#SustDev YOUR FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Meet urban farme r Andy
”In order to go forward we have to go backwards. ”
What does gender have to do with climate change? p. 3
How the meat industry creates poverty and ruins the climate p.7
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I’d always had this idea that sometime in the future the damage to our planet would be so catastrophic it would trigger decisive action, the way World War II did. Everything from the food on our plates to geopolitics would need to change. Things would “come to a head,” the “time would come.” But that, in my mind, was “later.”
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hat time has come. Because of climate change and mass extinction the scientific consensus is that life as we know it is gravely threatened — our safety from extreme weather, our food and the air we breathe. The chorus of voices is growing rapidly. t’s not just Pope Francis or Desmond Tutu; it’s folks like the CEO of Unileverand and retired Commander of the U.S. North Command. It’s not just the vastly influential and famous, it’s all of us who are afraid of what the future holds. But something else is changing: Hope is taking the upper hand. And it’s very busy. For decades the dialogue on the state of our planet has been riddled with mind-numbing “catastrophe speak.” It’s been a cultural seesaw between hope and despair, one that has driven many a good person to insulate themselves from the facts, because they “just can’t stand thinking about it.” The seesaw has
taken a decisive swing in the hope direction. More and more people “just can’t stand” sitting back and doing nothing about it. They’re not calculating the odds of success; they’re rolling up their sleeves. Meet some of them in this
4. Women more vulnerable to dangers of global warming. 7. Can home and urban gardening change the global food industry? 10. The impact of food wastage. 11. Will we all be able to grow our own meat soon? 13. Can veganism curb climate change?
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Disclaimer: This magazine does not contain my original texts
Medlemspris
39:KÖP NU:
”Oerhört viktig läsning för att förstå problemen med dagens livsmedelsindustri och det pris vi egentligen betalar för de billiga livsmedel vi äter - på andras bekostnad”. - Sten Hultell
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Women more vulnerable to dangers of global warming A new obstacle has emerged in the battle for female equality – in the form of climate change. Global warming will inflict far more suffering on women than men because they are more vulnerable to the floods, droughts and diseases that are expected to increase as the climate changes, leading academics have warned.
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limate change’s gender discrimination will be far more pronounced in those swathes of the poorer, developing world where sexual inequality is typically much greater, where the effects of global warming will be more extreme, and where less money is available to protect against the consequences, they said. Women in poorer countries tend to be more vulnerable because, when disaster strikes, sexist social structures mean they are far more likely to be in the home cooking, cleaning or looking after others, put-
ting them at greater risk from collapsing buildings. But that is just one of many reasons why women tend to suffer disproportionately in natural disasters in the developing world. The research suggests that women could be considered more vulnerable in severe storms because they are less likely to have been taught to swim in poorer countries, as well as being more unlikely to own a mobile phone which could be used to call for help. In the most extreme cases of disasters in patriarchal societies, women may be unable to leave the house without a male companion or their movement can even be hampered by long clothing, experts said. “Climate change makes all of the very big and complex problems that exist in the world today a whole lot worse,” said Professor Hilary Bambrick, of Western Sydney University, who points out that 90 per cent of the 150,000 people killed in the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone were women. “If political leaders around the world are serious about gender equality, they must also get serious about climate change,” she added. Not only do women typically suffer more than men in the kind of climate-related
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disasters likely to result from global warming – they are also far more vulnerable to the day-to-day impact of rising temperatures. They are more exposed to the mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and chikungunya, which they come into contact with through the duties of water collection and food harvesting that typically fall to women and which are transmitted through floods and rising humidity.
Women are also more likely to go without food in the event of food shortages because of drought, while water scarcity means they sometimes have to travel huge distances for to collect water. “This task will become more difficult and require longer walking distances, which may heighten the risk of women and girls being assaulted. Most importantly, it robs them of precious time which they could dedicate to education,” said Elena Manaenkova, assistant general secretary of the World Meteorological Organisation. The disparity between men and women will be much lower in wealthy countries where the fallout from global warming is likely to be fairly small. Nearly 3,000 women across the world are calling on political leaders to put women’s vulnerability to global warming at the centre of their action to
”It is evident that involving women in all decision-making on climate action is a significant factor.”
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They have signed up to the Women’s Global Call for Climate Justice – a global coalition of representative groups – which urges that women be heavily involved at all levels of the discussions in Paris and beyond to ensure gender equality is fully considered.
“Women are disproportionately affected by climate change. It is clear that involving women and men in all decision-making on climate action is a significant factor in meeting the climate challenge.”
Floating classrooms - one way of adapting to climate change
Normal rice field
Christiana Figueres, UN’s climate chief who will be in charge of the Paris talks, has pledged to put gender at the centre.
Dry rice field
tackle climate change – ahead of a key UN:s summit in Paris in December, which aims to reach an agreement on how best to tackle global warming.
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Can home the global
”Protein doesn’t always carry a fur.
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and urban gardening change l food industry?
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Urban farming presents a unique opportunity to grow crops on land that is vacant or unused. These crops can also be grown in huge skyscrapers, abandoned lots and even in used shipping containers. It is up to the farmer to be as creative as they wish.
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rban farming presents a unique opportunity to grow crops on land that is vacant or unused. These crops can also be grown in huge skyscrapers, abandoned lots and even in used shipping containers. It is up to the farmer to be as creative as s/he wishes. One of the largest benefits of urban agriculture is the reduced distance of shipping crops from farmer to buyer. Often prdocue in the US, especially during winter months, is grown in far away places where the weather is still warm enough to support fruits and vegetables and is then shipped to grocers throughout the U.S. The amount of gas-guzzling delivery trucks and airplanes that deliver all of this food could drastically be reduced with a shift to urban
agriculture. City farms could provide urbanites with easier access to fresh and local produce. “Creating healthy, happy and sustainable communities in our cities requires resilient food systems for the city region. Until now this aspect of sustainability has largely gone unaddressed by cities, but the time has come for local governments to put food systems on the table and take the lead on sustainable food systems, and the right to food, for their urban populations. “ Food on the urban agenda Today’s world is characterized by urbanization, growing urban markets, urban poverty and food insecurity, rising food prices, growing dependence on food imports and challenges posed by climate change. In-
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creased attention for city-region or urban
5. City-region food systems are an increas-
food systems responds to the need to place
ingly important driver for many other urban
food higher on the urban agenda. This re-
policies such as health and nutrition, educa-
quires new levels of attention from actors
tion, economic development, transport, en-
who have been traditionally less engaged
vironment, waste and water management,
in food and agriculture decisions, including
disaster risk reduction, adaptation to climate
professional planners and local and regional
change and social welfare.
authorities. 5 resilient food strategies
ture and WWUrban Food Systems 2013 3
1. Localized production in the form of urban
Cities act Cities present constraints but also
and peri-urban agriculture is recognized as
opportunities for building sustainable urban
one of these sources (but by no means the
food systems. They can preserve food diver-
only one), which increases food and income
sity, stimulate food innovations and have the
security at household level and buffers shocks to food price hikes, market distortions, and imported supplies. 2. City-region food systems offer at the same time opportunities for resource recovery (urban waste) and climate change adaptation. 3. Resilient city-region food systems are also characterized by lower urban footprints, or foodprints, and reduced emissions related to food transport and food waste. 4. Local production and consumption will also result in keeping mon-
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Cityfood: Linking Cities on Urban Agricul-
ey in the local economy.
The impact of food wastage Climate change is one of the most important issues of our day, and food wast contributes to it. It will take food retailers and consumers concerted efforts in order to reduce food waste.
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otting food produces methane, which is a greenhouse gas (GHG) with a warming potential 20 times greater than carbon dioxide. Methane is the second most prevalent GHG in the U.S. emitted from human activities, according to the EPA. In 2010, methane accounted for about 10 percent of all U.S. GHG emissions from human activities. Keep in mind that the U.S. is the second largest emitter of GHGs in the world. What consumers and food retailers can do to reduce food waste The EPA provides much information about how consumers can reduce food waste on its website. Some of the tips include:
2. Plan what meals you will cook before you go shopping and buy only what you will need to cook them. 3. Buy only what you will realistically need and will use. Don’t buy in bulk unless you will use all that you buy Consumers are not the only ones who waste food. Much food is wasted in restaurants, cafeterias, and other places where people buy and consume food in public. The EPA has a great program for food retailers called the Food Recovery Challenge, which asks participants to reduce as much food waste as they possibly can.
1. Cook or eat what you already have in your Perhaps one day there will be such little refrigerator before going to the grocery food waste that everyone will be a member store and buying more food of the Clean Plate Club.
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Will we all be able to grow our own meat soon?
�I am confident that we will have it on the market in five years.�
With a growing demand for meat farming requires more energy, water and land. Consequences result in poverty, starvation and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Steps need to be taken. A Dutch team have recently grown the world’s first burger in a lab and hope to have a product on sale in five years. The prototype that was cooked and eaten in London cost 215,000 to make.
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he head of the team, Peter Verstrate said: “I feel extremely excited about the prospect of this product being on sale. And I am confident that when it is offered as an alternative to meat that increasing numbers of people will find it hard not to buy our product for ethical reasons”.
ways of keeping up with the growing demand for meat. Traditional farming methods will need to use more energy, water and land - and the consequent increase in greenhouse gas emission will be substantial.
The process starts with stem cells being extracted from cow muscle tissue. In the labThe lab-grown burger was developed by oratory, these are cultured with nutrients Prof Mark Post at his laboratory in Maas- and growth-promoting chemicals to help tricht University, The Netherlands. them develop and multiply. Three weeks later, there are more than a million stem cells, “I am confident which are put that we will have into smaller dishit on the market in es where they cofive years,” he said. alesce into small strips of muscle He explained it about a centimewould be availtre long and a few able as an exclumillimetres thick. sive product to order to begin with but would be on supermarket shelves once a demand had The strips are then painstaking layered tobeen established and the price comes down. gether, coloured and mixed with fat.. The burger is made from stem-cells: the tem- The resulting burger was cooked and eaten at plates from which specialised tissue such as a news conference in London two years ago. nerve or skin cells develop. One food expert said it was “close to meat, but not that juicy” and another said it tasted like a Most researchers working in this area are real burger. trying to grow human tissue for transplantation to replace worn-out or diseased muscle, Mr Verstrate told BBC News that it was a nerve cells or cartilage. Prof Post, howev- proof of principle but not yet a finished er, used them to grow muscle and fat for his product. “It consisted of protein, muscle fibre. burger. But meat is much more than that it is blood, its fat The motivation for the research is to find
its connective tissue, all of which adds to the taste and texture”.
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What is our environmental case for vegetarianism and veganism? Well, 13 % of emissions come from global transport, but 51 % come from animal agriculture. In a market economy you vote with your money for what you want to support. If you buy less meat and support the animal agriculture industry less, they’ll change.
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f you’re an environmentalist and you want to help the planet for our future, start buying more vegetables and fewer products that come from animals.
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So as they grow up, in the next 20 to 30 years, I think we’ll get kids saying, “Mummy, Daddy, I can’t believe you used to eat animals. Why!?”
C a
This generation really gets it. And they’re only going to grow older, and new generations will be more sensitive and more proactive. Kids understand why they shouldn’t eat animals.
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Injustices can’t go on forever, and we’re in the midst of a massive shift. 20% of 16- to 25-year-olds are now vegetarian or vegan [in the UK], compared with 12% of the country.
It’s only a matter of time. In 20 years, wI think you’ll get countries declaring themselves vegetarian. I think the environment is the best way to get people to understand the destructive magnitude of the global food industry.
b cli m
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People have already accepted that animals die, and they don’t really care – which still surprises me. And I don’t like using health, because doing things for your health is seen as sort of selfish. But everyone reasonable agrees that we should look after the environment.
e ch
But yes, diet is a tough one for people. People would rather change religion than change diet. It’s an addiction; we’ve been programmed three times a day to eat a certain way. And to tell someone that maybe that’s been harming others, it’s hard work.
an g
Some people say, “What? No, but humans have always done it for survival!” and other excuses that we tell ourselves. Bullshit. If everyone had to physically kill animals to eat them, they wouldn’t do it. So I just want to be in people’s faces a little bit to force them to face these facts.
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