2015). Despite they only make up for 5% of the world population, Americans are responsible for the consumption of 15% of the world's meat, the production of 40% of the world's waste, and the consumption of 20% of the world's energy. Believe it or not, an American consumes as much energy as 370 Ethiopians.
Ecological footprints infographic (de Chant 2012)
Back to the question being asked by the title of this blog post: "what is the most sustainable food?". I would say sustainable food is the type of food which is sourced responsibly by considering minimum environmental impacts (low carbon foot print, low embodied energy, etc.) while at the same time it could suffice the requirements of a healthy life for everyone. Having that being said, which food then is the most sustainable one?
Which one is the most sustainable food? (truefoodmovement.com 2013)
It has been known that animal products produce much larger carbon footprint compared to green foods. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out on 20 types of food to find out their environmental impacts (Hammerschlag 2011). Unsurprisingly, the meats are found to be the most unsustainable choice and green products such as vegetables and fruits are proved to be the most sustainable healthy choice.
An infographic showing carbon footprints of food shown as car-miles (EWG 2011)
Whenever possible, it is also important to keep everything sourced locally. My previous post on urban farming emphasizes the benefits of growing our own food. Besides providing organic healthy food and reducing carbon footprint, it can be a great exercise and good way to socialize and strengthen the sense of community among neighbors: something which has long been missing in big cities society.
If you are a meat eater and want to know further what steps you can do to start making your own contribution. The following tips from Environmental Working Group might be useful. The full brochure can be downloaded here.
Tips for the meat eaters (EWG 2011)
References:
Alexandratos N, & Bruinsma J 2012, World agriculture towards 2030/2050: The 2012 revision, ESA Working Paper No. 12-03. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome,
CCAFS n.d., Food Security - Diets Bigd Facts, CCAFS,
de Chant, Tim 2012, digital image, 'If the world’s population lived like…', 8 August,
<http://persquaremile.com/2012/08/08/if-the-worlds-population-lived-like/>
Environmental Working Group, brochure, Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change and Healt At-A-Glance,
FAO 2014, FAO Hunger Map 2014,
Hammerschlag, K 2011, Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change and Health, Environmental Working Group,
McDonald, C 2015, 'How many earths do we need?', BBC, 16 June,
Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving 2009, Milieubalans 2009, PBL, Bilthoven, The Netherlands,
digital image, <http://truefoodmovement.com/mixed-marriages-omnivore-vs-vegetarian>
