We all have a carbon footprint. It’s the total amount of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, etc.) produced to directly or indirectly support everything we do. From what food we eat, to the houses we live in and what car we drive. The larger our footprint, the more we contribute to global warming and therefore climate change.
Here are some examples of activities that add 1kg of carbon to our personal footprint:
• Travel by bus for 7 miles
• Fly for 2.2 km
• Eat a third of a takeaway cheeseburger
• Operate a computer for 32 hours.
Some is out of our hands. But we can be conscious consumers and try to choose brands which are trying to reduce their footprint. Unfortunately this is not as easy as it sounds. Carbon footprint labelling has had limited success. It is very difficult to accurately calculate the footprint of an item due to all the factors to be considered, such as the quantity of water, energy, etc. used in its production. How far has it travelled to be on the shelf and by what means? What sort of packaging has been used? This is a minefield for supermarkets who want to reduce their footprint, as they have no control over the footprints of many of the products they sell.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that more and more consumers are thinking about what they eat and where it comes from. Shopping locally has really increased recently, partly helped by the Covid pandemic. Where the consumer leads, hopefully producers will follow. Consumers are also becoming more aware of packaging and trying to use less plastic, etc., which can also impact on carbon footprints. Zero waste shops are becoming more common across the country (there’s one opening in Leek soon!) and more shops are willing for people to take their own containers to be filled. Schemes like ‘Refill’ are also helping.
Buying local, seasonal food can make a huge contribution and we are often told that less ‘food miles’ are good. It’s not that simple though. According to Mike Berners-Lee, (author of How Bad are Bananas?), tropical fruits, which we cannot produce here, are not too bad, because they travel by boat. Tomatoes grown here in season are fine but if they’re grown in heated greenhouses over winter they have a larger carbon footprint than those produced abroad in the sunshine!
Some simple ways to help reduce our carbon footprints
1. Try to eat less meat. Obviously a plant based diet has a much lower footprint overall.
2. Reduce food waste, as it produces methane in landfill and is associated with 19 million tonnes of carbon emissions. Try to use up leftovers or compost what you can.
3. Grow your own fruit and vegetables. Zero food miles and zero packaging, one hundred percent goodness! What could be better?
4. Buy unpackaged items such as fruit and veg, or use your own containers where possible. (The good news is that a Zero Waste shop will be opening in Leek in March.)
5. Look at where the food has come from. Don’t buy green beans air-freighted from half way around the world in the middle of winter. Eat British grown seasonal produce. We have been spoiled by supermarkets supplying us with anything we want, all year round.
6. Buy organic produce when you can because the soil it‘s grown in is healthier. The Soil Association says that, if all food was produced organically, at least 1.3. million tonnes of carbon would be taken up by the soil each year.
7. Cooking methods also have an impact. Gas or electric? Green energy? Microwaves and pressure cookers are very efficient. Keeping a lid on a saucepan saves energy as does filling the oven if it’s on, rather than cooking just one thing.
Carbon Calculators
Some calculators are simple to use and others less so, although, for that reason, they may not be very accurate. However, they are interesting to complete and make us think about our daily impact on the planet. A selection can be found on our website’s Web Links page along with our reviewer’s comments.