Impacts of consumer choice on the environment

Air miles / food miles Flowers Perishable Must have air freight More carbon dioxide released More impact on Global Warming BUT … Kenyans say less GH Gas emission that if grown in heated greenhouses in Europe DO / DON’T BUY KENYAN FLOWERS?

LOCALLY GROWN MAY NOT LEAD TO LESS CARBON EMISSION. Even allowing for extra transport Spanish tomatoes release much less carbon than those grown in heated greenhouses in colder countries

Some foodstuffs are shipped not flown US food emissions found 83% of carbon emissions in the food system result from food production, 5% from wholesaling and retailing food, and 11% from transporting it. SO BUY IT IF ITS SHIPPED!

Pressure for low prices = intensive production Pesticide use in a banana plantation (Ecuador) can be 20 times greater than the average on crops in MEDCs. Pesticide exposure causes illness among workers and pollution of land, watercourses and aquifers, and a reduction in biological diversity.

Irrigation – water stores dry up In the 1960s, Aral Sea (between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) fishing was big business—ships like these brought in 50,000 tons of fish a year. In the 1960s river water which normally flowed into the Aral Sea from the mountains was diverted to irrigate cotton and rice fields

Subsistence Farmers pushed to marginal lands Kenyan flowers 23% of GDP 150,000 employees The industry is massively water intensive. Subsistence farmers growing food Pushed to more marginal land … Not enough water - Soil erosion occurs – called DESERTIFICATION

Food Waste – by retailers & consumers