Research Guides: Climate Action Week: Food Systems

(apple image by Mircea Ploscar on Pixabay)

UBC & City of Vancouver Goals

UBC CAP 2030 Targets and Actions: Food Systems
Target: By 2030, achieve a 50% GHG emission reduction of food systems.

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By 2024, UBC aims to:
- Develop campus-wide Climate-Friendly Food System (CFFS) definition, mandatory CFFS labelling, and a toolkit to increase sustainable dietary choices and habits.
- Develop and implement mandatory campus-wide Climate-Friendly Food System Procurement Guidelines applicable to all food providers.
- Develop a Food Waste Reduction and Recovery Strategy (including food-related waste).
- Amend the UBC Supplier Code of Conduct to reflect UBC’s climate commitments.
- Develop a Food System Resilience and Climate Action Strategy that holistically advances climate-friendly foods at UBC including climate mitigation and adaptation.
- Leverage and expand established interdisciplinary research initiatives, student and faculty-led research to advance climate-friendly food systems, spanning climate mitigation and adaptation.
City of Vancouver: Vancouver Food Strategy
"The Vancouver Food Strategy is a plan to create a just and sustainable food system for the city, and helps us to meet our social, environmental, economic, and health goals. It builds on years of food systems initiatives and grassroots community development, and considers all aspects of the food system - from seed to table to compost heap and back again."

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Specific goals include:
- Creating food friendly neighbourhoods to "provide all residents with easy access to fresh, healthy foods, and the means to sustainably dispose of food waste."
- Empowering residents by providing and making easily accessible resources on food systems in plain, easily understandable language
- Improving access to "sufficient, safe, nutritious, and affordable food"
- Creating a "green economy" by "creating food-related green jobs, and addressing challenges to growing, processing, warehousing, and distributing local and sustainable foods."
- Creating a more just and sustainable food system by "advocat[ing] for food issues at the regional, provincial, and national levels" and "supporting policies that enhance the ability of regional and provincial government to protect BC farmers and farmland, and adapt to climate change."

Taking Action

Agriculture alone accounts for 8.5% of BC's emissions. ("GHG emissions twice as high as estimates" Country Life in BC).

Here are some actions that you can take:

At UBC, look for the Climate Friendly Food Label

This food label is a project currently being piloted at select UBC food venues, including Open Kitchen. As this post from UBC Campus and Community Planning explains, "a menu item with the Climate-Friendly Food Label means that the item generated less GHG emissions, water, and nitrogen per 100 grams of food produced than the other items on the menu". Check out UBC Sustainability's Food webpage for more information.

Get involved with UBC initiatives and groups that support sustainable food systems

Take part in collective action for climate change

It is only through collective action that we as individuals can pressure corporations, universities, and governments into taking action for the environment. There are a number of environment-related student groups at UBC that can help you take the first steps towards getting involved. You can also consider working with local environmental groups and organizations.

Prioritize plants and minimize meat consumption when possible

Check out Harvard University's Plate and the Planet resource to learn more about how and why these dietary changes can both benefit your own health and minimize your climate impact.

Eat local produce, or even grow your own

Eating local produce reduces the amount of greenhouse gases that are required to get food from the source to your plate. When possible for your lifestyle, try purchasing your produce from somewhere guaranteed to have local produce, such as a farmer's market. Often, the produce at these markets is even cheaper than the grocery store! Eatlocal.org has a great list of farmer's markets that you can visit in Vancouver.
If you want to try growing your own produce at home, check out UBC's Seed Lending Library to learn how to get free seeds from UBC and access resources that support growing your own food.

Check for the Ocean Wise symbol when you purchase seafood

If you see the symbol, that means the product is ocean-friendly. For more specific information about which varieties and brands of seafood are ocean-friendly, check out the Monterrey Bay Aquarium's searchable Seafood Watch database.

Core Resources

Reports and Organizations: Indigenous Food Sovereignty

Films/Streaming Media

Eating Our Way to Extinction
Directed by Otto and Ludovic Brockway and narrated by Kate Winslet, EATING OUR WAY TO EXTINCTION takes audiences on a cinematic journey around the world, from the depths of the Amazon rainforests to the Taiwanese Mountains, the Mongolian desert, the US Dust Bowl, the Norwegian Fjords and the Scottish coastlines, telling the story of our planet through shocking testimonials, poignant accounts from Indigenous people most affected by our ever-changing planet, globally renowned figures and leading scientists.
Gather
Gather is an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide.
Food for the Rest of Us
The documentary will examine how getting back to the land is tied to other movements such as Black Lives Matter, Idle No More, and Times Up. It is a feature film that presents four stories of people living life on their terms, serving as leaders and role models who are lending their voice to the underdog and leading a revolution to a better world, from the ground up!
Kiss the Ground
This documentary film, directed by Josh and Rebecca Tickell and narrated by Woody Harrelson, presents the story of "a revolutionary group of activists, scientists, farmers, and politicians [who] band together in a global movement of “Regenerative Agriculture” that could balance our climate, replenish our vast water supplies, and feed the world."
Final Straw - Global Environmental Justice Collection
Filmed over a four year period in Japan, Korea and United States, this film finds inspiration in the work of diverse chefs and farmers who have been inspired by the philosophy of the late Masanobu Fukuoka and his seminal book "One Straw Revolution" which offers what the filmmakers call “a brilliant yet maddeningly simple path to sustainability and well being for people and the environment.”