Food for your plate and planet

Changing the way we grow - and eat - helps the planet's health as well as ours, explains Kim Stoddart, and whether on a sunny windowsill or dedicated plot we can all grow something tasty

-  Kim Stoddart

Growing even a little produce at home is a positive action towards a greener, rosier future as concerns around climate change and food security abound. No matter the size of our gardens, allotments, patios or windowsills, nurturing our own fruit and veg in a nature-friendly way can make a real difference for us, our plates and the planet. But it can be hard to see how our diet has an impact, so I asked food policy expert, Tim Lang, who is part of Gardeners' World Magazine's Growing Greener campaign panel, to explain.

Tim beleivesthe impact of food consumption on climate change has been played down by policymakers."The evidence on climate change (or global heating) has been building for 30 years," he says. "It's been ignored or downplayed as though a fictional 'someone' will come along and fix it.They won't, but we must. It's roll-upthe-sleeves time - put anxieties to one side and put your emotional, intellectual and practical energies into changing how you eat now as your contribution to action.

"With shop-bought food, you are almost certainly relying on largerscale growing. It will be less fresh, more packaged produce, with much hidden waste. Supermarket contracts force growers to jettison too much. Growing what you can at home always has an advantage over shop-bought groceries. Food systems drive 70 per cent of all water use, 26 per cent of greenhouse gases, most biodiversity loss and provide most jobs on the planet. It's so huge that the evidence has almost blinded policymakers."

Greener facts