Food System and Climate Workshop
On December 15, 2020, members of the Food Animator Team joined a meeting of the St. John’s Food Policy Council to learn about climate change and the “Resilient St. John’s Climate Plan.” Edmundo Fausto, Sustainability Coordinator for the City of St. John’s, led the group through the presentation, and Sarah Crocker of Food First NL facilitated discussion around climate change and its impact on our food system. Feedback from the group was focused on ensuring the security of our local food system is considered throughout the development of the city’s climate plan.
What is climate change?
Climate change is defined as change in the average weather conditions of an area occurring over an extended period of time, decades or more. Climate change is a natural occurrence (think of the Ice Age), but human activities have a profound impact on the speed and intensity of these changes. Our production of greenhouse gases, on the increase since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, is the key culprit. The average global temperature has increased by more than 1 degree Celsius since 1880, and temperature changes are occurring 50 times faster than they did in the time before human agricultural systems began.
How does climate change affect food systems?
As greenhouse gases increase and the earth’s temperature rises, there is also an increase in the occurrence of extreme weather events, including hurricanes and flooding, leading to erosion and loss of arable land. Higher sea temperatures encourage the presence of invasive species that can damage the existing ecosystem. Habitat and food sources may be altered, affecting local wildlife on land and water. New vector borne diseases could thrive.
Climate change can also result in a longer growing season for local agriculture. However, these “positives” do not outweigh the negative effects.
How does the food system affect climate change?
The food system includes five stages - production, access, distribution, consumption, and disposal. Greenhouse gases are produced at every stage, from the machinery involved in growing crops and outputs from cattle farming, to transportation of food products, energy used to prepare food, and in the decomposition of food in landfills. Food waste buried in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas that has 21 times the impact on global warming as does carbon dioxide.
What can we do?
This presentation suggested actions we can take to reduce our footprint, including carpooling, using active transportation, energy retrofits for our homes, or buying second-hand instead of new. On the food side, composting to reduce food waste going to landfills, and reducing our meat and dairy intake are positive steps we can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Buying locally produced foods reduces transportation impacts on the environment, while also supporting our local economy. Backyard and community gardens to produce our own food in season takes this one step further.
Participants noted that an important step the city could take towards their climate goals would be to implement a municipal composting program, where residential food waste would become a separate part of weekly garbage/recycling collection. This food waste would be processed centrally, reducing methane emissions from landfill while providing beneficial compost for city landscaping projects and/or community members. Other ideas included increased support for local food producers and community gardens to improve access to healthy, local food.