This document discusses sustainable food environments and criteria for assessing them. It provides background on the relationship between food and sustainability, and sustainable food production and consumption patterns. It then discusses implications for built environments and developing criteria to define sustainable food environments. Examples of proposed criteria include access to local, affordable produce retailers and prioritizing restaurants with local, plant-based menus. Metrics like household ecological footprints and a neighborhood sustainability assessment are presented. Recommendations include refining food footprint calculators, indicators for affordability, and accounting for density and resources in local food criteria.

1. Sustainable Food Environments
Jeremy Gibberd

2. Structure
• What is the relationship between food and sustainability?
• Are there sustainable food production and consumption
patterns?
• If so, what are the implications of these for built
environments?
• Can criteria be developed to assess built environment
support for more sustainable food consumption and
production patterns / can we define ‘sustainable food
environments’?

3. Environmental impacts of food
http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/global-food-challenge-explained-18-graphics

4. Social and economic impacts of food
http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/global-food-challenge-explained-18-graphics

5. Climate change and food (at +3oC)
http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/global-food-challenge-explained-18-graphics

6. http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/shrink-your-food-footprint
Diet footprints

7. Ecological Footprint
• An Ecological Footprint is an estimate of the amount of
biologically productive land and sea required to provide the
resources a human population consumes and absorb the
corresponding waste. These estimates are based on
consumption and production of waste in the following areas:
• Food, measured in type and amount of food consumed
• Shelter, measured in size, utilization and energy consumption
• Mobility, measured in type of transport used and distances
traveled
• Goods, measured in type and quantity consumed
• Services, measured in type and quantity consumed

8. Development of the SBAT
WWF 2006
Ecological Footprint &
Human Development Index

9. Household Ecological Footprint
Calculator
Vegetables, potatoes & fruit
Bread and bakery products
Flour, rice, noodles, cereal
products (exc maize)
Maize
Beans and other dried pulses
Milk, cream, yogurt, sour cream
Ice cream, other frozen dairy
Cheese, butter
Eggs [assumed to be 50 g each]
Meat
Pork
Chicken, turkey
Beef
Fish
Sugar
Vegetable oil (seed or olive oil)
Margarine
Coffee & tea
Juice & wine
Beer
Garden [area used for food]
Eating out
Assess your Household's Ecological Footprint
by Mathis Wackernagel, Ritik Dholakia, Diana Deumling, and Dick Richardson,
Redefining Progress, v 2.0, March 2000
First, (and optional) calculate how many minutes of life energy it takes to earn one dollar. (Enter your income and hours worked) Fulfillment:
2,000dollars earned per month (after taxes) 40.00hours of work per week Alignment:
600work related dollars spent per month 12.00
unpaid hours per week for work preparation
(commuting etc.)
Ittakes 10
minutes of life energy to earn one
dollar! After FI:
+ :
- :
Second, choose whether you want to work with metric or US measurements. m
: put "m" for metric, "s" for US
standard 0 :
Third, register your monthly consumption in column D (or your yearly consumption in column E). Optional: put the dollar amounts into column F.
Number
of people
in the
househol
d: 5 (land and sea space in square meters)
AMOUNT
eqv.
amount Dollars I) FOSSIL II) ARABLE
III)
PASTURE IV) FOREST
V) BUILT-
UP VI) SEA
CATEGORIES Units per month per year spent (mth) ENERGY LAND LAND
1.-FOOD
Enter percentage of food purchased that is wasted rather than eaten in
your household. 0% ( 26 percent is the national average)
How muchof the food that you buy is locally grown, unprocessed and in-
season? e a. Most food we buy is packaged, out of season and fromfar away.
b.
About a
quarter
c. About half
0% d. About three quarters
e.
Most all the food we get is locally grown, unprocessed, and in-
season.
.Veggies, potatoes & fruit [kg] 30.0 360 $0.00 0 377
.Bread [kg] 20.0 240 $0.00 0 677
.Rice, cereals, noodles, etc. [kg] 15.0 180 $0.00 0 682
.Beans [kg] 10.0 120 $0.00 0 1,684
.Milk & yogurt [l] 40.0 480 $0.00 0 11,554
.Icecream, sour cream [l] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Cheese, butter [kg] 6.0 72 $0.00 0 17,330
.Eggs [assumed to be 50 g each] [number] 80.0 960 $0.00 0 607
.Meat
..Pork [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
..Chicken, turkey [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
..Beef (grain fed) [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0 0
..Beef (pasture fed) [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Fish [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Juice& wine [l] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Sugar [kg] 1.0 12 $0.00 0 23
.Vegetable oil & fat
..solid [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
..liquid [l] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Tea & coffee [kg] 2.0 24 $0.00 0 452
.Garden [areaused for food] [m2] 30.0 30 30
.Eating out [complete meals] [number] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0 0
SUB-TOTAL-1 $0.00 0 4,532 28,884 0 0 0
2.-HOUSING
.House[living area]
..brickhouse [m2] 200 200 $0.00 1,506
..wooden house (US standard) [m2] 0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Yard[or total lot size incl. building] [m2] 400 400 $0.00 555
. Hotels, Motels [$] 0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Electricity (also check composition--
see note) [kWh] 0 0 $0.00
enter as fraction. ex. 25% = 0.25
..thermally produced (fossil and
nuclear) 100% 0
..lower course hydro 0% 0
..highaltitude hydro 0% 0
..PV solar (on exisiting roof
areas) 0%
..so
lar
[on
ne
wly
buil
t-up
are
a]
..PV solar (on newly built-
up area) 0% 0
..wind 0% 0
.Fossil gas (natural gas)
..city gas [m3] 0.0 0 $0.00 0
..bottled liquid gas [kg] 20.0 240 $0.00 1,032
.Liquid fossil fuel (oil)
..involume [l] 0.0 0 $0.00 0
..inweight [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0
.Coal [kg] 0 $0.00 0
.Water (notincluded since it
depends on local circumstances) [m3] 0 0 $0.00 0
.Straw [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0
.Firewood [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0
.Constr. wood & furniture [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
SUB-TOTAL-2 $0.00 2,538 0 0 0 555 0
Footprint Calculation Matrix for Households .....CONTINUED page #2 of 3
(land and sea space in square meters)
AMOUNT
eqv.
amount Dollars I) FOSSIL II) ARABLE
III)
PASTURE IV) FOREST
V) BUILT-
UP VI) SEA
CATEGORIES Units per month per year spent (mth) ENERGY LAND LAND
3.- TRANSPORTATION
.Bus/train [pers.*km] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Taxi / other´s car [km] 5.0 60 $0.00 34 3
.Gasoline (if you have a car) [l] 10.0 120 $0.00 887 80
.Partsfor repair [kg] 1.0 12 $0.00 169
.Airplane
[pers.*hou
rs] 0.0 0 $0.00 0
SUB-TOTAL-3 $0.00 1,090 0 0 0 83 0
4.-GOODS
.Clothes (if bought used, count them at 1/3 of their true
weight)
..cotton [kg] 5.0 60 $0.00 169 943 17
..wool [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0 0
..fossilbased (synthetic) [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
Durable paper products (books) and
hygenic paper products (toilet/tissue
paper) [kg] 5.0 60 $0.00 493 519 49
.Tools, metal parts [kg] 5.0 60 $0.00 507 51
.Leather [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0 0
.Plastic products and photos [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Porcelain, glass [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Medicine [kg] 1.0 12 $0.00 338 34
.Hygiene products, cleaning stuff [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Cigarettes [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0 0
SUB-TOTAL-4 $0.00 1,507 943 0 519 151 0
5.-SERVICES (rough estimates)
.Laundry service (external) [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Postal services
..international [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
..domestic [kg] 0.0 0 $0.00 0 0
.Household insurances [$] 60.0 720 $60.00 170 1102 38
.Telephone, electronics, photo
equipment [$] 25.0 300 $25.00 304 68
.Medical services and medical
insurance [$] 0 $0.00 0 0
.Entertainment [$] 60.0 720 $60.00 730 163
.Education [$] 100.0 1200 $100.00 608 136
SUB-TOTAL-5 $245.00 1813 0 0 1102 404 0
6.- WASTE (assuming everything compostable is composted, and waste =
packaging)
enter
percentage
recycledin
your
household: 80% 95
.Household waste:
..paper [kg] 10.0 120 $0.00 379 1031 38
..aluminum [kg] 3.0 36 $0.00 304 31
..magnetic metal [kg] 5.0 60 $0.00 446 45
..glass [kg] 5.0 60 $0.00 96 10
..plastic [kg] 9.0 108 $0.00 335 34
SUB-TOTAL-6 0.0 384 $0.00 1560 0 0 1031 156 0
by Mathis Wackernagel, Ritik Dholakia, Diana Deumling, and Dick
Richardson, Redefining Progress, v 2.0, March 2000
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
gha
WASTE
SERVICES
GOODS
TRANSPORTATION
HOUSING
FOOD

10. Sustainable food environment
criteria
Criteria
FO1 There is access to / a retailer of locally produced fresh vegetables and fruit
within 2 km. The cost of these products is affordable for the local population.
FO2 There is access to / a retailer of locally produced beans and pulses within 2 km.
The cost of these products is affordable for the local population.
FO3 There is access to / a retailer of bakery products within the 2km. The cost of
these products is affordable for the local population.
FO4 There is access to / a retailer of locally produced milk, cheese and eggs within
the 2 km. The cost of these products is affordable for the local population.
FO5 Access to products such as highly processed and non-local foods as well as oil,
tea, coffee, beers, juice and wine, meat and fish are more difficult to access than
food types in FO 1-4.
FO6 Fifty per cent of the cultivated area within the neighbourhood is used to produce
fresh vegetables and fruit.
FO 7 Restaurants with menus based on locally produced fruit, vegetables and include
vegetarian and diary and egg-based dishes, should be given preferential
locations over restaurants which have menu based on high ecological footprint
items such as meat and imported items.

11. Neighbourhood sustainability
capability assessment
Ecological
• Shelter
• Mobility
• Food
• Goods
• Services
• Waste
• Biocapacity
Human Development
• Health
• Knowledge
• Employment

12. Built Environment Sustainability Tool
(BEST)
www.sustainablebuiltenvironments.com
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
0.001.002.003.004.005.00
EcologicalFootprintCapability
Human Development Capability

13. Recommendations & Conclusions
• Household ecological footprint calculators: need to include
defined minimum nutritional requirements for diets.
• Affordability of food: need for indicator ie, X% of the
household income.
• Local cultivation of vegetables and fruit indicator: Need to
take into account densities, employment, diets, local climate,
availability of water, productivity of soils, pollution
• Social capital: Interaction related to food.
• Useful insight into how built environments may support the
reduction of ecological footprints associated with food.
• Further development to include sustainable food
environment criteria in sustainability / green building ratings

14. Thank you
Questions?
Jeremy Gibberd
More info:
Jeremygibberd@wordpress.com