I looked at an average Australian diet that generates around 1.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide and equivalent emissions (CO2e) each year. Each week, this diet contained over 2.2 kilograms of meat and fish and lots of dairy. Changing the type of meat chosen and swapping some meat and dairy for vegan options drastically cuts emissions.
Some meat and seafood emits a little CO2e, some emits a lot.
I made the following swaps, using items you can find in any supermarket.
- Kangaroo, duck or lamb, instead of only lamb (ie. lamb once every three weeks, not every week).
- Legumes instead of beef (think bean burritos and lentil burgers).
- Tofu instead of some of the chicken.
- Mock duck instead of pork.
- Vegetarian dip or vegan bacon instead of ham on sandwiches.
- Plain yoghurt and cashew butter instead of cream and sour cream.
- Almond, coconut or oat milk instead of some of the cow milk.
- Less fish. I chose tinned salmon and wild-caught mackerel instead of endangered orange roughy and overfished tinned tuna.
This revised diet still contains plenty of meat and dairy each week.
- Dairy (600g cow milk, 120g cheese, 280g yoghurt, 60g chocolate and 20g butter).
- Meat (500g chicken, 83g lamb, 83g kangaroo, 83g duck and 20g salami).
- Fish (415g).
- Eggs (100g).
These simple swaps save 623 kilograms CO2e per person per year.
THIS IS THE FIFTH OF TEN INSTALLATIONS AT 'ART, NOT APART 2019'.
CAN YOU FIND NINE MORE HIDDEN AROUND THE FESTIVAL?
Lego kindly on loan from The Green Shed.
Data and sources are here. See also Blog Post for Week Eighteen.