What did you learn about dietary choices from using the footprint calculator? Now imagine that you could translate what you learned into an effective societal policy on food- what would it be? And how would this policy effect the need to alleviate world hunger?
925 million people on earth do not have enough to eat according to the FAO [Food and Agricultural Organization]. That's almost 1 in 7 inhabitants of our planet!
Food & Hunger >
How can food be made more sustainably
Another major contribution to the overall carbon footprint of a individual is food consumption. The average male needs around 3,000 calories while the average female needs around 2,500. Calories. How can we meat that daily need sustainably? Food production in general release 25-35 percent of the annual greenhouse gas emission per year. To combat this we should practice better farming practices as well as turn to plant based diets. According to the National Library of Medicine,”Transitioning to plant-based diets (PBDs) has the potential to reduce diet-related land use by 76%, diet-related greenhouse gas emissions by 49%.” This means that consuming plant based diets could reduce the overall greenhouse gas emissions. Better farming practice such as starting to increase the productivity of rumients, animals such as cows and goats that release methane, “The same measures needed to increase productivity of ruminants and reduce land-use demands will also reduce methane emissions, mainly because more milk and meat is produced per kilogram of feed” This quote is from the WorldResourcesInstitute.org. This quote form this reputable site directly proves the fact that increasing productivity in ruminants (a better farming practice) could reduce emissions that farming and food production release towards the environment. Enhanced practices as well as humans leading towards plant based diets could reduce emissions in the form of methane released by these animals.