EXPLORE | PLANET POSSIBLE
PLANETPHOTO: REBECCA HALEEven small changes in food
and shopping habits can
reduce your diet’s carbon
footprint and boost health.BY ANNIE ROTHFor more stories about how
to help the planet, go to
natgeo.com/planet.Going vegan or vegetarian
is one way to decrease your
diet’s impact on greenhouse
gas emissions—but it isn’t
the only way. A recent Purdue
University study suggests
that smaller tweaks can
make a difference too, while
improving your health.
After analyzing the 2010
grocery purchases of more
than 57,000 U.S. households,
Purdue researchers found
71 percent could shrink their
food carbon footprint by
making three changes:
Skip the unhealthy snacks
Avoiding foods with high calorie
counts and low nutritional value
can reduce the total carbon
footprint of U.S. household
food consumption by nearly
10 percent. Items like candy,
soda, and packaged snacks take
more ingredients and more
processing, which translates to
higher environmental impacts.Watch bulk buys
Households of one or two
people may end up with
food waste when they
try to save money with
bulk buys. Before you
buy supersize, consider
whether a three-pound
jar of peanut butter will
go bad before it’s used up.
Trim ready-made foods
One average microwave
meal may not have a very
large carbon footprint.
But buying them regularly
can add up to significant
emissions because ready-made
foods’ large sales volume
amplifies their carbon emissions,
the study found.
Seemingly small shopping shifts
can add up: By making the
above changes, the U.S. could
cut more than a quarter of
emissions from household food
consumption, the researchers
say. That’s about 36 million met-
ric tons—about what 6.6 million
households generate in a year
of electricity use. “Collective
action can make a huge impact,”
says study co-author Hua Cai.