This presentation shows how we can consume food in a sustainable way while still enjoying a large variety of good and healthy food in the future.
Our present overconsumption of natural resources exceeds planetary boundaries in many ways. The global use of many raw-materials has grown by even hundreds of per cents during the recent decades. We have to dematerialize our Western lifestyles and societies if we want to reduce ecological impacts like biodiversity decline or climate change or social and economic impacts like peak oil and social conflicts around the world.
A sustainable resource use level for household consumption is an important guideline for directing human activities towards sustainability. It would range at 8 tonnes of material footprint per person in a year, which is roughly 20 per cent of the present level in Western countries. But the present material footprint of our nutrition cannot be reduced to the same extent because we cannot decrease food intake infinitely. Therefore, the share of nutrition will grow in a sustainable material footprint of household consumption.
A sustainable material footprint for nutrition of around 3 tonnes per person in a year is half of present in absolut terms but means an increase from 15 to nearly 40 per cent of the total material footprint of household consumption. Thus, the share of nutrition will increase considerably while diversity in food choice is still be necessary and possible. Increasing demand for and competition on natural resources will also rise prices. Then, it’s likely that also the trend of a declining share of nutrition in the expenditure of households will turn so that there will also be less money available for other fields of consumption.
As consumers, we could correct this development if we start consuming resource saving meals in time. This will also require action by companies on the supply side, e.g. by nudging consumers to less resource-intensive meals, and by politics and administration to develop framework conditions for resource-efficient food production and consumption. If we use the resource saving potentials of our nutrition, we will be able to decrease pressure on our planet and still will have left choices for our consumption.
Designing for privacy: 3 essential UX habits for product teams
Food in sustainable consumption
1. World
Resources
Forum
2013
Davos,
9th
October
Topic
4:
Lifestyles
and
EducaEon
Session
on
Food
&
NutriEon
Back
to
basic
needs?
The
role
of
food
and
nutriEon
in
a
sustainable
material
footprint
Michael
LeMenmeier
D-‐mat
ltd.
Holger
Rohn,
Christa
Liedtke,
Johannes
Buhl,
Jola
Welfens
Wuppertal
InsEtute
for
Climate,
Environment
and
Energy
7. 9.10.2013
NutriEon:
500
kg/a
*
6
kg/kg
=
3
tonnes/a
• 3
tonnes
=
500
kg
*
6
kg/kg
=
600
kg
*
5
kg/kg
– Factor
2
decrease
from
now
– 6
out
of
27
FIN-‐MIPS
households
already
achieve
3.2
tn.
or
less
– Cereals
and
bread,
milk,
eggs,
domesEc
fruits,
outdoor
vegetables,
soya,
wild
fish
can
already
be
below
6
kg/kg
(Kauppinen
et
al.
2008,
Kaiser
et
al.
2012,
Mancini
et
al.
2011)
– Several
European
countries
already
below
9
kg/kg
(Mancini
et
al.
2010)
– Efficiency,
diets,
waste
prevenEon
Photos:
Kaskinen
et
al.
2011
and
KoJvinkki
9. 9.10.2013
NutriEon:
how
to
get
from
6
to
3
tonnes
Photos:
Kaskinen
et
al.
2011
and
KoJvinkki
mostly
vegetarian
500
kg/year:
less
than
today
no
food
waste
Photos:
Kaskinen
et
al.
2011
and
KoJvinkki
14. 9.10.2013
• NutriJon
share
on
is
likely
to
rise
as
raw
material
prices
are
rising
⇒
LimiJng
budgets
for
other
consumpJon
purposes
• Can
consumers
avoid
a
strong
increas
of
foodstuffs’
share
in
expenditures?
⇒
Decrease
the
material
footprint
of
nutriJon
without
foregoing
a
healthy
nutriJon
⇒
AdjusJng
individual
diets
could
contribute
to
economic
and
ecologic
resilience
while
relieving
personal
budgets
⇒
Win-‐win
potenJal
Higher
prices?
15. 9.10.2013
Inhabitat.com
Treehugger.com
Treehugger.com
Treehugger.com
Households
will
not
do
it
alone