Eat local, seasonal food
Add some seasonal variety to your diet, enjoy the fresh taste of local food and dramatically cut down your carbon footprint.
By eating seasonal, locally produced food, you can reduce your carbon emissions by almost a tonne a year - equivalent to a return flight from London to Boston.1
Climate change
Powering hothouses and flying fresh fruit and veg around the world uses a lot of energy. For example, 250g pack of asparagus air-freighted from Peru uses 3.5kg of carbon (or CO2e) whereas the same amount of asparagus grown in the UK is responsible for just 125g carbon (or CO2e).2
It’s important to consider seasonality as well as locality as local doesn’t always mean lower carbon. For example, in winter it’s more efficient to import tomatoes from Spain than grow them in a British hot house, but in summer British grown is the outright winner.
Bear in mind how things are imported - foods like berries, asparagus, and salads that have a short shelf life have to be flown in, giving them a far higher carbon footprint than things like bananas, kiwis and sweet potatoes that are shipped.
77%
Money
Eating fruit and veg when it’s in season locally is often cheaper. For example, strawberries cost less in the summer when they’re grown here as they have lower transport costs.
It’s expensive to fly food here, so it’s not just the environment that pays!
Health
Eating a more diverse range of plants improves your gut health4, which has all sorts of happy benefits such as; improved skin, sleep, digestion and mood. Not to mention the enjoyment factor of discovering new foods!
The longer fruit is left on the plant, the more nutrients it is able to soak up.5
Goods shipped from the other side of the world are often picked days or even weeks before they are ripe, resulting in them being less nutritionally mature. Fruit and veg can also lose vitamins and minerals in storage, so by eating fresh, seasonal produce that’s been picked at the peak of its ripeness you’ll get more bang for your buck.
Global Goals
In September 2017, an historic agreement was signed by UN member nations agreeing to work towards 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development by 2030, otherwise known as the SDGs.
Achieving these ambitious goals will require action from governments, businesses, NGOs, and individuals alike. We can - and must - all play our part.
By making the 'Eat seasonably' pledge, you are contributing to the following SDG targets:
12.8: By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature
13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species
15.a: Mobilize and significantly increase financial resources from all sources to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and ecosystems
Success Stories
2,032
Pledges
in total
86,156kg
CO2
pledged
References
- MIT climate
- How Bad Are Bananas? Mike Berners-Lee
- The Grocer UK
- Gut, Guilia Enders
- Harvard Health Publishing
Images
Climate Change Image - David Todd Mcarty
Health Image - Michal Hlavac