By R. Landriau @createchangecollective Food waste, the food we buy but don’t eat, in principle but the reality of the situation is that food waste is a bit more complex than simple consumer waste. Food loss and waste occurs as resources are discarded along the production and distribution chain in addition to at the consumer level. Food loss is typically used to describe the food that is discarded during production through to processing whereas food waste is the food that is discarded during consumer distribution. Adding to the complexity of the system is the difference between the planned or unavoidable food waste, such as that of animal bones, and the unplanned or post processing food waste such as bruised fruits during transit causing them to not be sold in a store. This second unplanned food waste is where the greatest improvements can be made to reduce food waste on the distribution side of things. On the consumer side of things, we have the ability to make choices and adjust our habits in order to be able to make an impact and lower our food waste.
Impacts of Food Waste But why bother? What's the big deal with food waste? Food waste has a large environmental impact which stems from the greenhouse gas, gases in the earth’s atmosphere that act to trap heat, emissions that result from its preparation, transportation, and decomposition in landfills. As food decomposes it releases a gas, methane, which is 25 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, meaning it is 25 times more effective at trapping heat and keeping it in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. To fully understand the impact that food waste has on the environment the whole cycle of food production needs to be looked at, meaning all stages of it. Starting with the process of acquiring seeds, planting, growing, processing, and transporting. When looking at the whole system and its components there is sufficient time, energy and resources going into each stage. One part of food waste that is not always thought of is water waste. During the growing and processing of food water is used to nourish and clean, as a result on average 62 million tonnes of water is used to produce food. When over half of this food is wasted the water that was used to grow and clean this food also becomes wasted. On average 36 million tonnes of water is wasted because of food waste. This large-scale waste is unsustainable and leads to the mismanagement of our resources and will eventually put strain on the water system. In addition to its environmental impact’s food waste has a hefty price tag attached to it. In Canada food waste production is upwards of 35.5 million metric tonnes equivalent to 49.5 billion dollars worth of waste. Meaning that the average Canadian household wastes over 1,300 dollars worth of food. That’s a significant amount of money that can be saved and used for other purposes. Addressing the issue of food waste In order to address this multi level food waste system there needs to be proper implementation of waste prevention strategies such as partnerships between businesses and redistribution, better supply demand management strategies and purposeful management of waste streams to enable more inedible foods and beverages to be reused and recycled rather than ending up in landfills. In conjunction with this we as consumers have the power to alter our habits in order to reduce our personal food waste. One key contributor to food waste production is best before dates, for many products these are very conservative estimates which identify a products “key freshness” however the products in most cases are still good beyond the date. As a consumer it's important to note that these days are guidelines but not the be all and end all for the vast majority of products. By re-evaluating our personal food habits and working towards reducing our personal food waste we can have a positive impact on the environment and move towards making our lives more sustainable.
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By Glauce Fleury www.glaucefleury.com UN calls for governments to repurpose subsidies to reduce harm to health and environment; see how to help
When the COVID-19 pandemic started disrupting the lives of Canadians in March 2020, no one knew how and for how long we would be affected. Almost two years later, we’re still facing its challenges and seeing its negative impacts. To build a post-COVID-19 future that is more sustainable, the United Nations is calling for governments to rethink how agriculture is subsidized, as was indicated in their September 2021 report. Currently 87 per cent of US$540 billion subsidies are used to of support to producers using “measures that are often inefficient, inequitable, distort food prices, hurt people’s health, and degrade the environment.” It’s crucial to reflect on the link between the UN report, subsidies in Canada, and the pandemic’s impact. The Canadian Agricultural Partnership — a suite of programs jointly funded by the federal, provincial, and territorial governments — is a $3-billion five-year (2018-2023) investment in the agriculture and agri-food sector aiming to strengthen it and grow it. But according to Statistics Canada, almost one in seven residents reported food insecurity early in the pandemic. Food bank visits have increased by 20 per cent since 2019. Spikes coincided with the ending of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), continuation of lockdowns, and unemployment, notes a Food Banks Canada report. On its website, the federal government states that a wide range of actions have been taken to address food system issues, but around one million Canadian households are unable to access healthy food. That may surprise many, as we live in a developed country that is a member of G7 — the group of the most advanced economies that help shape global progress. We have resources and knowledge to find solutions. So, to better understand and address the linkages and decision making within food systems. Canada has been working on its first-ever national food policy. Ending Poverty Learning about food systems is key because they impact our health and the environment. The UN call for repurposing agricultural support — issued jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) — aims to achieve more of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals represent an urgent global call to end poverty by implementing strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and boost the economy while addressing climate change and preserving oceans and forests. When discussing food systems, we need to reflect on methods used by industrial agriculture — the large-scale, intensive production of crops and animals. Many foods we buy at grocery stores (meat, dairy, eggs, fruits, and vegetables) are produced using those methods, which may involve using chemical fertilizers on crops and antibiotics in animals. Consequences include soil depletion and erosion, water pollution, increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and pesticide overuse. Through GHG emissions from different sources, agriculture is one of the main contributors to climate change, highlights UNEP. In some way, we’re all responsible but we can choose to reduce the carbon footprint of our meals. That means doing more than just buying local, since transportation makes up a small amount of emissions from food. Instead, what we should consider is how much land and which farming methods are being used to produce what we plan to buy before we actually buy it. Women and other smallholders Efficient farming looks beyond production. It’s also about environmental sustainability, public health, and economic inclusivity. Agriculture and agri-food systems are critical to help end poverty and hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and reduce inequality. But as it currently is, the support to producers around the globe is a barrier to achieving the SDGs and the targets of the Paris Agreement. Rethinking how industrial agriculture is subsidized is urgent because, besides being biased towards measures that harm nature, climate, nutrition, and health, the current support is disadvantaging women and other smallholders, says the UN report. Considering that farming is responsible for about 75 per cent of the world’s freshwater use and a quarter of GHG emissions, becoming better informed about food systems can help to ensure our voices are heard as changes arise. Sources: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00039-eng.htm https://hungercount.foodbankscanada.ca/ https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/about-our-department/key-departmental-initiatives/food-policy/food-policy-canada Canada and the G7 (international.gc.ca) Industrial Agriculture 101 | NRDC A multi-billion-dollar opportunity – Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems (fao.org) By R. Landriau For many of us we do not think twice about going and grabbing a snack. We simply walk to our cupboards and open them to find food at our fingertips. We do not take the time to question whether or not we will have food, we simply know it will be there. In 2018 across Canada more that 4.4 million Canadians did not know if food would be there when they went to grab a snack. This meant that on average 1 out of every 8 households was food insecure. Food insecurity is the inadequate access or uncertain access to food due to financial constraints. It can be classified in three categories ranging from least to most severe. Marginal food insecurity is where there is a worry that food will run out or limited food selection, moderate food insecurity is where a compromise in the quality and quantity of food has been made, and finally severe food insecurity is where meals are missed, food intake is reduced, and at the most extreme go day(s) without food.
Canada has shown concerning increasing trends in the number of Canadians facing food insecurity. In 2007, 3.4 million Canadians faced food insecurity, fast forward a decade and that number has now grown by a million, all the way up to 4.4 million people facing food insecurity. Another concerning trend is the increase in severity of insecurity, with the majority of food insecure people in the moderate category. Since 2018 a lot has changed about the world, with the global pandemic COVID-19. As a result of lockdowns, closures of businesses, absence of paid sick leave, minimum wages instead of a living wage, and increasing unemployment rates, there has been an increase in financial insecurity for Canadians. This financial stress and uncertainty have also increased the number of Canadians who are facing food insecurity. In 2020 the amount of Canadian households who were food insecure jumped from 1 in 8 to 1 in 7, meaning that hundreds of thousands of Canadians were under food stress. Canadians who were absent from work due to COVID-19 were almost three times more likely to be food insecure than those who had job stability and could work throughout the pandemic. Food vulnerability is an intersectional issue There are numerous factors which affect the vulnerability of households to food insecurity, one of which is the racial/cultural group that an individual belongs to. In Canada Black and Indigenous people face the highest rates of food insecurity at 28.5% of households facing insecurity. Location also greatly impacts the food security of households. In Canada the highest rates of food insecurity are found within the territories, Yukon at 16.9%, the Northwest Territories at 21.6% and Nunavut facing by far the highest rates in Canada at 57% of households being food insecure. Food insecurity in the North is a multifaceted issue. Traditionally Indigenous peoples rely on a combination of hunted and trapped (wild) and marketed food, however, both harvesting, and food shipping costs are extremely high. Perishable items such as fresh fruits and vegetables are very difficult to find and when found are extremely expensive to buy, causing them to not be a viable option for people in the North. Government policies and programs lack proper coordination to adequately address subsidizing in order to lower the cost of food in Northern communities to Canadian average prices. Other factors which contribute to food vulnerability in Canada include renting versus owning a home. People who rent their accommodations were found to be three times more likely to be food insecure than those who are owners of the accommodations. Households with children or seniors have a higher likelihood of being food insecure than households without. Canadians reliant on social programs such as social assistance, employment insurance and workers’ compensation all faced higher percentages of food insecurity than Canadians who did not rely on these programs. Food insecurity takes a tremendous toll on people’s health, not only the lack of adequate nutrition and proper nutrition but the mental health concerns as well. The risk of experiencing declining mental health increases as food insecurity increases, indicating that the two are tightly correlated with one another. Canadian actions on food security In Canada there is a clear recognition of food security issues rooted in inadequate income, and to address these concerns there needs to be a multi tiered solution.
Sources: Food Secure Canada. (N.D). Affordable food in the North. Accessible at: https://foodsecurecanada.org/resources-news/news-media/we-want-affordable-food-north Government of Canada. Statistics Canada (2020). Food Insecurity and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accessible at: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/201216/dq201216d-eng.htm Government of Canada. Statistics Canada (2020). Food Insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, May 2020. Accessible at: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00039-eng.htm PROOF. Food insecurity policy research (N.D). Household Food Insecurity in Canada. Accessible at: https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/ By Marina de Pina-Jenkins https://unaterra.ca/decolonizing-our-food-systems The first step to becoming engaged personally in decolonizing our food systems is to seek a broader understanding in order to align our food choices to support positive changes in our society. Radical right? Well here’s a quick trip around the topics of Indigenous food sovereignty and how we can begin decolonizing our cultural food practices.
Decolonizing the most recent Canadian food guide Canada is a country of many cultures dispersed throughout a wide geographic region with many outdated food systems that are perpetuating food insecurity, meaning that not all Canadians have equal access to fresh and healthy foods. The latest Canadian Food Guide, launched in January 2019 with a promise to be inclusive of multicultural diets and diverse perspectives on food, including the food systems of Indigenous communities. “Some scholars argue that federally designed standard food guides fails to address the myriad and complex issues of food security, well-being, and nutritional needs of Canadian Indigenous communities while imposing a dominant and westernized worldview of food and nutrition. In a parallel development, Indigenous food systems and associated knowledge and perspectives are being rediscovered as a way to improve current and future food security.” (U of Winnipeg News). Taylor Wilson of University of Winnipeg has recently published Decolonizing Diets through Indigenous-focused Food Guides, “Our research supports Indigenous-led and community-based resurgence and decolonization of food guides,” said Wilson. Her research will continue with a community-based case study “to design and pilot-test a personalized Indigenous food guide in the Fisher River Cree Nation, to demonstrate its impact,” she said. The Indigenous food sovereignty movement The Indigenous food sovereignty movement has been present since colonial times before Canada became a Nation, but it’s only in the last 15 years that this topic has been brought into public conversations alongside the growth of the food security movement. Indigenous food sovereignty is a specific policy approach within the Food Security Movement, to address the underlying issues impacting Indigenous peoples and our ability to respond to our own needs for healthy, culturally adapted Indigenous foods. So how can we begin to engage with the decolonization movement as non-Indigenous Canadians? Personally, I think learning and volunteering are the 2 best ways people can start making a positive change. In 2020, one of the most impactful books I read was Braiding Sweetgrass. I highly recommend this as a way to see deeper meanings behind Indigenous Teachings and to see how we are personally impacted by these systems. Here are a few of my favourite quotes from Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmer to inspire you on your journey: “I’ve heard it said that sometimes, in return for the gifts of the Earth, gratitude is enough… But I think we are called to go beyond cultures of gratitude, to once again become cultures of reciprocity.” “Cultural survival depends on healthy land and a healthy, responsible relationship between humans and the land… Ecological restoration is inseparable from cultural and spiritual restoration, and is inseparable from the spiritual responsibilities of care-giving and world-renewal” Sources: Canada’s Food Guide: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/hc-sc/documents/services/canada-food-guide/resources/stakeholder-toolkit/canada-food-guide-presentation-eng.pdf Quotes & Information on Taylor Wilson’s paper: https://news.uwinnipeg.ca/community-based-study-aims-to-decolonize-canadian-food-guide/ Wilson, T., & Shukla, S. (2020). Pathways to Revitalization of Indigenous Food Systems: Decolonizing Diets through Indigenous-focused Food Guides. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(4), 201–208. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2020.094.003 https://www.indigenousfoodsystems.org/ Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmer https://storestock.massybooks.com/item/YoqefBrscwlZoRaDtILPvg By Marina de Pina-Jenkins (@unaterra.ca) https://unaterra.ca/5-easy-ways-to-be-a-responsible-canadian-consumer Creating a positive impact in our communities becomes a habit that is a pleasure to maintain and not a challenge as many people seem to think. It can be very fulfilling to live in a way that uplifts our communities, connects us to the land and brings health to ourselves and others. Food choices are one of the most important ways we can make a positive change in our ecological impact because it is usually one of the greatest sources of emissions in our country (including land use, water use and waste). Here are 5 easy ways to help you to become a more responsible consumer as an urban Canadian. Buy Small Scale Local Buying local is less about the carbon emissions from transportation as some people may think and more about bringing economic sustainability to our communities. Local businesses are more likely to donate to local causes, employ local people, shop and give their business to other local businesses and more. The manner in which food is produced has a way larger impact than how far it travels, so if you have the option, try to choose organic or regenerative farming (even if it’s imported from abroad) than conventional industrially produced foods made locally. The best food options to support are small scale, local farmers using organic or regenerative farming practices. Buy Direct From Farmers For urban Canadians, this is a great way to support local agriculture systems that don’t get enough support from government funding. If it’s in your means some options include a farmers market, purchase from a co-op or consider joining a CSA program this year. A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a food distribution system that enables food lovers to support local agriculture, give farmers job security, take care of the environment and guarantee themselves a share of fresh, healthy local produce at a fair price. Grow Your Own Food The energy it takes to grow a single tomato is honestly astounding if you’ve never done it before. Growing your own food often leads to an immense change in perspective, values and ideas. There are almost too many benefits to mention here so I will list a few; being connected with the earth, the contact between our hands and soil increases our immune system health, the satisfaction of caring for something other than yourself, are just a few. Start with local herbs on your window sill, or a patio or if you rent, ask if you can grow from containers in the yard or outdoor space of your building. Reduce Overconsumption Seeking out locally seasonal foods (i.e. produced in the natural production season and consumed within the same climatic zone) does have ecological, economic and environmental benefits, however it should not take priority over habits that could have greater environmental and health benefits to our society such as reducing waste. Overconsumption leads to more food waste, more Donate If You Aren’t Ready To Change Your Habits If you can afford the time or finances, volunteering or donating is a seriously impactful way to be a responsible member of our community. If you aren’t quite ready to take the leap on changing your habits, or perhaps you’ve done all of the above, please consider supporting a charity that works on food security, urban gardening or perhaps a community garden project. Sources: https://eatlocal.org/programs/csa-box-program/ Macdiarmid, J. (2014). Seasonality and dietary requirements: Will eating seasonal food contribute to health and environmental sustainability? Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 73(3), 368-375. doi:10.1017/S0029665113003753 |