How food is produced, transported and purchased has changed dramatically over the last 50 years and can have a huge impact on the environment.

Find out what we are doing to stop this trend, see the Love Food Hate Waste Campaign and Composting for more details. You can also find out more about Food Waste Digesters that you can use in your own garden. Or get an Allotment and grow your own food!

Food is increasingly air freighted around the world to the UK to feed our desire for food throughout the year despite the seasons. Transporting food by aeroplanes emits carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. Air transport accounts for 1% of food miles but 11% of food miles CO2 emissions.

The distance food travels from the farm to your plate is known as food miles and to reduce this you can buy locally produced food instead. Other benefits of buying local food include:

The way food is produced can also cause problems for the environment. Intensive farming methods use artificial fertilisers to add nutrients to the soil made using fossil fuels. The production of these fertilisers uses a lot of energy which releases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides both powerful greenhouse gases. Organic farming use natural methods to add nutrients to the soil such as manure or plant based fertilisers which do not release nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide during their production.

Eating less meat (especially beef) can also help to reduce climate change as rearing animals is energy intensive in the production of animal feed, transport to market and slaughter and the release of methane from flatulence and slurry (muck). The release of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides and methane are all powerful greenhouse gases. We are not saying become vegetarian but eat less meat and good quality organically reared and locally produced where possible.