Sustainable Diets
To reduce GHG emissions through food and agriculture in the ICI sector, sustainable diets and reduction of food waste are key strategies. “Sustainable diets are those diets with low environmental impact (i.e. carbon emissions, land use and water use) which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable, and nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy while optimizing natural and human resources” (FAO, 2012).
The new Canada’s Food Guide contains Canada’s Dietary Guidelines for Health Professionals and Policy Makers which state “…there is evidence supporting a lesser environmental impact of patterns of eating higher in plant-based foods and lower in animal-based foods. The potential benefits include helping to conserve soil, water and air.” In addition, food waste and food loss have environmental implications and food waste is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.
Workshop: Sustainable Diets with KFL&A Public Health
Additional Reading from KFPL
Check out this sustainably.eco podcast episode on locally sourced! We chatted with Mara Shaw, Executive Director of The National Farmers Union who talked about some of the barriers to getting more locally-grown food to market, how farmers have adapted to the pandemic, and some reasons for optimism. We also spoke to Rudi Mogl owner of Tara Natural Foods who helped explained the issue from the retailer perspective. This episode was sponsored by James Ried Funeral Home and Kingston Integrated Healthcare.