Food, glorious food. Essential for survival but so much more than that. It’s one of life’s greatest pleasures, a source of comfort and security, integral to celebrations, and a key part of our cultural identity. But meeting the needs of our massive global appetite is heating up our planet, causing glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise. The food we eat contributes to around a third of greenhouse gas emissions, and as there is no planet B, we need to adjust our diets if we want to reach New Zealand’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Here are some ideas on how to eat our way out of the climate dilemma.
1 EAT LESS MEAT Vegetarians, you get a free pass and can skip to number two, and vegans, you go all the way to number three. As for the rest of us, we’re still consuming too much farmed meat. In 2020, researchers at the University of Otago compared the greenhouse gas emissions of 346 foods. Beef was the biggest contributor, followed by lamb, processed meats, butter, pork and cheese. Just under half (48 percent) of Aotearoa’s emissions come from the agricultural sector. The main baddie, comprising three-quarters of our agricultural emissions, is methane from the digestive systems of cows and sheep. Deforestation to clear land for pasture, nitrogen fertilisers, refrigeration and transport also contribute.
Cristina Cleghorn, a nutrition researcher at the University of Otago, is leading a Healthier Lives project to assess the benefits of sustainable New Zealand diets. “There needs to be a general shift away from the traditional New Zealand diet, which
