Curious Cook: A more sustainable year?
Many people are now aware that last year, 2023, was the hottest year in known human history. It had been proposed for some time that the current geological period should be called the Anthropocene epoch (derived from the Greek “anthropo”, for “man”, and “cene” for “new”). The Anthropocene is meant to define the period from when humans began having a significant impact on the Earth’s climate, geography, and ecosystems.

Originally, the suggested beginning date for the Anthropocene was over 10,000 years ago, when humans started agriculture, but the latest proposal from the Anthropocene Working Group in 2016 defined the start year to be just 74 years ago in 1950. This year marked the onset of what was termed the “Great Acceleration,” a period characterised by exponential growth in human industrial activity and population.

In 2023, the global human population surpassed 8.05 billion, reflecting a staggering surge of over 5.5 billion people and an increase of 316% in just 72 years, with every year since 1950 having a significant increase in population. The growth rate has fallen a little recently, down from over 92 million additional humans in 1990 to just over 70 million in 2023. The previous two years’ population growth was also slightly lower, reflecting the effects of the 2020-2021 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. As a comparison, it took 400 years for the global human population to grow by just 10 million between 200 AD and 600 AD.

The escalating demand for planetary resources to sustain this population growth is setting record highs every year, placing unprecedented strain on the Earth’s ecosystems and natural resources. This is leading to widespread pollution and environmental degradation, and is challenging the ability of our planet to tolerate the loss of vast swathes of natural resources, plus the often severe contamination of our land, water resources, and atmosphere.

Lack of trust

There is obviously a lot at stake and climate/environmental change resulting from human activities is a really serious and urgent problem. However, it can also seem to be an overpowering issue, and too often the message coming across is that our planet is doomed, it is too late, so we might as well enjoy life while we can. This is a very damaging message, primarily because it is not true.

Furthermore, it promotes inaction, which is what change deniers want. It might seem that the biggest impact on climate/environmental change now is our collective inability to believe that we can make a difference. We often do not trust ourselves enough to make the necessary collective adjustments needed to help our planet.

Small things

It has been mentioned before that beef has the largest impact on our climate than any other food. As an illustration of a small thing making an outsized contribution, switching one serving of beef to a serving of chicken just once a week has been estimated to save 0.71 tonnes of CO2 per person per year. Multiply that by the billions of people eating beef and the effect becomes immediately significant. Now consider the impact if everyone switched away from beef three or more times a week.

Beef has the largest impact on our climate than any other food. — NADIN SH/Pexels

This may not be a small thing, but the recent COP28 Climate Agreement has finally recognised that agricultural and food production practices are a significant contributor to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions driving climate change. The global food system is estimated to be responsible for between 21% - 37% of all annual emissions if change in land use is included (e.g., conversion of rainforest into corn fields and pasture land for beef cattle). To offer a scale, some 18 billion tonnes of GHGs are produced annually by food industries globally.

The mix of GHGs emanating from food systems is particularly harmful as they include much more methane and nitrous oxide, gases that have a greater greenhouse effect than CO2. Whether the COP28 targets of a 25% reduction in methane emissions and halving food waste emissions are achievable remains to be seen, as they practically involve a revolution in terms of the range of crops grown and types of other foods produced.

But it is possible.

A simple, small gesture is to always carry reusable containers and bags when going out. That way, one can take back leftover meals from restaurants, save on packaging when buying loose goods, and reduce the need for new plastic bags when shopping. Finishing leftover food saves on dumping food waste in landfill sites where they will rot and produce more GHGs, particularly methane. And reusing boxes and shopping bags will cut down the amount of plastics polluting our environment.

Despite advances in recycling plastics, the actual percentage of plastics recycled overall is falling every year, primarily because each year the world is producing ever more plastics (around 400 million tonnes last year). As most of these new plastics are single-use products that accumulate in our environment, the recyclable percentage drops every year. Every single piece of plastic produced will inexorably decompose into smaller and finer residues which will remain in our environment for thousands of years, persistently poisoning life on the land, water systems, and the air.

Plastics are a pernicious problem for our planet, and it is not only because of their long-term toxicity. It is also because producing 400 million tonnes of plastics also causes the generation of almost two billion tonnes of GHGs, starting at all stages from the conversion of fossil fuels into compounds subsequently used in the processes to produce plastics.

Wherever possible, choose glass or metal containers for your storage needs, and recycle them properly. Around 90% of recycled glass items are turned into new glass containers and recycling aluminum cans saves 95% of the energy needed to make a new can. As an indicator of the benefit, glass is 18 times more efficient than plastics as only 5% of plastics in the USA are now actually recycled. And glass leaves no toxic residues in the environment for thousands of years.

Simple changes to eating habits can make a huge difference, especially if people adapt to eating foods based on plants and other sustainable sources, such as seaweed or fungi. Part of the challenge (and incentive) would be raising awareness of the carbon footprint of our food, which can be very close to zero with kelp, or up to 99 kilos of equivalent CO2 for a kilo of beef.

However, such a (sometimes profound) dietary change should always be thoughtfully managed. For example, one can gradually begin by using less meat and replacing it with meat substitutes in some favourite dishes until one does not notice or mind the difference anymore. Or adding some sustainable but delicious ingredients such as kelp or mushrooms to bulk up meals. Eventually, one can progress to eating meals based on only ingredients with the lowest possible carbon footprints.

Adding plant-based ingredients like mushrooms to bulk up meals can go a long way towards reducing carbon footprint. — ALESIA KOZIK/Pexels

Reducing food wastage is another move that can help. It is amazing how much food is wasted by humans, even during these days of food cost inflation; for example, in the USA, about 40% of food bought for the home ends up uneaten and thrown away.

Globally, about a quarter of all the GHGs caused by global food systems come from food waste alone, or around 4.4 billion tonnes annually. The effort involved for individuals is not onerous; for example, not buying more food than what is necessary, despite the many glitzy offers in the shops. The other thing one can do is keep foods in the right places and conditions to prevent them from rotting too quickly. One can help the planet and save a lot of money (around 40% of the grocery bill in some countries) by reducing food waste.

Other little things can also help. Composting food waste results in up to 84% less methane production than the same food waste left to rot in landfill sites. Choose to buy more discounted fresh foods close to their expiry dates, because much of it will end up in rubbish dumps within days, releasing methane while decomposing. Such foods are also usually cheaper.

Not rocket science

None of the above-suggested action points are sophisticated, though most people would be surprised at the scale of the damage caused by inaction. Therefore, the last suggested point is to remain constantly informed about the environmental impact of GHGs and pollutants such as plastics, bisphenols, PFAS, dioxins, etc. It is important to understand and learn how not to add to the problem. At the very least, it makes a lot of sense to minimise exposure to such hazardous compounds. That would be good for one’s health and well-being in an often troubling world.

The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.
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Changing consumption patterns and practising more mindfulness could lead to a more sustainable 2024.