Do Individual Sustainable Food Choices Actually Make a Difference?

At some point, you’ve probably considered your carbon footprint, and felt stressed by your responsibility to lower your footprint as much as possible. It’s January – maybe some of you reading this article have even made the resolution to live more sustainably in 2024.

Many of us, driven by these feelings, have turned to biking instead of driving or given up meat, hoping to make a difference and treat the planet more kindly. But where did this idea of personal “carbon footprints” originate, and do our individual actions truly make a dent? And particularly when it comes to what we choose to eat, does it really matter on an individual basis?

To answer this question, we’ll first need to look into the origins of an individual carbon footprint. Interestingly, the carbon footprint concept has roots in a PR stratgey for BP’s (British Petroleum) “carbon footprint calculator,” launched in the early 2000s. This campaign and others like it shifted the climate conversation, placing the responsibility on individuals rather than on the major industrial polluters.

Consider this: A 2017 report by the Carbon Disclosure Project revealed that a staggering 71% of global greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 can be traced back to merely 100 companies. This data underscores that while individual actions are commendable and impactful, addressing the climate crisis necessitates broader systemic and structural transformations.

While this is true – individual and community driven actions are often the drivers of systemic changes. 

So is something like a “carbon footprint calculator” a total scam? Yes and no. 

While this PR tactic was likely to distract consumers from the larger problem caused by corporations, the actual concept seems to comes from The Ecological Footprint©.

This concept was originally introduced in 1990 by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees at the University of British Columbia, and it measures a region’s ecological resource consumption compared to its biocapacity, which refers to a regions capacity to generate renewable resources.

This highlights either a deficit (unsustainable) or reserve (sustainable), guiding sustainable development decisions for people living in this region and its decision makers. In this model, individuals, communities, and local decision makers can, and should be, involved in the ways they consume in order to ensure their region is sustainable for generations to come. 

It’s vital to recognize the broader, large-scale picture of climate accountability. Iit’s equally important to remember that every individual action, when echoed by millions, can drive transformative change. If you are stressed about environmental impact and simply do nothing about it – nothing is likely to happen. As consumers, our power lies not just in our personal choices but also in our collective demand for systemic reform.

And remember – sustainability is more than just greenhouse gas emissions and calculating your carbon footprint. It’s also about supporting healthy ecosystems, protecting water sources, and ensuring soil health for years to come.

Now with this is information in mind, we can start to consider food choices. An individual person makes around 80,000 food choices in a lifetime. That number is just for a single person – consider how many food choices the entire global population of nearly 9 billion makes.

While a single meal might not make an obvious or tangible impact, it will overtime. How you choose to eat makes an impact overtime, and can also influence how others eat, creating a snowball effect of positive impact.

It can feel really overwhelmingly to determine what a “sustainable food choice” actually is. Do you buy beer in aluminum or glass? Is local produce better for the environment? How often is it okay to eat meat?

Instead of providing you with a long, detailed list of what not to eat, I invite to start thinking about two of the most impactful food decisions you can make right away:

• Eat less red meat: The production of red meat, particularly beef, has a significant environmental footprint. Beef releases the most greenhouse gases out of all foods, as well as the most methane, which is a gas with high warming potential. Raising livestock contributes to deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and water pollution. You don’t need to go full vegetarian or vegan overnight – start by trying to incorporate plant-based protein sources like beans, lentils, and tofu a few times a week, or replacing with non-red meat options. “Crowding out” red meat with other tasty, high protein options is easier than just completely cutting it out with no replacement. If you want to eat red meat, think of it more so as a luxury, rather than an everyday food.
• Don’t waste food: When we throw away food, we’re not just wasting the food itself, but also the resources that went into producing, processing, and transporting it. If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China and the United States. If you commit to reducing food waste, this is a sustainable change where you don’t even need to change your diet! You simply need to eat the food you buy. To combat food waste, start by planning your meals, buying only what you need, and storing food properly to extend its shelf life. Leftovers can be creatively repurposed into new dishes or frozen for later use. By reducing food waste, you not only save money but also contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving valuable resources, making it a small yet impactful step towards a more sustainable future.

Don’t get overwhelmed! Like any long term systematic changes, small, consistent steps are always the start. We are capable of creating a more sustainable food system that is kinder to our planet and is viable for future generations.