Längerer Beitrag – schneller Überblick:
- The question of tyres - sustainability in the van
- Sustainability in Vanlife - Regional & Seasonal Food Consumption
- Sustainability - Retreaded tyres
Sure, who doesn't know it? If you consume regionally and seasonally, you consume much more sustainably. The transport costs for papayas from Indonesia and apples from New Zealand are enormous from an ecological point of view.
We all know that regional and seasonal is good. And everyone we ask (including me) is of the opinion that regional is always taken into account. But: We did a four-week test (and wrote down our experiences) and now claim that we are swindling ourselves hard. The course "Climate-friendly living" has also really opened our eyes!
And one thing in advance: this "regional" is really not easy!
Preliminary conclusion & insights from the group from the "Climate-friendly living" workshop
After the initial disillusionment, we have to face several challenges:
- Don't always want everything at once!
- Not always wanting to do everything perfectly!
- Tackle individual areas step by step!
That seems to be my main issue. Getting it right and complete. And forgetting a little bit that what has been learned in plus-minus 50 years cannot be changed overnight.
Background knowledge
Our diet is ecologically more important than we think. The way we eat has a big impact on our environment. In fact, our food system contributes to a third of all the greenhouse gases we blow into the air. That's quite a lot!
A person in Switzerland eats an average of 865 kg of food per year. That is an average of 2.1 tonnes of greenhouse gases per person per year. That is about 16 percent of all greenhouse gases that a person causes. (We assume that the figures for Germany are similar).
However, our diet does not only influence the air. It also has a major impact on the soil and water. Agriculture, i.e. the cultivation of food, requires a lot of space. Almost 30 per cent of the earth's surface is used for agriculture. That is almost a third of the earth's total land area!
But that is not all. Agriculture also uses a lot of water - 75 per cent of the world's water consumption! That's an enormous amount, considering how important water is to all of us.
In summary: How we eat has a big impact on our environment. It affects the air we breathe, the soil we live on and the water we drink. Therefore, it is important that we think about how we produce and consume our food.
Greenhouse gases (not only CO₂!)
It is interesting to see how the greenhouse gases produced by our food come together. Let's take a closer look.
- Production: This is the part that begins with the cultivation of food and ends with the harvest. Many greenhouse gases are produced in the process. For example, when farmers spread fertiliser on their fields or when animals like cows and pigs release gases into the air.
- Processing: Here, what has grown in the field becomes a finished product. For example, wheat becomes bread or tomatoes become ketchup. Here, too, greenhouse gases are produced, for example by machines that process the food or by cooling and freezing the food.
- Packaging: Almost all the food we buy is packaged in some form. Be it in plastic, paper or glass. The production and disposal of this packaging also produces greenhouse gases.
- Transport: Food often travels long distances before it ends up on our plates. It is transported from the place of production to processing, then to the shop and finally to our homes or restaurants. Each of these steps consumes energy and produces greenhouse gases.
In summary: There are many steps in our food system that cause greenhouse gases. From food production to processing, packaging and transport. It is important to know this and think about how we can make our food more environmentally friendly.
Organic - all good?
Many people believe that buying organic food is good for the climate. But it is not always that simple. It depends on where and how the organic food is grown. In Germany, researchers have found that organic farming is often good for the soil and helps save water. But that does not mean that organic is always better for the climate.
For Organic food sometimes needs more space. And this can produce more greenhouse gases. This is the case, for example, with organic cattle and poultry in Switzerland. The animals have more space and live longer, which is good for their well-being. However, this also means that they eat more and thereby more greenhouse gases produce.
In Germany, things are a little different. Here, organic meat is often better for the climate. This is because conventional farming often feeds soya that is not certified. This Soy often comes from fields for which rainforest has been cleared. And that is very bad for the climate.
What we can learn from this: It is not always easy to say what is better for the climate. Sometimes organic is better, sometimes not. It depends on where and how the food is grown. But one thing is clear: it is always good to think about what you eat and what impact it has on the environment. For us it is clear: we always give organic priorityAfter all, we want to fill our bodies with as little dirt as possible.
Throwing away food - Food Waste
There is one thing each of us can do to produce less greenhouse gases through our diet: throw away less food.
In Switzerland, 2.8 million tonnes of food that would actually still be good are thrown away every year. That is a huge amount! Imagine if each person in Switzerland threw away 330 kilograms of food.
Most of this is done in the Food processing thrown away. These are, for example, factories where grain is processed into bread or milk into cheese. But a lot is also thrown away at home. Almost 30 per cent of food thrown away comes from our households.
The problem: the more work that goes into a food product, the worse it is for the environment if it is thrown away. An apple that rots in the field is not so bad. But an apple that is harvested, transported, processed, packaged and then thrown away is much worse.
In Switzerland, food waste from households has the greatest impact on the environment. Almost half of the environmental impact of food waste occurs at home.
What we can learn from this: We should try to throw away less food. Every apple, piece of bread and yoghurt that we don't throw away helps to reduce greenhouse gases and protect the environment.
Tip: We have the app TooGoodToGo and "save" food again and again. Everywhere. It worked wonderfully in England and Ireland, in Germany and Switzerland too. It didn't work so well in Tunisia and Greece. https://www.toogoodtogo.com/
Eat on the road
More and more people in Switzerland are eating out. In recent years (Covid years excluded), almost half of the money was spent on meals that were not prepared at home. Most of this spending went to restaurants and other places where the food was prepared for them.
What does this mean for us? It shows that we have a big influence on how our food affects the climate. Because every time we eat out, we can decide where we eat and what we order.
Maybe we choose a Restaurant that uses organic food or avoids meat. Or we order less, not to waste food. All of these choices can help reduce the greenhouse gases produced by our food.
So the next time you eat out, remember that you have a choice. And that choice can make a difference to our climate.
We always like to eat out, especially when travelling. The country's cuisine is a big part of our travel experience. However: in Tunisia, asking where this and that food comes from is only answered with a mild smile and a shrug of the shoulders.
Our four-week experiment
Good time: spring in Switzerland. There will be plenty of regional food for us to eat. I thought so.
At the beginning we thought about the following:
- We can eat more plant-based and less animal-based foods. So, for example, more fruit, vegetables and pulses and less meat, milk and eggs. >> Here we are already very good, as I tend to live a vegan-vegetarian lifestyle, but Gerd eats meat from time to time.
- We can try to throw away less food. Everything we throw away causes greenhouse gases without benefiting us. >> We throw almost nothing away. One point for us!
- How can we choose food that has been produced sustainably.
- And we can give preference to food from our region and in season.
- We should be careful not to buy food that has been transported by air.
- And we should not buy food grown in greenhouses heated with fossil fuels. Fossil fuels cause particularly high levels of greenhouse gases.
Week 1
Tour of the supermarket. Every foodstuff checked for its origin. Great disillusionment!
Bought strawberries, asparagus, potatoes from Switzerland. Then decided to buy our Supplies in the van to empty. This is how we avoid helplessness in the supermarket.
We are a few times invited and also go into Restaurants: no chance to pay attention to regionality. Neither our hosts nor the restaurants really know where the products come from. (Especially in the family we hold back with questions, we don't want to be annoying).
We eat bananas without thinking about it. And notice how little we live regionally.
Week 2
I am in Basel with a client and take the time to look into to take a closer look at a health food shop. The saleswoman takes a lot of time. We both realise that regional is not so easy. Pesto without olive oil? Pepper? Oat milk? Soy yoghurt? Feta? Orange juice? The regular lemon? All definitely not regional.
First extension: I now allow us Switzerland plus neighbouring countries: Austria, Germany, Italy, France. Finally, I get lemons, affordable oatmeal, pasta, nuts and almonds, etc.
Fruit and vegetables are very one-sided: I find potatoes, the first courgettes, even aubergines from Swiss production (greenhouse? water consumption? heating costs? no info on that). Swiss apples are from last year (cooling costs?), there are no pears. We bake rhubarb pie for days and I boil down strawberry jam: what I have, I have.
Week 3
And again I surprise myself: Coffee! I've been drinking coffee for 3 weeks and don't give this product a second thought. We laugh about it and probably think about where in Switzerland the coffee plantation could be. "Well, next to the banana plantation!" Because we learn that Bananas probably the best-selling fruit in Switzerland are.
An important question arises: allow exceptions or leave them out?
We decide to make exceptions. Maybe consume less or look for alternatives.
Curries fail because of the spices (okay, we still have them, but most of the spices in our kitchen have travelled a long way), at the latest with coconut milk we are regionally out. Even the red lentils have travelled far, onions, potatoes and cauliflower come from here. Sweet potatoes, which we like to eat with it, unfortunately not (yet). Maybe in summer?
Week 4
We are really desperate. So much of what we have become accustomed to is not regional. Do we eat cow's milk yoghurt from the region or milk substitute yoghurt, made in Belgium, origin of ingredients unknown. Do we drink Orange juice from Valencia or apple juice from Emmental? Feta or Parmesan from Switzerland? We tested it: not a good choice in terms of taste.
In the case of oil, we consider, Switch to sunflower and rapeseed oil. But luckily we still have a bottle of olive oil from Greece in the van. So we postpone the decision until later.
Butter or margarine? Butter: cow product = high greenhouse effect. Margarine: mostly made from palm oil, coconut oil, shea butter, whatever. I find one made from sunflower oil, regional, but not organic. And: unfortunately it doesn't taste good to us.
Great site to become aware and make decisions if necessary:
How climate-damaging are popular foods?
https://interaktiv.tagesspiegel.de/lab/wie-klimaschaedlich-sind-beliebte-lebensmittel/
Conclusion: Four-week test
We have really - as they say in Switzerland - come into the world. This means that we don't live as regionally as we think. Fresh ingredients, which play a big role in terms of quantity, work out quite well. However, we limit ourselves. But we are creative.
We find very little convenience food. (Convenience food is food that is almost ready when we buy it. It is supposed to make cooking easier and faster. Examples are frozen meals, pasta, snack bars and canned food, bread and rolls). Neither with frozen blueberries, spices, fresh mint, tofu, feta, soy yoghurt, tea blends, ready-made puff pastry nor with bread and rolls can we be sure that they come from the region. Either it says Euro-Bio or nothing at all. The vegan yoghurt may say Switzerland, but the list of ingredients suggests that none of the products can grow in Switzerland. Bread and rolls are not labelled.
We opt for half and half. We buy everything fresh regionally and seasonally. Strawberries are over. Asparagus too. Other things are coming instead. With the other products, we keep looking and decide from time to time. I discovered almonds from Spain and put the ones from California back on the shelf. We buy much less feta, but when we do, we enjoy the Greek one. The yoghurt issue is not yet finished, orange juice for Gerd remains, but we no longer buy it every week.
And we decide: we don't drive kilometres to buy locally grown organic mint. We decide to buy there when we see organic farmer's shops on the way. Going there on purpose: nope!
Final questions
Do without? Change eating and consumption habits? Avoid supermarkets? Only buy unprocessed food? Create a regional menu? And then: how do we do this when we travel? What tips do you have?
Sources & related links, all retrieved 15.6.2023
https://interaktiv.tagesspiegel.de/lab/wie-klimaschaedlich-sind-beliebte-lebensmittel/
https://www.toogoodtogo.com/de-ch
https://www.wwf.ch/de/unsere-ziele/vegan-vegetarisch-pflanzenbasiert
https://www.wwf.ch/sites/default/files/doc-2022-01/2021_Faktenblatt_Ern%C3%A4hrung_DE.pdf
https://www.newsd.admin.ch/newsd/message/attachments/58769.pdf
https://www.sbv-usp.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/MISTA2021_def_online.pdf
Thank you for reading our sustainability thoughts. Every two to three weeks on Mondays we write something about the possibility of living future-oriented in the van. We try to shed light on different areas and hope to do so without pointing fingers.
Our focus is on the joy of van life and the many possibilities. We want to avoid the usual doomsday and renunciation communication.
You can find all the sustainability posts collected in the Category Future.
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Best regards - Heike & Gerd
Well, my favourite Swiss.
Next to my daughter, of course. ☝️
It is indeed not easy.
The earth, I believe, has only one chance:
The people must become fewer! 🤷
I know that many will react angrily to this statement.
But for me it's as clear as day.
The earth's resources are simply not enough for such a mass of people.
Even more so when no one wants to do without anything.
I'm too lazy to do the maths.
But maybe you would like to do it for us?
If people continue to reproduce and die like this - everything has to be included - how long will it take for the earth to collapse ?
It is already beginning.
My thoughts go even further.
The earth is warming up, the sea too.
Sufficient cooling of this small nuclear power plant called Earth is no longer possible.
The melting of the polar caps means that the sun's rays are no longer reflected and sent into space.
So additional heating of this / our little sphere.
You can imagine the consequences.
And the time until then should also be manageable.
Only chance:
We need to become less.
= Less consumption = less damage to the earth.
I assume that our "sustainability" comes too late and is the so-called "drop in the ocean".
I will continue to do my best anyway!
I only flush the toilet after the third pee. 😁
Warm greetings from the witch's house
s'Racheli
Hello dear! Yes, it is sometimes too sad. Sometimes the motivation wanes, sometimes it's very active. Of course, we don't have a solution either, but we keep at it. Very simple.
I once read something here on the subject of overpopulation that I found quite exciting: https://www.derstandard.at/consent/tcf/story/2000073556959/das-boot-ist-nicht-voll-sondern-ungleich-beladen
Very dear greetings - Heike
By the way: attaching photos did not work. 😁😘
Well,
With overpopulation and greed for money, we will find that life on our planet is at great risk. All we can do is reduce the speed at which we are racing towards climate collapse. Everyone can do something for themselves, but there are already laws in the way. How, for example, can I defend myself against insane packaging, which, according to the legislator, is the law?
What happens if no one flies on holiday any more? Will everything be better then, or will the problem just be shifted?
In any case, your report shows how difficult it is to live sustainably👍.
Hi Tom, that's right. I also suspect that all we can do is slow down. But if we can at least do that, we'll keep at it!
We sign the legislation 100%, with our lives we at least try a few things to get around it. Let's hope so!
Best wishes!
Heike & Gerd