Food Waste: Feeding your Family in an Eco-friendly Way

The food industry produces more than just the food we eat. It is also a major source of greenhouse gases, accounting for over one-third of total emissions. From our food choices to our eating habits, every bite we consume has a colossal impact on the carbon footprint of our diets. However, it can be difficult to navigate the sea of information on this topic. Which is better, buying organic or buying local? Eating less meat or buying more products in bulk? What factors make the biggest difference? Here are a few tips to help you make informed decisions at home.

According to Équiterre, food-related waste easily makes up a third of the garbage we produce. In Canada, 11 million tonnes of food are thrown away every year. Reducing or even eliminating food waste is one of the best things you can do individually to reduce your environmental impact. Check out this Équiterre document (French only) on preventing food waste for a list of tools and resources.

Looking for a fun way to learn as a family? Try Climatomenu, an educational French-language game that will get you thinking about food waste and the choices consumers have to make, from how we shop for groceries to how we prepare our meals.

The best way to minimize your carbon foodprint is to limit certain products rather than focusing on specific attributes, such as whether a product is organic, local, fair trade, or seasonal. The livestock sector requires large quantities of water and contributes 14.5 percent of man-made GHGs. By replacing beef products with plant proteins or even white meats such as fish or chicken, you can considerably reduce the environmental impact of your meals.

When it comes to food, not everything is black-and-white. For example, in the middle of winter, is it better to choose an organic field tomato from Mexico or a tomato from Quebec grown in a greenhouse that runs on fossil fuels? Would you rather buy non-organic lentils from Quebec, or organic lentils from China? Is it wiser to buy vegetables in bulk instead of in packaged bundles, even if the packaging extends their shelf life? Some questions do not have clear answers. In such cases, it is up to you to weigh the pros and cons before making a decision that aligns with your values.

Below are our top recommended resources for better understanding how what we eat affects the planet:

• Le nutritionniste urbain (French only)

• Équiterre’s Quebec fruit and vegetable recipe cards Special report from 100° on food literacy as a lever for social change (French only)

• Food and Climate Change: Healthy Diets for a Healthier (United Nations)

• Food and Climate Change (David Suzuki Foundation)

As in so many other areas, adopting eco-friendly habits in the context of food is beneficial to your family’s health. The importance of making sustainable food choices thus goes well beyond the fact of reducing our environmental impact. It is also a powerful way to directly influence our individual and collective well-being.