Page 40 - TNE WORKBOOK

We’re moving in the right direction

The good news is that tweaking our diets so we eat less meat, in particular, less beef, is one of the single most
impactful things we can do to reduce our carbon emissions. In fact, in Australia, more and more people are
adopting vegetarian diets. In the last four years, there’s been a marked increase in the number of Australian
vegetarians, up to 2.1 million – including an increase of 30% in New South Wales alone.

Not only is vegetarianism a national trend in Australia – but almost 9.9 million Australian adults, 53.4% of
the population, agree that they’re also “eating less red meat these days”. Australia is also the third-fastest
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growing market for vegan food in the world, behind the UAE and China.

Now, spend 5 minutes as a group brainstorming what we could do differently in our own lives to help reduce
our food-related emissions, and note down your ideas.

Questions to prompt discussion if needed

• How do you feel about our meat consumption and the amount of meat and processed foods we eat
in our households?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how committed are you to reducing your food-related emissions?

• Do you think there are opportunities in your home for you to reduce your food waste? How about
creating a veggie garden, cutting out meat some of the time, or switching where you do the groceries,
from a big supermarket chain to a farmers’ market or Canberra’s local food co-operative?

Step 2: Reducing your food-related emissions – pick your actions (15 mins)

Eating healthy, sustainable and fair food can be a challenge in today’s world, especially when the popular
impression is that this costs a lot of money. However, it’s actually a lot easier and much cheaper than you’d
expect to live in a way that’s good for you and good for the planet.

A number of potential actions have been identified below and on the next page. Each of these actions can
give you tasty, fresh food for less, minimise environmental and social impacts and help build a strong local
food system, increasing food security in our region.

Tier 1: Easy-peasy lemon squeezy (Beginner level)

If you eat lots of processed food,
switch to getting fresh veggies
delivered to your door

• If you have zero time, or are bad at organising your meals, there’s a cheat option that will still increase the
amount of fresh food that you eat. That option is getting your food delivered to your door each week. All
you need to do is sign up once and pick the delivery options you want, then you don’t have to think about
it again

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