Plant Based Future (part 3)

How we can learn from all our crises

In the last episode of the plant based future I focused on the reduction of animal proteins and shared some ideas and suggestions with you. With small changes in your personal diets, it's very easy for all of us to contribute by reducing the intake of animal proteins to support a better health for yourself and our planet.

Today i would like to talk a bit more about the why, why is a plant based future so important.

At the moment we have several major crises happening simultaneously, as they are: a human health crisis, a planetary health crisis and a COVID-19 crisis

Human Health Crisis

Unhealthy diets that contain too many unsaturated fats, sugars and salts, and that are low in fruits, vegetables, nuts and pulses, are responsible for our greatest health problems globally. Unhealthy diets are the main cause of approximately 11m avoidable deaths, caused by diseases such as obesity, strokes, diabetes, respiratory problems, cardiovascular disease and even some cancers.

As of today around 2bn people worldwide are overweight and obese, although around 821m are still suffering from hunger. Our global population continues to consume too many saturated fats and not enough fruits, vegetables and fibres. Additionally many of these diets we eat nowadays are not delivering enough minerals, such as iron or vitamins including Vitamin A and D. In terms of fibre, we should be consuming 30g of fibre per day, but we are only consuming an average of 18g per day. so overhauling our diets towards a more plant based diet is an absolute need for a healthier perspective for the future health of all of us..

Planetary Health Crisis In terms of a sustainable approach, we only have one planet, yet if the 7. 8 billion people who currently live on our planet, consumed as many resources as the average person in Western Europe does, we would need 3 planets. We are using resources much faster than they can be replenished. Our food system is estimated to contribute 21–37% to the total net GreenHouseGas emissions and according to WWF 73% of forest and habitat loss, which is also contributing to the 6th greatest mass extinction of species, that our planet has ever seen. Our diet is in need for an urgent overhaul towards a much more sustainable perspective.

Both crises, combined with an economic crisis following Covid-19, highlights the need and urgency of transforming the way food is grown, harvested, processed, distributed, marketed, consumed and disposed of.

A dietary transition, combined with more diverse agricultural practices which will restore, rather than degrade, our soil, our environment our health and our livelihoods is the only way forward to takle all these crises at once. This should be the number one priority for all governments, food businesses, producers and all people on our planet.

The COVID-19 epidemic is exposing the fragility of our food system and poses some fundamental questions about how our diets have contributed to the pandemic and how adapted and changed diets can build resiliency and food security as well as improving human and planetary health.

In many countries within Europe we are only about 50% self-sufficient in food, with only an estimated 25% of the fruit and vegetables grown in each country itself. This is crazy.  As a result of COVID-19, consumers have been looking for much more food that is made within their communities. Over the last few months many of us have started to look much more into foods grown locally. We need more global initiatives that support us with this, to produce more of our own regional, local, seasonal food. Particularly healthy and nutritious foods, such as fruit and vegetables that are better for planetary and human health.

Why import apples from New Zealand when they can and should be grown regionally

Sustainable nutrition must be our goal for action, innovation and investment

Food businesses need to focus on strategies which develop sustainable nutrition outcomes and actions that can improve both planetary and human health. We should all address these issues simultaneously. This can only be successful when organisations, food businesses and producers align their often conflicting internal strategies and change towards a more cross sectoral collaboration to resolve these world’s most urgent challenges.

Sustainable nutrition describes the overlap between sustainable food production and consumption. We must produce more food sustainably and move towards more regenerative production approaches.

The way forward is producing healthy and nutritious foods which improve human health and planetary health during the Covid crisis, where our focus on sustainable and healthy food is advancing much faster to healthier humans on a healthy planet.