Food
In Europe, food is the second biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions after transport. Emissions can be generated while the food is grown (methane emissions from livestock for example, heating greenhouses to grow foods out of season) but also when it is distributed, with hundreds of tonnes of fresh foods being air-freighted to supermarkets every day.
Additionally, intensive farming using pesticides damages the long-term health of our soil and contributes to chemicals in our natural environment and food chains.
Actions to take
- As far as possible eat seasonally, locally and organically. When shopping in a supermarket, buy foods with the fewest airmiles.
- Support local markets such as the Lewes Friday Food Market and the Lewes Farmers Market held fortnightly – and local veg box schemes.
- Reduce your meat and dairy intake – per gram of protein, producing beef uses 20 times the land and emits 20 times the emissions as growing beans.
- Minimise food waste – an estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted globally each year, one third of all food produced for human consumption.
What we’ve been doing
The Transition Town Lewes Food Group set up the weekly Lewes Friday Food Market to support local food growers and producers, and encourage seasonal eating. In addition, TTL puts on talks, films and events trying to encourage all sections of the community to think about the food they eat, how it’s grown, and where it comes from.
Lewes Friday Food Market
Founded by TTL and now run as an independent community interest company, the Lewes Friday Food Market is held every Friday morning in the Market Tower in the heart of Lewes. It features a wealth of local food growers, bakers, fishmongers, butchers, cheesemakers, bakers and lots more – all carefully selected for their local provenance and focus on sustainability.
Useful resources
Daphne Lambert of Green Cuisine Trust, a local food charity, has written a number of articles for us about eating sustainably:
- All about hemp
- Autumn foods for wellbeing
- How well do you know your milk?
- Article: Daphne Lambert in conversation with Anni Townend
Other useful TTL articles on food
- Lewes Town Council agrees nature-friendly allotments policy
- New partnership focuses on food security in Lewes district
- Lewes food banks how and where to donate
- A social enterprise using leftover food locally
- Can being vegan save the planet?
- Wetwipes and fatbergs
- No garden growing
Grow your own
TTL steering group member Jon Gunson has written a range of Grow Your Own articles here
- Time to say goodbye to peat
- Jon’s gardening tips for Transitioners
- Grow your own food: Apples
- Grow your own food: Cucumbers
- Grow your own food: Potatoes
- A few things to know about slugs
- Seasonal gardening tips- January and February
- Winter gardening tips
- Food growing in March
- Food growing in May
- Food growing in June
- Food growing in August
- Food growing in October
- Food growing tips in November