Food Sustainability and Climate Change
by Megan Locsin
It's already 2022 and the Earth keeps getting hotter and colder each year. Climate Change has and will be one of the grave social issues that we have to face because it affects all things around us. South East Asian countries are hit by typhoons each year and its effects keep getting worse. Countries like the United States now experience worse forest fires than previous years. Climate Change is that social issue where everyone contributes to its worsening and the only way to solve this problem is also for everyone to work together and change their lifestyles in order to live for the future of the planet.
Climate Change has been a theory way back during the Greek's time and throughout the centuries it stayed as a one until the late 90's. So, how did it catch the world by storm today? "In August 2018, Swedish teenager and climate activist Greta Thunberg began protesting in front of Swedish Parliament with a sign: “School Strike for Climate.” Her protest to raise awareness for global warming caught the world by storm and by November 2018, over 17,000 students in 24 countries were participating in climate strikes. By March 2019, Thunberg was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. She participated in the United Nations Climate Summit in New York City in August of 2019, famously taking a boat across the Atlantic instead of flying to reduce her carbon footprint." - taken from the History Channel.
By this day, 197 countries have already signed to achieve zero net emissions by 2050, called the Paris Climate Agreement, that is set by the UN Climate Action Summit.
With all these in thought, how can being sustainable help in surviving climate change? For me, I have been cooking as a hobby and it takes place especially during the pandemic. But how is cooking related to sustainability? Through the use of ingredients that are found in my backyard (chives, calamansi, etc.), I am able to reduce my carbon footprint and also save money from going to the market. This may be such a small step but at least it is a step for progress in living sustainably. The way to sustainable living is a big change in our lives. Unless living alone, it is a hard task that requires everyone's cooperation. If we cannot slowly change on our eating lifestyles by going vegan, then at the least we should put up solar panels in our homes, save electricity whenever we can and also put up rainwater shelters for use on the hot days. These don't require a drastic change in our current lifestyle but for those who live in a third-world country, it cannot easily be done due to them putting in their basic necessities first or the cost of such is to expensive for them. Either way, the most that everyone can do is to separate the biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes properly because being able to do so will help those big companies who have projects for sustainability.
By the way, check out the finale cooking show with me and my friends as we tackle my favorite food. I'm pretty sure that no wastage is gonna be left on my table.