Take a bite out of climate change with Cool Food!
New EU initiative Cool Food aims to take a bite out of climate change by encouraging people to make small changes to their diet and food shopping habits.
One way in which you can do this is to pledge online at www.coolfood.net to opt for more meat and fish-free meals. In terms of the food we eat, consuming meat and fish has the biggest impact on our environment. If you swap out one meal a day to make it vegetarian this could save more than 2kg of carbon per day – the equivalent environmental impact of a TV being used continuously for 12 hours.
Globally the process of cultivating, growing, harvesting and transporting food causes almost a third of the world’s carbon emissions. By making small changes to our own diets, when combined with other people’s food commitments, we can achieve big reductions and help to slow down the rate of climate change.
At the heart of Cool Food is an online tool, designed to recommend and capture commitments to change food habits. The tool helps users to identify and record the financial and environmental benefits of their changes to help motivate long-term positive behaviour change.
In addition to the 2kg of carbon a day veggie challenge, you can also pledge to make your own meals, introduce dairy-free days, reduce food waste, cut your tea and coffee intake, swap soft drinks for water, and buy local, seasonal and organic.
You can reduce your carbon footprint in three easy steps: choose your commitments (one or more), measure the impact, and connect with the Cool Food community to get support, hints and tips to help you reach your target.
Funded by Interreg of the European Regional Development Fund to promote cross border co-operation, and launched by a partnership of experts in food, nutrition and the environment (Al’Terre Breizh, Cornwall Food Foundation and PECT), Cool Food has devised simple commitments which will help people understand the impact of their food, drink, and shopping choices on the planet.