Planet Station
Food is the biggest way humans change the planet. Not all of it is bad news — and the numbers are more interesting than the headlines.
Land
Half of all the land people farm is used to feed farmed animals.
Growing food takes space. Animals need land to live on and land to grow their food on, so the same meal can take much more land if it comes from animals.
- about 3/4 — Farmland used for animalsincluding grazing land and feed crops
- about 1/5 — Calories that gives usof the world's food energy
But careful: Some land — steep mountains, dry grassland — can't grow crops for people at all, so grazing there is different from clearing forest to grow animal feed.
You could: Try one plant-based dinner a week and see which one your family likes best.
Water
It takes a bathtub of water to make a small glass of cow's milk.
Water is used to grow the plants animals eat, to give them to drink, and to clean farms. Add it all up and animal foods usually use much more water than plant foods.
- about 600 L — Water for 1L dairy milk
- about 48 L — Water for 1L oat milk
But careful: Rain that falls on a field is different from water pumped out of a drying river. Where the water comes from matters as much as how much is used.
You could: Taste-test three plant milks at home and vote for a favourite.
Climate
About a quarter of the greenhouse gases humans make come from food.
Cows and sheep burp methane, a strong greenhouse gas. Forests cleared for farms release carbon. Fertiliser, transport and fridges all add more.
- about 26% — Food's share of emissions
- more than half — Of that, from animal foods
But careful: Footprints vary hugely between farms — some beef has ten times the footprint of other beef. What you eat matters more than how far it travelled.
You could: Swap one beef meal a month for beans and compare how it tastes.
Wildlife
Farming is the biggest reason wild habitats disappear.
When forest or grassland becomes farmland, the animals who lived there lose their home. That's the main cause of wildlife decline worldwide.
- about 4% — Wild mammals leftof all mammal weight on Earth; the rest is humans and farmed animals
- about 1 million — Species at riskaccording to the global biodiversity assessment
But careful: Farms can also be homes: hedges, ponds, wildflower strips and no-spray corners support huge numbers of species.
You could: Make one square metre wilder: a pot of wildflowers, a log pile or a pond in a bucket.
Oceans
For every fish caught on purpose, others are caught by accident.
Big nets catch whatever swims into them — dolphins, turtles, sharks, seabirds. That accidental catch is called bycatch, and most of it is thrown back dead.
- about 1/3 — Fish stocks overfished
- tens of thousands of tonnes a year — Lost fishing gear'ghost gear' keeps catching animals for decades
But careful: Some fisheries have cut bycatch dramatically with better nets and escape hatches, so the picture varies a lot by place and method.
You could: Join or organise a beach or river clean-up, and record what you find.
Food waste
About a third of all food grown is never eaten.
Food gets wasted on farms, in transport, in shops and at home. Every wasted meal also wastes the land, water and energy behind it.
- about 1/3 — Food never eaten
- 3rd biggest emitter — If food waste were a country
But careful: In some countries most waste happens before food reaches shops; in others most of it happens in kitchens.
You could: Run the Food Waste Detective activity at home for a week.