For A (Climate-) Healthy 2014

How are your holidays going, everybody? I hope you spent a wonderful Christmas season and are still in the delicious between-Christmas-and-New-Year limbo that doesn’t require you to do anything whatsoever but read and sip eggnog and mulled wine and relax. Have you started thinking about your New Year’s resolutions? I often think that resolutions are overrated, but sometimes it’s nice to have a specific date to turn over a new page and have a fresh start. I would suggest getting some inspiration from the Cool Foods Campaign from the Center for Food Safety. Their campaign gives you clear-cut tips how you can contribute to a more climate-friendly food system by changing your eating patterns just slightly. And, honestly, these tips don’t only help the climate, but your health and wallet as well! Here are some more “tweet-friendly” reasons (from their website) why to join their campaign come January 1st: 

Fresh & Unprocessed

• Only about 2% of U.S. farmland is used to grow #fruits & #vegetables, while 59% is devoted to commodity crops (monocultures) @CoolFoods
   
• If Americans ate #fruits & #vegetables at USDA-recommended levels farmers would grow 88 % more of these. Eat fresh & unprocessed @CoolFoods

Local & In-Season

• Conventional food systems can emit 5 to 17 times more CO2 than local and regional food systems. #climatesmart @CoolFoods
• Eating in season is #healthy for you & the #climate! Learn what #foods are #inseason in your area @ the farmers’ market @CoolFoods

Organic

• #Organic practices can reduce GHG emissions by eliminating fossil fuel based synthetic pesticides & fertilizers. Be #climatesmart @CoolFoods
• #Organic agriculture production uses 30 to 50% less #energy than comparable conventional systems. Be #climatesmart @CoolFoods

Reduced Meat

• “The #CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) is the ultimate expression of the industrialization of nature.” @CoolFoods
• Feeding animals corn & soybeans creates monocultures & diverts land and resources away from feeding people. Avoid industrial meat @Coolfoods

Low-Waste

• US generated 14 million tons of plastic waste from packaging & containers in 2011. 8% of total plastic waste recycled. #lowwaste @CoolFoods
• If food #waste were its own country it would be the world’s 3rd largest emitter of #GHGs. #climatemart #CoolFoods

Soil & Water

• “Soil is the hub of the carbon cycle.” Help our climate! Store excess C02 in the ground; build #soil #organic matter @CoolFoods

• “Our challenge & opportunity is to turn atmospheric carbon into water-holding, fertility-enhancing soil organic matter!”@CoolFoods
• Sequestering carbon in soils of crop, grazing & rangelands offers ag’s highest potential source of climate change mitigation. @CoolFoods
• 1% increase of organic matter in top 6 inches of soil holds est. 27,000 gallons of #water per acre! Build #soil organic matter @CoolFoods

Energy

• 80% of energy consumed by food system is associated with processing, transport, refrigeration & preparation. Choose #unprocessed @CoolFoods
• Did you know that Energy Star certified refrigerators use about 15% less energy than non-certified models? Be #climatesmart @CoolFoods
• Life cycle assessments have found that current food production & consumption patterns are unsustainable. Choose @CoolFoods

Children’s Health

• Assoc. of Pediatrics: “Children’s exposures to pesticides should be limited as much as possible.” #unhealthy for kids & climate. @CoolFoods

Food Security

• Gary Nabhan: “food biodiversity…prudent bet-hedging strategy for dealing w/ food insecurity & climate uncertainty.” save #seeds @CoolFoods
• Climate change impacts food security as crop yields decline due to changes in temp, rainfall & increased climate variability. @CoolFoods

Check out their website for more ‘cool’ and useful tips how to accomplish your goals and download this pdf with fun facts that you can pin on your fridge for motivation! Good luck!

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Will you have diet- and food-related ones?