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About Responsible production and consumption

The Global Context

What’s happening in Australia?

What’s happening in Australian Schools?

What you can do about it

About Responsible production and consumption

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What’s happening in Australia?

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The key issues for Australia

Australia is one of only a handful of countries that produces more food than it consumes, producing food for around 60M people, and most Australians have access to an abundant and safe food supply. The competitiveness and sustainability of Australia’s agricultural sector is becoming ever more important as the mining boom recedes and transformational change in Asia creates a new wave of opportunities for rural commodity exports in value-driven markets. A thriving modern agricultural sector can be a lasting source of prosperity and an effective and efficient steward of Australia’s landscapes, natural resources and ecosystems.

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There is disconnect between the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for Australian agriculture and the environmental, social and economic trends evident in past performance. The perception of abundance created by high-volume, low-cost market production masks a self-reinforcing underlying decline in soil, water and ecosystem resources.

Pressure on economic returns from lower prices and declining resource condition force farmers to adopt or persist with practices and technologies that maximise near-term output at the expense of resource condition, entrenching production models that lead to further depletion and increased pressure on year-to-year financial returns.

Australia is also considered one of the most vulnerable developed countries in the world to impacts of the changing climate, already 22% more climatically variable than any other country. Rising temperatures, increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and declining water availability in some of our most important agricultural regions pose significant risks for the nature, distribution, quality, and affordability of our food supply.

At the same time, the Australian and global population continues to grow, competition for arable land continues to intensify, and our natural resource base continues to degrade, placing ever-increasing demands on food production systems.

We used to think of Australia as the food bowl of Asia – but this is not even close. Australian agriculture currently produces food for an estimated 60 million people and, at best, could feed around 100M. The world population is predicted to rise to 9.3 billion people by 2050, and the world rising middle-class is expected to be 4.9 billion by 2030, an extra 3.1 billion potential customers seeking higher quality food. On these figures, Australian agriculture at best can only ever supply food to 3% the rising world middle class and could only meet 1% of the food demands of the world’s population. At the same time, it is only the world’s rising middle class that can afford the food produced by Australian farmers, with the majority of the added population expected to be in a lower socio-economic demographic, needing to produce their own food through subsistence agricultural systems.

While Australia can and should help export the knowledge and technology to improve agricultural production in developing countries, the fact is that Australian farmers cannot be viable and profitable by targeting the lower priced markets around the world. There is therefore a growing argument for Australian agriculture to change its focus from volume to value, thus targeting the rising world middle class and more discerning customers that can afford higher quality and higher value food. Thus, there is a new drive for Australian agriculture to see itself as the delicatessen of Asia, rather than the Food Bowl of Asia.

What you can do about it

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This is where YOU come in - it is imperative consumers are aware of their impact of their food and clothing choices and empowered to make informed decisions and act.

This world is calling out for us to have a collective mindset. The challenge is how do we foster this. The spirit of problem solving runs deep within agriculture. Give a farmer a pair of pliers and some wire, and they can fix almost anything! But we cannot tackle the challenges of the 21st century and beyond, with 20th century thinking and technology and our farmers can’t do it alone.

We are all in this together and we need to engage everyone. We need to empower everyone, all stakeholders, and people of all ages to work effectively together towards this common goal.

Just imagine how much progress our lifetimes could contain with young people and farmers and the community working together.

“The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found but made. The activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.” John Schaar

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RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION

‘It’s everywhere. Consumption is almost impossible to avoid. It’s estimated that humans will consume more in the next 40 years than we have since we first stood on two legs. The more money we have the more we consume. The main issue is not consumption itself but it’s inequality and the impacts on our environment. The richest 20% of people account for 77% of private consumption, the middle 60% account for 22%, the poorest 20% account for just 1%. We can be smarter about what we consume and who consumes it. What are some ways we can start to do things differently?’

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Waste

Now let’s talk about that wicked problem known as waste and then have courageous conversations about the impact of our food and lifestyle choices on our health and wellbeing and the planet.

It’s hard to believe that one million Aussie kids go to bed hungry every night, yet Australians throw out enough food each year to fill a three-bedroom house
AND
Close to 20% of young Australians don’t get enough food to eat every day whilst 64% of adults and almost 30% of young people between 5 and 17 are overweight.

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But there is good news –

• In last 40 years, worldwide less and less people live in poverty. In 1990 36 percent of the world's population lived in poverty. In 2015, that figure has reduced to 12 percent. That’s an impressive improvement.
• Australians are pretty good at household recycling. In the last 20 years, we have gone from recycling 15% of recyclable household waste to 95%. We are the world champs. Well done to all of us!

But we will not preserve our way of life through household recycling alone. This is but another piece of the 1000-piece puzzle that we need to solve to stop the wasting of our natural resources.

When it comes to waste, we are brilliant at creating it. Most of us buy and use much more than we could ever need – these items are called stuff or dust gatherers.

The wheelie bin full of rubbish that we put out every week created 70 bins full of rubbish that was produced upstream in the production cycle to make all our stuff that we buy.

Only 1% of all items purchased are still in use six months later. How did this happen?

According to The Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average Australian creates just over 2,000kgs of waste each year. Each household spends $1,266 on goods purchased but were never used. Around $600 worth of food is wasted by each household every year.

Between now and 2040, humans will consume as much as we have since we first stood on two legs.

The highest wasters are those with young families.

The lowest wasters are the elderly. Maybe it’s because they have lived through some seriously tough times – war and depression – and have some idea of what it is to be economical with their purchases. These folks may have something to teach us. …… Source Cool Australia

Now let’s look at how we nourish our bodies and how our choices impact on the planet

Healthy diet, healthy lifestyle, healthy planet

Social and community health is about building resilient individuals and communities.

Personal health consists of focusing on all aspects of ‘health’:

• Physical
• Emotional / social
• Psychological

Good health is about understanding the balance between what we put into our bodies and what we do with them; it’s about how we deal with the stresses of everyday life; it’s about how we manage our emotions and interact with others.

All aspects of our health are impacted upon by the food we eat, the exercise we undertake and the ways we take care of our mental health. Studies have proven the links between a healthy diet, and efficient and effective brain, physical and psychological functioning.

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Healthy Diet

Some Scary statistics

Overweight and obesity

• In 2014-15, 63.4% of Australian adults were overweight or obese (11.2 million people). This is similar to the prevalence of overweight and obesity in 2011-12 (62.8%) and an increase since 1995 (56.3%).
• Around one in four (27.4%) children aged 5-17 years were overweight or obese, similar to 2011-12 (25.7%). Source ABS National Health Study 2014-2015.
• Less than 7% of Australians follow the Eating a healthy diet guidelines, as recommended by the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
• The average Australian adult derives at least 35% of their energy intake from “junk” foods and drinks.

Daily intake of fruit and vegetables

• In 2014-15, nearly one in two (49.8%) adults met the Australian Dietary Guidelines for recommended daily serves of fruit, while 7.0% met the guidelines for serves of vegetables. Only one in twenty (5.1%) adults met both guidelines.
• Nearly seven in ten children (68.1%) aged 2-18 years met the guidelines for recommended daily serves of fruit, while 5.4% met the guidelines for serves of vegetables. Only one in twenty (5.1%) children met both guidelines.

Exercise

• In 2014-15, 55.5% of 18-64 year olds participated in sufficient physical activity in the last week (more than 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or more than 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both, including walking).
• Nearly one in three (29.7%) 18-64 year olds were insufficiently active (less than 150 minutes in the last week) while 14.8% were inactive (no exercise in the last week).

Knowing what’s good for you

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The Australian Guide To Healthy Eating recommends eating a variety of nutritious foods including vegetables, fruit, grain and lean meat to achieve a balanced healthy diet.

This guide indicates the need to increase the consumption of cereals, legumes, vegetables and fruit, while consuming meat, fish and dairy products in lesser quantities.

Meat is an important source of protein and certain micro-nutrients, including iron, zinc and vitamins and milk is a rich source of protein and calcium. That’s why the Australian Guide recommends two daily serves of milk and dairy products, along with two serves of meat, fish and eggs.

Protein intake is important for a balanced diet, as insufficient protein intake can lead to obesity due to excessive carbohydrate and fat intake to meet energy requirements.

Plant foods – including grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes – are also vital for keeping us healthy. That’s why the Australian Guide To Healthy Eating recommends a higher consumption of plant foods each day, along the lines of seven serves of cereals, five serves of vegetables and legumes, and two serves of fruit. Doing that can reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer, and increase life expectancy.

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Healthy Lifestyles

A healthy and active lifestyle is a lifestyle that contributes positives to physical, mental and social well-being and includes regular exercise.

The Australian Health Survey 2011-12 indicates that:

Physical Activity

• Only one-third of children, and one in ten young people undertook the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
• 60% of Australian adults did less than the recommended 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per day.

Sedentary Behaviour

• Fewer than one in three children and young people (5-17 year olds) met the “no more than 2 hours of screen-based entertainment” every day.
• Nearly 70% of Australian adults (i.e. almost 12 million adults) are either sedentary or have low levels of physical activity.

Children and Young People

• In 2011-12, toddlers and pre-schoolers (aged 2–4 years) spent an average of around 6 hours per day engaged in physical activity. They also spent almost one and a half hours per day (83 minutes) in the sedentary activities of watching TV, DVDs or playing electronic games.
• On average, children and young people aged 5–17 years spent one and a half hours (91 minutes) per day on physical activity and over two hours a day (136 minutes) in screen-based activity with physical activity decreasing and screen-based activity increasing as age increased.
• Just under half (44%) of all children and young people (2–17 years) had at least one type of screen-based item (e.g. TV, computer, or game console) in their bedroom. For the 15–17 year olds, three-quarters had some kind of screen-based media in their bedroom and this was associated with them spending an extra two hours per week watching/playing screen-based media compared with those who did not have any such item in their bedroom.
• The children and young people who participated in the pedometer study, recorded an average of 9,140 steps per day. Children aged 5–8 and 9–11 years were most likely to reach 12,000 steps per day (22% and 24% respectively), while 15–17 year olds were least likely (7%) to reach this number of steps.

Adults

• The highest levels of physical activity were among the young adults with 53% of 18–24 year olds being classed as sufficiently active. Levels of physical activity tended to decline in older ages, with the lowest being among people aged 75 years and over, where the average time spent in physical activity was 20 minutes per day, and just one in four this age were classified as sufficiently active against the guidelines.
• Levels of sufficient physical activity were associated with a range of factors:
• Relative socioeconomic disadvantage: Adults in the least disadvantaged quintile were 1.5 times more likely to have done sufficient physical activity compared with those in the most disadvantaged quintile.
• Health status: Adults who described their health as "excellent" were over twice as likely to have done sufficient physical activity compared with people with "poor" self-assessed health.
• Body mass index (BMI): The underweight/normal weight population were 1.4 times more likely to have done sufficient physical activity compared with the obese population.
• Smoking status: ex–smokers and people who never smoked were 1.2 times more likely to have done sufficient physical activity compared with current smokers.
• Sedentary activity occupied an average 39 hours per week for adults, with close to 10 hours of this sitting at work. People employed in more sedentary occupations (such as clerical and administrative work) spent on average 22 hours a week sitting for work.
• Watching TV was the most prevalent sedentary activity, at nearly 13 hours a week, peaking at over 19 hours per week on average for people aged 75 and over. Using the computer or Internet (for non-work purposes) peaked at almost 9 hours per week for 18–24 year olds.
• The adults who participated in the pedometer study, recorded an average of 7,400 steps per day. Less than one in five adults (19%) recorded 10,000 steps per day on average.’
  Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2013 - Australian Health Survey: Physical Activity, 2011-12. ABS Catalogue number 4364.0.55.00

Make your move – sit less – be active for life

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Healthy Planet

The global impacts of our diet

A sustainable diet has low environmental impacts and contributes to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. Source

The Double Pyramid developed by the Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition in Italy shows the synergies between food that is good for our health and environment.

This model consists of two pyramids: one is the traditional food pyramid like the Australian guide, while the other is an upside-down pyramid ranking the environmental impacts of the same foods. In general, foods at the base of the food pyramid are also those with the lowest environmental impact.

The double pyramid, showing which foods are best for us as individuals and for the environment. Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, CC BY-SA

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Eat your cereal, beans and vegetables

Cereal grain crops are primary producers and have a lower water and carbon footprint.

Legumes such as chickpea and lentil have less than half of the greenhouse emissions of other cereal crops, as they are able to fix nitrogen naturally from the air and do not require any nitrogen fertilisers.

Compared with animal products, emissions from vegetables are lower on a per tonne basis. Most emissions associated with vegetable production come from fertiliser use, electricity use and post-harvest refrigeration and transport.

Even a modest replacement of energy-intensive animal products with less-energy-intensive grains, fruits and vegetables would be significant at the global scale.

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Rethinking healthy diet advice

Given that fewer than 3% of people in Australia and the UK are vegetarian, it’s unrealistic to suggest a meat-free diet for everyone. It is important to note In Australia and New Zealand, grazing animals are mainly grass-fed rather than grain-fed (more common in the US), which may play an important role in soil carbon sequestration in grasslands, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

If a healthy and sustainable plant-based diet is better for our health and environment, why is it that consumption of plant foods in many developed countries does not meet recommended levels?

In Victoria, for example, fewer than 8% of adults consume the recommended daily intake of five or more serves of vegetables, and fewer than 46% eat the recommended daily intake of two or more serves of fruit.

The recent Australian Health Survey found that one in four adults were eating no vegetables on an average day and only 7% were eating the recommended five servings.

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What can be done?

Our current diets cost more than healthy diets, so factors other than price must be helping drive preference for unhealthy choices. These likely include the abundant availability, accessibility, advertising and promotion of junk foods that exploit people’s vulnerabilities. It’s therefore important not to blame victims for responding as expected to unhealthy food environments.

Given the rapidly rising costs to all Australians of our growing waistlines – 25% of us are now obese, one of the highest rates in the world – failing to act is already proving extremely expensive, in both personal and economic terms.

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Government action

It has been suggested that the government can help by promoting a healthier diet by considering educational and policy measures, such as reinstating the healthy-food star rating systems and restricting junk food promotion.

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How can you help?

Before you let total and utter despair get the best of you – we can all work together to break the vicious cycle of rising obesity and ensure nutrition policy actions tackle barriers to healthy eating. Ways to do this include increasing availability of healthy foods and drinks in schools and hospitals and regulating against “junk” food and drink advertising directed to children. Together, these small steps can help shift the whole population to a healthier diet.

These statistics show there is huge room for improvement and opportunities for you as an individual, as a school and as a community to design and deliver idea/s and solutions for action.

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It’s up to each of us to make healthier choices, for our own sake, as well as for the environment that our children will inherit from us – and that starts with the food we eat today.

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