FOOD AND DRINK
Shop locally, reuse and recycle, and cut down on meat and waste
1st JAN EAT LESS MEAT Craig Bennett, CEO, Friends of the Earth
“Eat less but better meat. I’m not planning to go 100 per cent veggie, but I’ve already reduced my meat consumption a lot and I could still do better.”
JAN 2 JOIN AN ORGANIC VEG BOX SCHEME Helen Browning OBE, chief executive of the Soil Association
“Every time you choose an organic product, you support farmers and businesses working towards a better future. Organic farming safeguards and replenishes fragile soils, which are rapidly eroding and degrading, gives farm animals a good life, and allows wildlife to thrive. The price is often lower, and the benefits more powerful, if you buy directly from farmers or through box schemes.”
JAN 3 BOYCOTT PALM OIL Bruce Parry, explorer and documentary film-maker
“We are losing our vital tropical forests to make way for our consumptive desires, like meat and soya in the Amazon and the oil palm plantations of Asia. The loss of so many tropical forests to bring us our palm oil is not only affecting species such as orang-utans, but also the people who live in these forests. The shift from biodiversity to monoculture is a key problem today, affecting our climate and our ability to find resilience through troubled times ahead. If the label says palm, don’t buy it.”
JAN 4 DON’T WASTE FOOD
Richard Betts MBE, head of climate impacts at the Met Office
“Food production and transportation creates greenhouse gas emissions, so wasted food has caused emissions for no reason. When food waste goes into landfill, it rots down and releases methane which is a potent greenhouse gas.”
JAN 5 GO TO A FARMERS’ MARKET Sir Harry Studholme, chairman of the Forestry Commission
“Eating locally sourced food is a great way to reduce our individual carbon footprints. The regions of Britain produce wonderful local food, especially my home county of Devon: cheeses, meats, seasonally harvested vegetables and sustainably caught fish. There is so much to eat without resorting to foods from farflung places.”
JAN 6 PUT A WATER BOTTLE IN YOUR BAG Joanna Lumley OBE, actress and ambassador for Brita’s “Just Tap. Filtered” campaign
“Everyone has to start taking responsibility for plastic; manufacturers, retailers and consumers have all got to stop passing the buck. The throwaway practice is despicable, I loathe throwing anything away if I don’t know it will be properly disposed of.”
JAN 7 LOOK FOR RECYCLABLE PACKAGING Simon Ellin, CEO of the Recycling Association
“Try to pick products where the packaging is easy to recycle. Ideally, the packaging should be made of a single material such as paper, plastic, metal or glass. By spending your money with companies that are designing for recyclability, you are encouraging other manufacturers to follow their example and making it easier for the recycling industry to prepare those materials to be used again in new products.”
JAN 8 USE REUSABLE COFFEE CUPS AND SHOPPING BAGS Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall, food writer and campaigner (left)
“Reusable coffee cups, water bottles and shopping bags are the entry-level commitments we should all make. But what I’d really like is for everyone to remind themselves why this stuff matters. The best way to do that is to get outside more, see the trees, notice the insects, watch the birds. Find a green space near where you work, or walk in a nearby forest at the weekend. Connecting with nature nourishes our spirit, giving us perspective, motivation, and hope.”
JAN 9 SHOP SUSTAINABLY Joan Edwards, head of marine conservation at The Wildlife Trusts
“We are never more than 70 miles from the coast in the UK and our stunning seas are as much a part of our lives and environment as our famous countryside. So shop with marine in mind. Source your fish sustainably and consider switching to less harmful chemicals in cleaning products.”