Eating lower on the food web can make a huge impact

Eating lower on the food web can make a huge impact
                        

One of the sights we wanted to see during our fall trip to California was an organic winery. I knew of several, but one that would be close to where we were staying was the Fetzer Winery.

This year they were celebrating 50 years of organic grape growing in the California area of northern wine country, Mendocino County. Their philosophy simply states, “What’s good for the earth is good for the grape.”

I have purchased their wine in local stores, and while the wine is great, the story behind the winery is better.

Being an organic winery, they do not use any fossil fuel-based fertilizers or pesticides. They were the first winery to report gas emissions to the Climate Registry in 2005 and the “first and only winery to be purchasing 100 percent green power.”

They rely on several state-of-the-art technologies to step as lightly on the planet as possible, employing both water metering as well as becoming a zero-waste certified winery.

Unfortunately, when we drove to the winery, it was closed. Their grapes and processing facilities had been affected by the October 2017 fires in wine areas of California. Luckily they had harvested their grapes before the fires and will be able to reopen in 2019.

During our visit to the grape-growing region, we did get a chance to talk to local residents about the fire situation. Sadly they accept that every five years or so, they will experience a fire. Winds and changing rain patterns, along with less snowfall, are not providing enough water to avoid periodic fires.

When fall begins, so does the dry season. The green grass of summer dries out to a golden color that blankets the hillsides and, according to the locals, is the real reason California is called the “Golden State.”

This grass also contributes to the fast-spreading fires, like those responsible for killing at least 87 people and burning over 400 square miles this fall. Farmers are well aware of these changes, and they are trying to address them, but there is so much more we as consumers can do as well. After all, we eat every day of our lives, and just by addressing some key factors, we can make major steps in reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases.

As I mentioned in a previous column, the new book, “Drawdown,” ranks the top activities we can employ to reverse the warming of our atmosphere. The Food Sector section includes information on greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural production (crops and livestock), food preparation, consumption and waste. About one-fourth of the greenhouse gases in agriculture come from clearing forested land for large-scale production of both crops and meats.

One way to make a major reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would be to adopt a plant-based diet. Eating low on the food web is listed as number four on its impact to stop climate change. If only half of us restricted our diets to plant-based choices, by 2050 we could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26.7 gigatons.

A report by Greenpeace said nearly “80 percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is a result of land-clearing for cattle grazing.” The Global Forest Watch reported that an area the size of Italy was cleared in 2016 primarily for beef production. This makes that fast food hamburger much more expensive when it comes to contributing to climate change.

Another category ranked as number three in importance is reducing food wastes. More than one third of all the food we produce ends up as wastes. In some cases this happens before the food ever makes it to our grocery stores. This is a result of “esthetics.” In simple terms ugly produce is sorted out and pitched. That crooked carrot or the misshapen squash never makes it past this sorting stage but instead is either used as animal feed or in many cases is left to rot.

When we waste food like this, we are wasting much more than the actual weight of produce. We waste the resources used to grow that food: the seeds, water, energy, labor, land, fertilizer and financial capital. We also contribute to climate change as each stage produces some amount of greenhouse gases, and in the end methane is produced as the food rots in a landfill. According to Drawdown, “roughly 8 percent of global emissions comes from food wastes.”

The way we cook our foods also impacts GHG emissions. Living in a developed country, we are lucky to have access to stoves and ovens, as well as microwaves. While these do contribute to emissions, they are much more efficient at cooking food than methods used in developing countries.

According to Drawdown, “Three billion people cook over open fires or on rudimentary stoves.” They use fuels like wood, charcoal, animal dung, crop residues and coal. Often the cooking is done indoors, creating health issues for the women and children who are exposed to the soot, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, black carbon and methane. These practices contribute to 2-5 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions.

If clean cook stoves were adopted by 16 percent of the developing world by 2050, 15.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide would be reduced. Along with additional health benefits, the IPCC Climate report shows that clean cook stoves can help curb GHG emissions.

Currently the organization, Clean Cooking Alliance, is trying to develop and distribute clean cooking tools that will protect human health and the environment. Stoves are manufactured that allow the reburning of gas emissions, rather than exhausting them to the atmosphere or homes.

The final takeaway: Changing our eating habits can make an enormous impact on addressing climate change. If you aren’t a vegetarian, try going meat free for one day a week.

Meat Free Mondays are becoming popular, especially in schools. Contrary to what many people believe, the human body can and does survive quite well without meat. Our son has been a vegetarian since age 11 and at 41 still lifts weights and appears much younger than his chronological age.

In the end, going meat free and wasting less food will help the planet and save you money too.


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