Food has a major implications on global warming

Yes you heard it right, the food we eat actually is responsible for about one quarter of the planet warming-greenhouse gases that human generate each year. That includes raising and harvesting all the plants, animals and animal products we eat –chicken, beef, fish, milk, lentils, kale, corn, and more. Well if you’re eating this then you are the part of the system.

Here’s how its effecting, when forests are cleared to make room for farms and livestock on a daily basis in some part of the world, I guess you know the element carbon which you must have come across in your chemistry textbooks, yes this carbon are released into atmosphere, which heats up the planet, when cows sheep and goats digest their food, they burn up methane, another greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. Animal manures and rice paddies are also big methane sources. Finally fossil fuels used to operate on farm machinery, make fertilisers and ship food across the globe, all of which generate emissions.
A slew of high level reports produced over the last few months all argue that if the world is to make an impact on climate change, the food system needs to be radically reshaped. The way we produce food and is manipulated and moved around the world, and what we as citizen decide to put on our plate matters. Food systems contribute to 21% to 37% of global greenhouse gases and are significant contributors to deforestations, biodiversity loss and declining ground water reserves.

“Surely we have a responsibility to leave for future generations a planet that is healthy and habitable by all species”

                                                            -Sir David Attenborough

One bowl of rice can have six times the climate impact of another. Beef from a bottle can result in more greenhouse gas emissions than beer from the Biere club. The world’s food and agricultural systems produce more than a quarter of man- made greenhouse gas emissions, the study notes, and nearly two thirds of those emissions are linked to animal products. If consumers switched to a plant-based diet-or even cut their consumptions or animal products in half – the shift could have substantial environmental benefits.

Research has, for some time made it clear that a plant-based diet high in animal products. In addition to greenhouse gas emissions from acidification and eutrophication – the excess runoff from agricultural fertilizers that starves plant life of oxygen.

BEEF: The main cause in the food system to cause climate change

Beef requires 20 times more land and emits 20 times more GHG emissions per gram of protein than common plant proteins.

Beef is now being compared to cars and airplanes and as with so many public sphere lately. Animal food are nutritious and are important to livelihoods and diet in developing nations but at the same time inefficient resource users. Because of beef the forest is being cut down to allow more pasture example, the great Amazon fires.

How does beef production cause greenhouse gases?

Cows and other ruminant animals like goat and sheep emit methane, a potent greenhouse gases as they digest grasses and plants. This process is called “enteric fermentation” and it’s the origin of cow burps. More indirectly and also importantly rising beef production requires increasing quantities of land, new land is often created by cutting down trees

A 2013 study by the U.N food and agricultural organisation (FAO) estimated the total annual emissions from animal agriculture were about 14.5% of all human emissions, of which beef contributed 41% that means emissions from beef production are roughly on par with those of India.

Even after accounting for continued improvements in beef production efficiency, pastureland could still be roughly 400 million hectres, an area of land larger than the size of India, to meet growing demand. The resulting deforestation could increase global emissions enough to put the global goal of limiting temperature rise or 1.52 degrees Celsius out of reach

Let’s now focus on food waste.

Fight climate change by preventing food waste –

Today, and estimated one third of all the food produced goes to waste. That’s equal to about 1.3 billion tons of fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy, seafood, and grains that either never leave the farm, get lost or spoiled during distributions, or are thrown away in hotels, grocery stores, restaurants, schools, or home kitchens. It could be enough calories to feed every undernourished person on the planet.

But wasted food isn't just a social or humanitarian concern—it's an environmental one. When we waste food, we also waste all the energy and water it takes to grow, harvest, transport, and package it. And if food goes to the landfill and rots, it produces methane—a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide. About 11% of all the greenhouse gas emissions that come from the food system could be reduced if we stop wasting food. In the US alone, the production of lost or wasted food generates the equivalent of 37 million cars’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions.

As the world’s population continues to grow, our challenge should not be how to grow more food, but to feed more people while wasting less of what we already produce. Thankfully, there are plenty of actions we can take at the consumer level to make a significant difference. From delivering leftovers to those in need to freezing food, shopping smarter, and composting to keep inedible scraps out of landfills, we can all take small steps to curb our emissions.
Changes you can implement in your daily food habits to reduce climate change:

The world’s leading scientists are highlighting the increase impact on the environment of the food we eat and how it adds to climate change. Food is responsible for around 30% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, and if we don’t take take action this number is predicted to grow.
Agriculture is the biggest cause of rest loss, meaning that our current food system is responsible for 60% biodiversity loss worldwide.

1.    Eat more plants

2.    Eat a variety of food

3.    Waste less food

4.    Moderate your meat

5.    Buy food that meets a credible certified standards

6.    Eat fewer foods high in fat, salt and sugar

Consuming less red meat and dairy will typically have the biggest impact for most people in wealthy countires.That doesn’t mean necessarily mean going vegan. You might just eat less the foods with the biggest climate footprints, like beef, lamb and cheese. Substitutes for these are pork, chicken, eggs, and mollusks have a smaller footprint. But plant based foods like beans, pulses, grains and soya tend to be most climate friendly options of all

How should consumers make the shift? People could consider being a vegetarian by day and allow themselves small servings of animal source foods in the evening; go meatless on Mondays, as some schools and institutions already have; embrace tasty Asian cuisines, which tend to be more plant-based; or try out alternative plant protein . Start with kids – school meals are a great way to form healthy and sustainable habits early on. Learn where your food (and meat) comes from. Who produced it and how Support food producers who make efforts to produce low-impact meats. If you are going to go for red meat, choose quality over quantity: eat more meat cuts and less processed meat. And waste nothing.

But for the world to make this shift, we need governments and the food industry to make it easier. We need investment in public health information and the implementation of policies that promote healthy eating that is affordable, safe, convenient and most of all, tasty.

What we eat matters. Not only for ourselves and the planet, but for the youth who were out marching on the streets in the name of their future and right to live on this planet.

By,
Siddarth dayasagar
Jain University (school of engineering and technology)