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KICK THE HABIT
THE CYCLE – REDUCE
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perhaps some
strawberries.
If they were imported by air from South Af-
Food is one of the most transported goods in our globalized world and we have
grown used to seeing strawberries almost all year round in our supermarkets. In the
US food travels on average 1 300 to 2 000 miles (2 100 to 3 200 kilometres) before it
reaches the consumer. To tackle the issue of food miles movements have developed
across the world to protest at this long journey. One of them is “The 100-Mile Diet”.
As the name suggests, it urges the buying and eating of food that has been grown,
manufactured or produced entirely within a 100-mile radius of your home. This
is one way people can reduce their carbon footprint while supporting local food.
Another term that has become very fashionable in this context is “locavores”, the
American “word of the year” in 2007. It is a combination of the Latin words “localis”
and “devorare” – “local” and “devour” – and promotes the consumption of locally
grown and produced food.
The second largest Swiss supermarket chain recently proudly announced the launch
of a little airplane sticker on products that travelled by air, in order to raise custom-
ers’ awareness of the CO
2
emissions involved and to give them the opportunity to
limit their own climate footprint by avoiding the products if they wished. But dis-
tance travelled is not the only factor in a product’s CO
2
balance. To make sure you
are really improving your climate balance you need to look at the entire production
and supply chain. For instance a recent study showed that tomatoes grown in Spain
and transported to the United Kingdommay have a lower carbon footprint in terms
of energy efficiency than tomatoes grown in the UK itself, because of the energy
needed to heat greenhouses there.
rica they will have taken almost 6 kg of CO
2
to reach you. But if they came
by lorry from Italy, they will account for much less than 0.25 kg. Then it is
time for sport: you could go jogging on a treadmill at a fitness centre, but
Producing a burger (high estimate)
Producing a burger (low estimate)
6
3,6
Producing one egg (battery chicken)
0,07
Producing one tonne of “Gruyère”
(Swiss cheese)
13
Producing one tonne
of wheat flour
490