Our Town | Our Future
Sustainable Wymondham

Food

Our planet is in a perilous state due to the actions of a single resource-hungry species: homo sapiens.

Modern humans have been around for at least 300, 000 years and in that brief historical timeframe we have left an absolutely indelible mark on the place we call home. And not in a good way.

Here are a few bare statistics which demonstrate the power we are wielding over Earth and its natural systems:

  • 75% of terrestrial environment “severely altered” to date by human actions (marine environments 66%)
  • More than a third of the world’s land surface and nearly 75% of freshwater resources are now devoted to crop or livestock production
  • In 2015, 33% of marine fish stocks were being harvested at unsustainable levels; 60% were maximally sustainably fished, with just 7% harvested at levels lower than what can be sustainably fished.
  • +/-25%: greenhouse gas emissions caused by land clearing, crop production and fertilisation, with animal-based food contributing 75% to that figure.

Our hugely increasing stranglehold over the world’s resources is leading to dangerously high increases in greenhouse gas emissions, leading to climate change, declining nature and accelerating species loss and extinction. None of this is good for us, let alone the earth’s systems that support us.

A massive part of the problem is how we feed ourselves. Existing food production systems are responsible for around 35% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe).

In the UK, 70% of our land is agricultural, but only 60% of our food is produced here, of which a proportion is exported leaving just under 50% of domestic production consumed here. The rest is imported which has an adverse impact on the UK’s total GHGe and leaves the country vulnerable to food security issues such as changes in costs and availability.

So how do we change any of this?

We need to revise how we produce, transport and consume the food we eat, by growing different (more high protein) crops and in greater variety, reducing our consumption of animal products so that the land is used more efficiently. We must consider very carefully where our food comes from, how it is produced and how it gets from the place of production to our homes. It should be packaged differently and rely much, much less on plastics.

In short, we need a food revolution and we need to start locally, here in our town. We need to show the world that sustainable food systems work. For the benefit of everybody.

Related information

Explore more topics

Green circle containing graphic image of a large wind turbine behind a factory, a van and a house
Energy
Green circle containing graphic image of a red-haired woman wearing a polka dot dress on a bicycle
Transport
Green circle containing graphic image of a bumble bee flying to a yellow flower
Nature
Green circle containing graphic image of a wheelie bin with a recycling symbol on it
Waste
Green circle containing graphic image of a fish in water and a raincloud overhead
Water