Day 2: Eat Lower on the Food Chain

This is an important one!

Now, there are many reasons why this is a good idea. Eating low on the food chain significantly lowers the carbon cost of your meal, because, as we all remember from grade 10 science class, energy is lost in each conversion. Let take beef for instance, the average cow needs to eat about 2% of it's body weight daily in forage (grass, hay etc.), which according to North Dakota State University   adds up to be between 84 and 104 tons of dry feed every year - that's 200 000 pounds of feed for a 1300 pound cow! According to the Worldwatch Institue, 15 to 20% of the global methane gas production comes from livestock!

Now, don't get me wrong - I don't expect you all to turn veggie or vegan overnight. But try to be concious about what you are eating and perhaps challenge yourself to have one day a week where you don't consume any animal products (cheese has a the same high carbon cost as meat :( ) or perhaps limit yourself to certain number of portions a week based on your current consumption.

This website, eco salon, has more reasons for eating lower on the food chain - including reducing your  exposure to antibiotics and steroids in meat, and also gives a neat "5-Day Eat Low on the Foodchain Meal Challenge" to give you some idea of meal options.

For me personally, many of you already know that I'm a vegetarian. However, in order to supplement protein in my diet, I eat a lot of dairy products (mmmm cheese!) But, since dairy products come from these high-up-on the food chain consumers, they actually have the same carbon cost as meat. So, I am going to try and reduce the amount of dairy that I eat and focus on more basic foods while trying to maintain a healthy diet.

Happy Sunday Everyone!