Overview

As the world's population continues to grow, food-related solutions are becoming more and more important. A quarter of all global greenhouse gas emissions come from what it takes to make your plate, from growing the food you eat to making that into an edible meal with packaging ready for transport in stores or restaurants.

15% of our emissions come from agriculture on the Island, and cows are the fourth highest emitters after energy, transport, and homes.

Not all these emissions can be tackled on our Island, but we can all play our part to reduce them by minimising the environmental impact of our food choices by choosing to eat greener.

What is eating greener?

Eating greener means making sustainable food choices.

Each of the decisions we make in our day-to-day lives has consequences. Some affect us directly, but others do so indirectly and in the long term. One of our habits that has the most significant impact, both for us and the planet, is our diet.

Eating greener can help us to:

• enjoy in-season food - when it's at its tastiest
• make savings on shopping and fuel costs
• enjoy a healthier diet that’s rich in fruit and vegetables
• reduce food waste
• use less packaging.

Tips for you

Here are some actions that you can do to eat greener:

• seek out more locally-grown or in-season foods
• choose plant-based proteins more often
• reduce food waste: food waste is one of the main factors in the production of greenhouse gases
• grow your own food! As well as being healthy and delicious, eating home-grown produce straight from your garden can be so satisfying and is free from carbon footprint of shop-bought food
• support restaurants that purchase their products from locally-owned markets and ask questions! It is okay to ask the restaurant manager or server how the food is cooked and where they got it from. More businesses will be encouraged to get raw products from natural and sustainable sources if more people question the food’s provenance.