Sustainable food consumption: an overview of contemporary issues and policies

Reisch, Lucia A.; Eberle, Ulrike; Lorek, Sylvia

doi:10.1080/15487733.2013.11908111

Cited by 402 publications

(422 citation statements)

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“…Jones and Kammen [2] in addition to Reisch et al [3] also identified dietary changes as one of the most economically-effective abatement options for climate change in affluent countries. There is therefore potential to address environmental impacts throughout the food chain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Often, emphasis is placed on the impacts associated with European food consumption and the potential climate impacts related to meat consumption, as this has been shown to be a large source of emissions from food consumption [3,[19][20][21]. Recently, a number of studies have focused on the role of dietary choices, the role of farming practices and seasonal availability for reducing environmental impacts [11,15,[22][23][24][25][26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating the Environmental Consequences of Swedish Food Consumption and Dietary Choices

Martin

Brandão

2017

Sustainability

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Abstract:In recent years, a growing interest from consumers to know the origins and contents of foods has put alternative choices, such as organic foods and dietary changes, on the agenda. Dietary choices are important to address, as many studies find that activities related to food production account for nearly 20-30% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Nonetheless, while GHG emissions are important, often other environmental impact categories are not considered in the assessment of the sustainability of different foods, diets and choices. This study aims to quantify the implications of dietary choices for Swedish food consumption on a broad range of environmental impact categories using life cycle assessment to provide insight into the impacts, and potential tradeoffs, associated with certain food products and dietary choices. Scenarios are used to assess the implications of diets with reduced meat, increased Swedish food consumption, increased organic foods, vegan and semi-vegetarian diets. The results indicate that tradeoffs could be possible with certain dietary choices. Increasing Swedish food production and consumption may lead to lower impacts for all impact categories by reducing imports, although limitations in growing season and availability of foods in Sweden allows only for minor increases. The results also indicate that large reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are possible by reducing meat consumption, i.e., by halving meat consumption and through vegan and vegetarian diets. Nonetheless, an increase in vegetable, legume and fruit products may lead to a potential increase in human and ecosystem toxicity. Diets based on nutritional guidelines, show reductions in all impact categories, as these guidelines call for an increase in vegetables and fruits and a reduction in meat consumption. An increase in organic foods showed no significant change in climate impact, although toxicity potential was reduced significantly. Increasing consumption of organic foods may also lead to a reduction in biodiversity damage potential, and if all food is produced organically, it risks increasing eutrophication and land use.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Environmental Consequences of Swedish Food Consumption and Dietary Choices

Martin

Brandão

2017

Sustainability

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“…A call for the consumption of more sustainable food is increasingly heard [1,2]. To achieve this aim, a crucial element is how to advance access to sustainable food in order to make buying sustainable food more feasible.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making Sense of Sustainability: A Practice Theories Approach to Buying Food

Brons

Oosterveer

2017

Sustainability

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Abstract:In light of global climate change the relevance of sustainable food consumption is growing, yet access to it has not correspondingly developed. This paper addresses the issue of accessing sustainable food from a practice theories perspective. The case of students in Paris is examined by means of interviews and participant observation. Four indicators serve to structure the results, i.e., mode of recruitment, mode of engagement, degree of commitment, and bundles of practices. Based on this analysis, three types are constructed, each with distinct access issues. We conclude that access to sustainable food is not necessarily determined by financial means only, nor by individual attitudes, but should be analysed as embedded in the complex dynamics of multiple social practices. Building on these insights means that more attention for the actual practice of accessing sustainable food, the different elements, and bundles involved is needed when looking for ways to increase access to sustainable food.

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“…The source of the food and its journey to their plates is largely invisible, as are potential disruptions to food availability. Reisch et al (2013) note that seasonality of production is irrelevant for consumers in industrialized countries because globalization ensures that fruits and vegetables are available throughout the year at relatively low prices. This consumer estrangement from food production and focus on "lived experience" with food makes it difficult to engage the public in constructive dialogue about systemic food issues (FrameWorks Institute 2005) Understanding how food supplies might be vulnerable, especially in these large, diverse, multistakeholder systems, requires a broad perspective to examine the ways the food system as a whole is vulnerable (Eakin 2010;Ericksen 2008).…”

Section: Food System Disturbances Are Often Discussed As Shocks or Stmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consumers are likely to participate in the system and understand how it works. By contrast, the structure and operation of modern industrialized food systems are largely invisible to consumers and policy-makers (Reisch et al 2013). The chains of production, processing, and distribution activities that generate food supplies are long, highly differentiated, and influenced by an array of environmental, economic, social, cultural and other factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A system dynamics approach for examining mechanisms and pathways of food supply vulnerability

Stave

Kopainsky

2015

J Environ Stud Sci

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Understanding vulnerabilities in complex and interdependent modern food systems requires a wholesystem perspective. This paper demonstrates how one systems approach, system dynamics, can help conceptualize the mechanisms and pathways by which food systems can be affected by disturbances. We describe the process of creating stock-and-flow maps and causal loop diagrams from the graphical representation of a problem and illustrate their use for making links and feedback among the human health, food, and environmental health sectors visible. These mapping tools help structure thinking about where and how particular systems might be affected by different disturbances and how flows of material and information transmit the effects of disturbances throughout the system. The visual representations as well as the process of creating them can serve different purposes for different stakeholders: developing research questions, identifying policy leverage points, or building collaboration among people in different parts of the system. They can serve as a transition between mental models and formal simulation models, but they also stand on their own to support diagrammatic reasoning: clarifying assumptions, structuring a problem space, or identifying unexpected implications of an unplanned disturbance or an intentional policy intervention. The diagrams included here show that vulnerability of a national food system does not only or automatically result from exogenous shocks that might affect a country. Rather, vulnerability can be either intensified or reduced by the interaction of feedback loops in the food system, and buffered or amplified by the structure of stocks and flows. KeywordsCausal loop diagram; conceptual models; dynamic complexity; modern industrialized food systems; stock-and-flow diagram; systems mapping, structural insights. 2 IntroductionFood supply systems are richly integrated and highly dynamic social-ecological systems in which ecological factors shape the possibilities for food production and social factors govern the goals and operations of actors in the system. In low income countries, food supply systems tend to be relatively simple and closely adapted to local environmental conditions, with a small set of products and few steps between producers and consumers. Consumers are likely to participate in the system and understand how it works. By contrast, the structure and operation of modern industrialized food systems are largely invisible to consumers and policy-makers (Reisch et al. 2013). The chains of production, processing, and distribution activities that generate food supplies are long, highly differentiated, and influenced by an array of environmental, economic, social, cultural and other factors. It is hard to visualize connections in the system and even harder to see how changes in one part of the system affect other parts. Some causal connections in the system are direct and obvious, such as the effect of a drought on crop yield, but some are indirect and opaque, such as the effect of...

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Sustainable food consumption: an overview of contemporary issues and policies

Cited by 402 publications

References 14 publications

Evaluating the Environmental Consequences of Swedish Food Consumption and Dietary Choices

Evaluating the Environmental Consequences of Swedish Food Consumption and Dietary Choices

Making Sense of Sustainability: A Practice Theories Approach to Buying Food

A system dynamics approach for examining mechanisms and pathways of food supply vulnerability

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