Small Steps

Just saw this article in the latest BBC Good Food magazine (yes, I'm such a Brit-o-phile that I subscribe to three British food magazines--Delicious and Olive being the two others; the reason, and I know this will be hard to believe--they're just much more inventive and more inclusive of a wide assortment of ingredients) about 20 ways to be a greener cook. Some of the tips are more UK-specific, but there are a couple that would be good to keep in mind for making small adjustments to daily habits in the coming year. Here are the best ones.

1. Try to buy homegrown produce.... A typical basket of 20 everyday grocery items from a supermarket could clock up over 100,000 'food miles' if you include air-freighted goods, such as sugar snap peas from kenya, Danish bacon or New Zealand apples. Food transport is a major contributor to greenhouse gases and global warming...

3. Aim to use less packaging. Around one-sixth your food shopping bill goes towards the packaging... So avoid pre-packed fruit and veg in plastic bags and make the most of farmers' markets, greengrocers and box schemes [ed note - I think "box schemes" translates to something akin to community supported agriculture, or CSA, farm subscriptions, where you get produce directly from the farmer]... And recycle--if you don't, it ends up in landfill, which currently produces up to 25 percent of all UK methane emissions. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas (21 times more powerful than carbon dioxide), so reducing these emissions will have a highly beneficial impact on climate change.

6. Reuse aluminum foil. Recycling 1kg of aluminum can save up to 8kg of bauxite, the mineral used to make it, as well as 4kg of chemicals and 14 kilowatt hours of electricity.

9. Eat less meat. Global meat production has risen by 500 percent since the 1950s and most of the meat consumed in the UK is from intensively-reared animals. For ever kilo of beef produced, around 10kg of grain is needed to feed the animal. The manure produced is a major polluter of rivers and groundwater, and contributes to global warming.

16. Buy Fairtrade products. It guarantees farmers a fair price for products and also ensures some environmental benefits. A Fairtrade banana plantation, for example, is not allowed to expand into virgin forests. Some chemicals are banned and the use of fertilisers and pesticides is minimal. Visit fairtrade.org.uk for more information.

17. Support farmers' markets. Supermarket lorries travel 408 million miles a year--the equivalent of going around the M25 nearly 3 million times! [ed note - OK, if you say so] A report called How green is your supermarket? produced by the Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, revealed that just 26 percent of the cost of a typical supermarket basket of groceries goes towards the food itself. The rest covers packaging, processing, transport, store overheads, advertising, and supermarket mark-up. It's a different story if you shop at a local farmers' market.

18. Save energy. Let food cool before refrigerating it; replace ordinary light bulbs with energy-efficient bulbs; turn off lights when you're not in the kitchen; use the lowest temperature on your dishwasher.