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So what is sustainability?
So what is sustainability?
Being sustainable is defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (The United Nations 1987).
Put simply it means not taking more from the planet than you need, and making sure that we look after all of the people and other living things that we share the planet with.
On our planet, there are limited (finite) resources. To help find solutions, sustainability can be broken down into three different areas:
1. building strong communities that respect the area where they live and the rights, cultures and needs of the people who live there, as well as people who live elsewhere (social sustainability)
2. making the most of what we have without taking too much and creating a prosperous society where wealth is shared equally (economic sustainability)
3. making sure we look after the place we all call home and all of the living things we share it with (environmental sustainability)
We all need to eat!
We all need to eat!
Lets look at how important food is in creating a sustainable world.
When people, at all times, have access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs, they are food secure.
There are many people, globally, regionally, nationally and locally who are not food secure and do not have access to the good quality food they require. This might be because there is no food or because they can’t afford to buy the food.
Making sustainable food choices
Making sustainable food choices
Find out what can you do to make your food choices more sustainable.
Food journey stories
Food journey stories
All food comes to you on a journey. Some food journeys are long, for example, bananas coming to Scotland from Costa Rica. Other food journeys are very short for example growing your own tomatoes on your window sill!
A food supply chain shows the different steps in the journey of food.
Production – processing – distribution – retail
At each step in the food supply chain, there are inputs and outputs.
For example, when wheat is grown in the field, an input may include fertiliser and an output is the wheat seeds that can be ground up to give us flour.
The impact of the food on the environment and all of the people involved in producing it needs to consider all the inputs and outputs generated in the journey to get the food to your plate.
Food supply chains for wheat (above) and fish (below)
🎲 Think about the last item you ate. What does its food journey look like?
🎲 Think about the last item you ate. What does its food journey look like?
Linear food chains
Linear food chains
Food supply chains are usually ‘linear’. This means food moves in one direction, from the field (or water) where it is grown (start) to the plate where it is eaten (end) with waste generated at all the different steps along the way.
Above is an example of a basic food supply chain for some cheese sold in supermarkets.
None of the inputs needed to make cheese and get it from the farm to the consumer, or any waste generated at any of these steps, is dealt with in a sustainable way.
Linear chains have been around for a while and involve using up resources and consequently produce waste products.
Many businesses in food supply chains are trying to be more sustainable by using less inputs and making less waste (see the circular economy page).
What are the Sustainable Development Goals?
What are the Sustainable Development Goals?
Scotland, together with many other countries are working towards 17 Sustainable Development Goals (called SDGs). These goals are aiming to transform our world. They are a call to action to end poverty and inequality, protect the planet and all of the living things that we share it with, and ensure that all people enjoy health, justice and prosperity.
What we eat and how it is produced are critical to these goals.
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Have a go at the sustainable development goal quizzes to find out more.
Have a go at the sustainable development goal quizzes to find out more.
How can we make our food more ‘sustainable’?
How can we make our food more ‘sustainable’?
Across the world we produce enough food for everyone but not all food is sustainably produced. This means not everyone has access to the food they need and a lot of food is wasted.
In a global sustainable food system, everyone would have access to good quality food, food supply chains are short and circular with no waste, food producers can make a profit, and future generations still have the resources they need to continue living on the planet.
Activities to try
Activities to try
Making sustainable food choices
Making sustainable food choices
Food choice is all about how people decide what to buy and eat. There are lots of factors involved in food choice and they are different for every person. The foods people choose depend on price, allergies, family, likes and dislikes, availability and even how you are feeling when you buy food.
Where we found our information
Where we found our information
Food Foundation Food Insecurity Tracking https://foodfoundation.org.uk/initiatives/food-insecurity-tracking#tabs/Round-11-
The Scottish Health Survey 2021 https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/statistics/2022/11/scottish-health-survey-2021-volume-1-main-report/documents/scottish-health-survey-2021-volume-1-main-report/scottish-health-survey-2021-volume-1-main-report/govscot%3Adocument/scottish-health-survey-2021-volume-1-main-report.pdf
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) https://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/goals/goal-2/en/
British Nutrition Foundation https://www.nutrition.org.uk/media/v11nc2a4/fun-way-to-fibre_nov-2021.pdf
The University of Edinburgh https://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/studying/cpd/courses/intro-food-systems-cpd/food-cpd-topic-3
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