My Green Meal

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
 Introduction
As we all know CO2 emissions are a large problem for people all over the
world.
In this report we will discuss the impact of food on the world’s CO2
emissions, what part of world emissions is due to food and what we can
do to limit the amount of CO2 that gets into the atmosphere due to what
we eat.

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
Index
1. Global CO2 From Food
2. Food Ranked For Emissions
3. Our Daily Meal
4. Steps To Take
5. Carbon low meal
6. Conclusion

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
 Global CO2 from food
As we have discussed earlier more carbon emissions come from food than you might have
expected.
So let's take a look at how many of the global greenhouse gases come from the food we eat!

In the United States each household produced about 48 tons of greenhouse gases food is
responsible for about 8 tons.

Livestock farming can be held accountable for a huge 20 to 50 percent of all global
greenhouse gases, and that number appears
even bigger when you think of the tons of CO2
factories all over the world are pumping into the
atmosphere by the seconds.
The figure to the left shows why there is so
much fuss about the greenhouse gases cattle
produce.
As you can see, a large part of the problem is
because of the fact that you use plants to feed
the cattle however those plants themselves can
also take up Carbon Dioxide. The other parts
are from the cattles own waste, the fertilizer
required for the feeding crops and the general emissions from the farm (things like the
machines and such).
Livestock farming 20% - 50% of all greenhouse gases

Another huge problem is the fact that many people don't eat all their food, in fact, a third of
all food bought in the US and UK was discarded last year often just because the buyers over
shopped. Now you might stop and think why this matters, after all food sitting in a bin doesn’t
produce any CO2. While that train of thought definitely makes sense it does not cover the
whole picture because if you buy more food more will be produced. Meaning that if you only
buy what you need you can limit the greenhouse gases emitted by the production of your
food.

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
 Food ranked for emissions
Food ranking in kilograms CO2 per 1 kilogram
eaten

● Lamb = 39.2
● Beef = 27
● Cheese = 13.5
● Pork = 12.1
● Farmed salmon = 11.9
● Turkey = 10.9
● Chicken = 6.9
● Canned tuna = 6.1
● Eggs = 4.8
● Potatoes = 2.9
● Most fruit = about 1.1

To put those numbers into perspective a plane

emits 1.5 kilograms of CO2 every minute, which means that:

● Lamb = about an hour of fly time

● Beef = 40 minutes of fly time
● Cheese = 20 minutes of fly time
● Pork = 18 minutes
● Farmed salmon = 17.8 minutes
● Turkey = 16.4 minutes
● Chicken = 10.4 minutes
● Canned tuna = 9.2 minutes
● Eggs = 7.2 minutes
● Potatoes = 4.4 minutes
● Most fruit = about 1.7 minutes

As you can see from this comparison what meat you eat really does make a big difference!
It is also important to consider where your food comes from if for example you have to be
imported from Asia, southern Europe or South America. When you take into consideration
the fact that almost 40% of all transport emissions are from trucks you can see that it really
does matter whether you buy your food locally or from farther away

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
 Our Daily Meal
Shun Fei (14)

My meals don’t differ that much from other days, only dinner is different every evening. My
parents are trying to reduce the amount of meat we eat.

Wednesday:

I always wake up late so I don’t have much time to have breakfast. In the morning, I
prepare my sandwiches and fill my bottle with water and a little bit of tropical syrup
for lunch. In the morning I don’t have a big appetite so I only drank a glass of
lemonade and ate a banana, this is around 7.55 AM.

The small break starts at 11 and ends at 11.15. I brought a tangerine and an apple
that day.

When it was lunch time, at 13.00 I ate my sandwiches. That day, I put cheese (48+)
and ham on my bread. I also drank a large part of my bottle, I always have some
left.

I finished school at 13.30, because I had an appointment with the doctor.

When I got back home at 15.00, I ate some chocolates (6), comfort food.

I didn’t eat anything till dinner (6 PM), but I did drink 2x (lemonade). For dinner I had a bord
of casserole (ovenschotel, layered: mashed potato, cheese, baked onions, garlic, red
pepper, Brussel sprouts, vegetarian corn minced meat) with side dishes: cherry tomatoes
and cucumber and with something to drink (lemonade).

After having dinner I had dessert, 2 scoops of ice cream (Fairtrade Ben & Jerry’s:
cookie dough vanilla and chocolate fudge brownie)

I don’t do night snacks, but just before I go to bed I drink something (lemonade).

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
 Our Daily Meal
In order to explain how food contributes to the emission of CO2, our group had to observe
their eating habits on a regular day. After we had kept track of it, we all made a report with
the observations. This is the report of Michelle.

My appetite is always very small early in the morning, so usually I tend to

eat little or even skip breakfast on a school day. But today, I started the
day with cereal and milk from the local farmers. After breakfast I drank
some boiled water before going to school.

At school we have two breaks, a small and a bigger one. For

the small break I didn’t really feel like eating and ended up
drinking only water I brought in my travel mug. During the big
break I ate a tangerine and a few crackers.

I got home around 3.45 PM and boiled some water in the water
boiler before sitting (or lying) down with my phone. Around 4
PM, when the temperature of the water has cooled down a
little, I pour some water for myself and take the first snack I see
or want to eat. Usually it’s a piece of fruit or a cookie.

In my household we tend to eat a bit later. Since I’m a foodie, I like to eat some extra fruit
around 5 PM. I have a mug in my room which is almost always filled with hot water, so I
won’t forget to stay hydrated.

At 7:30 PM is it time to eat dinner. Dinner varies every day, but

we eat rice as our main dish every day. Side dishes consists of
vegetables and some meat or fish. Today I ate rice with
vegetables and an egg. I don’t eat desserts, so after I’m done
eating I fill my mug with hot water before leaving the table.

One of my not-so-good habits is that I like to eat late in the evening/night. Today I ate a pack
of cookies since I ate a few fruits already.

This was everything I ate on that school day. As evidence, I have filmed almost every meal I
ate that day. The link: https://youtu.be/Dno3PMSi1HQ

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
 Our Daily Meal
After our observations and report we had to calculate the carbon dioxide of each food
product we ate. We were given the tip to use the site www.eatlowcarbon.org, but since not
every meal is on the site we had to improvise a little. For example, I couldn’t find the carbon
dioxide emission of rice, so I divided the total harvest of rice by the carbon emission of rice
farming, without adding the emission of transport.

Food products CO2 emission in grams of CO2e

Cereal & milk 1224

Tangerines (fruit) (total of 3) 696

Cookies 177

Rice 185

Egg 333

Vegetables (stir-fried) 305

Chocolate cookies 165

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
Steps to take
Now that we have discussed everything about our food and the global amount of
greenhouse gases that are emitted by everything that has to do with our food.
Let's discuss what we have to do to lower our Carbon Dioxide emissions.

First it is important to realize truly how many emissions we can avoid by buying our food
locally and completely cutting out the transport emissions, off course that is not possible for
all foods rice for example is not locally obtainable in the Netherlands however the more local
you buy the better.

Secondly, cut away as much meat as you are comfortable with.

Cutting away all that meat is a big step towards limiting your carbon emissions, and the meat
you do buy you should buy locally to again save on transport costs.

Don’t discard you food and don’t buy too much.

Buying too much is bad for the environment because it prompts farmers to make more and
thus increases emissions. And if you have food left over don’t throw it away! You can often
eat overdate food just fine or put it in the fridge for tomorrow!

Cook smartly. What I mean with cook smartly is to use the oven sparingly when you want to
boil water use the electric kettle and use the microwave more often because all those things
bring down the CO2 emissions of your cooking.

Lastly you can even grow your own food! Growing your own food is cheaper than buying it in
the grocer’s and it completely cuts out transport emissions. Besides all those reasons
planting and growing food is fun and relaxing and brings an extra level of satisfaction to the
table.

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
 Carbon low meal
(try to get all the ingredients fresh, biological and out of the area where you live in)

1st course: Three bean soup (54 carbon points)

ingredients

1 large onion, minced

1 medium-sized green pepper, minced

2 teaspoons of olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

16 grams of brown beans, rinsed and drained

16 grams of fat-free beans

15 grams of black beans, rinsed and drained

14-1 / 2 ounces chicken broth with reduced sodium

content

14-1 / 2 ounces of stewed tomatoes, cut into pieces

3/4 cup of salsa

2 teaspoons chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

2nd course: vegetable curry ( 260 carbon points)

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
400ml can light coconut milk

3 tbsp mild curry paste

2 tsp vegetable bouillon powder

1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced

1 tbsp finely chopped ginger

3 garlic cloves, sliced

200g butternut squash (peeled weight), cut into chunks

1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced

1 small eggplant

(about 250g), halved and thickly sliced

15g coriander, chopped

160 g of peas

1 lime, juiced, to taste

wholemeal flatbread, to serve

3rd course: carrot cakes (155 carbon points)

100g light muscovado sugar

175ml sunflower oil

2 large eggs (60g each)

225g plain flour plus 3/4 teaspoon or bicarbonate or soda

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Zest of 1 orange

150 g carrots

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
Conclusion
From all this research and information you can conclude a number of things, namely:

● A large part of the global greenhouse gases comes from the food we eat.
● Some foods have a bigger effect than others.
○ Meat like beef and lamb is very CO2 heavy.
○ Vegetables and fruit are better for the environment.
● Much of our CO2 comes from cattle farming.
○ Fertilizer production and general farm emissions are less than a third
of the total CO2 from cattle farming.
○ The emissions from the cattle and their waste is responsible for about
a third of the CO2 emissions.
○ Most of the problem comes from the fact that you actually feed the
cattle crops that could’ve taken up Carbon Dioxide as well.
● We actually eat more in between meals than we realise.
● The transport costs of our food are important to the emissions.

My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei
 My Greenmeal Report
Written by: Nathan, Michelle, Jesper & Shun Fei