The COP21 Recipe Challenge

Today marks the beginning of the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) negotiations taking place in Paris. (If you don't know what that means, you best get to know!) These discussions will review the current mitigation and adaptation strategies being undertaken to prevent the global temperature exceeding the 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Climate change is real, and is happening right now. (Hopefully you've learned that already from reading this blog!!) There are many contributing factors that are causing this global warming, with some being addressed in these vital negotiations, such as fossil fuel consumption, land use and deforestation. Yet, the environmental impacts of the food production industry are being largely ignored and left out of the debates, despite contributing massively to global greenhouse gas emissions, land management and adversely effecting human health.

http://cleanclipart.com/clipart-2836/

But, why? I suppose telling people what they can and can't eat has the potential to cause an uproar, and leave governments in the political turmoil... However, this quite frankly doesn't cut the mustard. We need to widen the climate debate surrounding dietary choices, and educate ourselves as to which choices are more environmentally sound.

So, where do we turn? Organic? Vegetarian? Vegan? Low carbon? Paleo? Flexitarian? Ahhh! The choices are overwhelming, and none of them are perfect. (I will be exploring and analysing them each in more depth later on...) However, for now, if we all reduced the use of meat and dairy, distance travelled and products which are out of season in our recipes, we are bound to see positive effects!

So, join me for the next week, where I will be posting my interpretation of environmentally friendly recipes for you all to see! If you have any suggestions, alterations or recipes of your own, don't be afraid to share in the comments section. Let's crack down on climate change together from our own homes!