Food contributes to environmental burden

Earth Overshoot Day was observed in Finland as elsewhere in the world on Wednesday highlighting the food production and greenhouse gas emissions caused by transport and living as the major causes of the overshoot.

Earth Overshoot Day is the day on which, according to calculations, the consumption exceeds sustainable yearly use of natural resources, said a press release.

“We do a lot of good small deeds to reduce the negative impacts on the environment, but the continuing increase in consumption eats away the benefits of our actions. We should multiply our capacity to make choices that are better for the environment and consume in a more sustainable way,” said WWF Finland Secretary-General Liisa Rohweder.

Especially, the energy used for living and transport expands our carbon footprint, which is globally the most important reason for the overshoot. Food production also contributes to unsustainable use of natural resources. About 70 per cent of the land area in agricultural use is used for the production of meat and animal-based food.

“The best alternative from the point of view of environment is to replace at least some of the meat by vegetables,” Rohweder said.

Growing plants is always required in the production of meat, eggs and milk products, so the environmental impacts of animal-based products are almost without exception bigger than those of plant-based products.

Sustainably harvested or farmed fish is an excellent alternative from the point of view of the environment; especially, local Finnish fish can be recommended.

According to the figures, Finns use up their share of the Earth’s natural resources about four months before the global average.

The national overshoot day for Finland was as early as April 3. If everyone consumed like Finns, more than three planets would be needed for consumption to be at a sustainable level.

“From the point of view of the environment, it is unsustainable that we keep on living on ‘credit’ by overusing natural resources. Everyone can influence overconsumption by considering how they live, move around and eat. Consumers should favour responsibly produced food and reduce the amount of food that is thrown away. In addition to choices made by consumers, we also need firm policy measures,” said Minister for Housing, Energy and the Environment Kimmo Tiilikainen.

The consumption in Finland has impacts globally: for example, more than 90 per cent of the impacts on biodiversity that are related to the consumption of food in Finland are generated abroad.