{"id":14004,"date":"2022-11-16T10:19:43","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T10:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.forkranger.com\/?p=14004"},"modified":"2025-03-25T09:48:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T09:48:15","slug":"why-the-benefits-of-seasonal-food-cant-be-measured-in-co2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fr-wp.cowdev.com\/de\/blog\/why-the-benefits-of-seasonal-food-cant-be-measured-in-co2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the benefits\u00a0of seasonal food can\u2019t be measured in CO2"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Main learning:<\/strong> eating seasonally is important for various reasons, but it’s more important to eat less meat and dairy to reduce our CO2 emissions
Goal:<\/strong> use your motivation to eat seasonally to make vegetables the main stars of your meals
Impact:<\/strong> Low<\/mark><\/strong> \ud83c\udf0d\ud83c\udf0d\u26aa\ufe0f\u26aa\ufe0f\u26aa\ufe0f if you look at just the impact of eating seasonal vegetables instead of non-seasonal vegetables but Very High<\/mark><\/strong> \ud83c\udf0d\ud83c\udf0d\ud83c\udf0d\ud83c\udf0d\ud83c\udf0d if you switch to our seasonal recipes and also eat less meat and dairy (see full Compass<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to eating less meat there is lots of resistance but for seasonal food it\u2019s a whole different story. In one study, eating more seasonally was the action that people were most willing to take, along with reducing food waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what do the numbers say? What\u2019s the impact of eating seasonally?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is seasonal food?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Eating seasonally is about eating fruits and vegetables when they are harvested. But something could be from halfway around the world and still be in season because there is a difference between global and local seasonality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if you live in the Netherlands and it\u2019s summer, you could get apples from New Zealand where they are in season at that moment. This is called global seasonality<\/em>. In the Netherlands, apples are harvested early fall so that\u2019s when apples would be locally in season<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Zealand example seems silly for other products it\u2019s in many cases still better to grow something in season and transport it, than to grow something out of season in a heated greenhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are going to use the definition of local seasonality.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of seasonal food in the average diet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Seasonality only affects the carbon footprint of fruits and vegetables. And compared to animal products, they have a much lower footprint. A tomato is one of the highest-impact vegetables, but even the worst tomato is five times better than the same amount of cheese<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words: seasonal food can reduce your footprint, but it only covers a part of your diet that already has a low footprint. So overall, eating seasonally is not one of the top priorities<\/a> when it comes to eating for the climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course this refers to the average<\/strong> diet. If you\u2019re already eating meat and dairy at a sustainable level, fruits and vegetables play a much larger role and seasonal food becomes more important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When seasonal products make a significant difference<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are two scenarios where choosing seasonal products can really reduce the carbon footprint of your food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) If the product is otherwise transported by air<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Air transport has a huge carbon footprint but only very little food is transported by air. Read more in our blog post about air transport<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The products that come by air if they are not in season:<\/p>\n\n\n\n