insideKENT Magazine Issue 69 - December 2017 | Page 137
CHRISTMAS
ECO-FRIENDLY CHRISTMAS cont.
The big one: food
THINK ABOUT THE IMPACT OF YOUR FESTIVE FEAST
The UK’s food wastage is outrageously high throughout the entire year
– 7.3 million tonnes of household food waste was binned in 2015 at an
eye-watering value of £13 billion – so it’s something that we all need
to be more aware of anyway. At Christmas, a time at which we buy
some 16.5 million turkeys, it’s likely that these levels peak, but there are
ways and means to be more mindful about it.
of water, a process that overall
results in five times the amount
of climate-warming emissions
being released.
If you’re a supermarket shopper, have a look in your fridge now and
you’ll be amazed at where you’ve sourced your food from – on quick
glance in mine, I’m rather ashamed to admit I’ve spotted kale from
Morocco, lettuce from Spain and sugar snap peas from Peru! By the
time the ingredients that make up the average British Christmas dinner
arrive on our plates, they’re estimated to have travelled a combined
distance of 49,000 miles – taking into account turkey from Europe,
vegetables from Africa, wine from the southern hemisphere and
cranberries from America, the turkey and all its trimmings add up to
the equivalent of 6,000 car trips around the world. Food Carbon’s
Footprint Calculator is an interesting tool to gain some perspective
here – head to www.foodcarbon.co.uk to check some of your
ingredients. In that light, choosing turkey is a
far more ethically-conscious
choice than choosing beef at
least, but whether you’re a vegan,
vegetarian, or a meat eater, the
eco-friendliest way to eat is to
buy locally and organic wherever
possible, which will reduce the
impact of your meal on the
environment and taste better too
– millions of turkeys are eaten
every Christmas, so if you’re one
of the many that can’t resist, make
sure it’s been reared in humane
conditions.
The question as to whether opting to eat a vegetarian Christmas dinner
over a meat-based one is in fact far greener rears its head annually. It
seems, beef is the biggest culprit here though. The environmental
impact of eating beef dwarfs that of other meats and research has
shown that eating less red meat could be as effective at cutting your
carbon emissions as giving up your car. It requires 28 times the amount
of land to produce beef than chicken or turkey and 11 times the amount We do seem to adopt an irrational,
supermarket sweep sort of
mindset when doing the ‘big
Christmas shop’ too, so treats and
mandatory cheeseboards aside,
do try and plan what your family
and guests will eat and what they
won’t to avoid buying too much
surplus, and, whenever you do
cook, make sure you put your
vegetable leftovers in a compost
bin, or compost heap in the
garden. Buy your fruit and
vegetables loose and ditch all that
wasteful plastic packaging; make
sure the produce that is packaged
is done so in recycled materials;
buy drinks in bigger bottles rather
than small ones as one large
bottle generates less waste than
several smaller ones; try to avoid
serving people with paper or
plastic plates and cups if you are
entertaining; and, don’t forget to
pack your shopping into reusable
shopping bags.
In a nutshell, it’s absolutely
possible to have a very merry and
yet much more green Christmas,
so plan ahead and your eased
eco-conscience will savour every
bite, sip and fuzzy gift-giving
feeling just that little bit more.
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