A few weeks before the United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop21) in Paris, the GoodPlanet Foundation (created by Yann Arthus-Bertrand) and its partners are launching a vast awareness program on the theme of food and climate:"the solution is in the plate". And for good reason:food represents 27% of the carbon footprint of French households, a footprint higher than that of transport (26%) and housing (24%).
On the menu of this program full of peps? 60 solutions that provide answers to the questions that punctuate our daily lives. These are illustrated by 100 initiatives "which prove that everyone - whatever their age, their activity, the place where they live - has keys to act", assures us GoodPlanet. We start here with 6 tips:
“Fruits and vegetables are like the summer and winter Olympics:they have their season! Unless you live in the tropics, you don't swim year round, do you? For the fruits and vegetables on your plate, it should be the same,” says the GoodPlanet Foundation. For example, the tomato does not grow in winter. The ones you find in your stalls are imported by plane or produced locally, but under heated greenhouses which consume a lot of energy.
"To reach us, a fruit imported out of season by plane consumes 10 to 20 times more oil for its transport than the same fruit produced locally and bought in season", continues GoodPlanet, before adding that "the tomato produced locally, but out of season (thus under glass), generates 20 times more greenhouse gases than a local tomato produced at the right time of the year".
> Tip:we learn the seasons of fruits and vegetables (it will also boost our memory). At the moment, we are still good for tomatoes, and we can also taste good dishes based on carrots, artichokes, pomegranate or even quince. To see:Marmiton's ultra practical and gourmet "Seasonal Recipes" page. Yum!
Every year, the French consume about 55 kg of meat on average per person. However, still in France, all products of animal origin represent nearly 2/3 of the greenhouse gases in our food.
"Producing 1 kilogram of beef requires 15,000 liters of water and emits as much greenhouse gas as driving 150 kilometers," continues GoodPlanet. What make us want to increase the place of vegetables, starchy foods and vegetable proteins on our plate and reduce that of animal proteins!
> Tips:Already, we avoid eating meat at all meals (in addition, from a nutritional point of view, it is useless). Then, we favor chicken over veal. “Not all meats emit the same amount of greenhouse gases; their impact ranges from single to three-fold (the scholarly word for x13). Ditto for their water footprint. For example, producing 1 kg of beef emits as much greenhouse gas as driving 150 kilometers by car and requires 15,000 liters of virtual water, while producing 1 kg of chicken emits as much greenhouse gas as a journey of 12 km and requires 3 times less water. “, continues GoodPlanet. So, we learn by heart the table of meats classified according to their decreasing carbon footprint:veal> beef> lamb> pork> duck> chicken.
The numbers are crazy:“Each French person produces around 458 kilograms of household waste per year. This production of household waste has doubled in 40 years. And contrary to popular belief, we consumers are responsible for 40% of food waste."
And not to mention the ecological impact, it's also a lot of money thrown away, as this video shows us!
> Solution:We make a list, we avoid shopping when we are hungry (it encourages us to consume) and we can even use apps, such as Zéro-Gâchis (which lists the products to be consumed quickly around us when we go shopping) or Frigo Magic (which helps us cook with leftovers).
Every year in France, 5 million tons of household packaging are put on the market and sometimes they are useless. Why buy less tasty peeled carrots in packaging when peeling them ourselves only takes 5 minutes, is much cheaper and tastes better?
> Solution:opt as much as possible for products with little or no packaging (and recyclable!). More and more stores are offering corners where you can buy pasta, dried fruit, starches and cereals without packaging. "It's all the smarter to buy them because they cost 10 to 45% less. And then removing food packaging means avoiding throwing away 52 kilograms of waste per year, the equivalent, for example, of 20,000 ping-pong balls! », tells us GoodPlanet.
Did you know that drinking 1.5 liters of bottled water a day for a year is equivalent to driving 1500 km in a car…compared to 1.5 km drinking the same amount of tap water?
> Solution:we open the tap (with a light hand, huh) and if necessary, we invest in a filter jug (and we recycle the cartridges!).
Already, we monitor the energy indexes of appliances during our purchases. And then you learn to use them more responsibly. And for good reason:"the energy consumption of homes has increased fourfold in 30 years, due to the multiplication of the number of household appliances present in our homes. Cooking alone accounts for 7% of the energy consumed in our homes".
> Solution:The emptier it is, the more a freezer consumes:thus, taking the reflex of filling empty spaces with plastic water bottles (¾ full) lowers the temperature and reduces energy consumption . As for our oven, the less it is sealed, the more it consumes. Simply making sure the seal isn't faulty can save your oven consuming 30% more energy, continues GoodPlanet.
> See other solutions at www.goodplanet.org.
