How Bad are Bananas?

So, on Tuesday I had nothing to say but I've finished a book since then: How Bad Are Bananas? by Mike Berners-Lee. I was thinking he had invented the internet, but I had him confused with his brother, Tim. There are a few brain cells in that family for sure.

I can recommend the book for readability and for straight-forward explanations, but there isn't a great deal of good news in it. Frankly we'll all need to give up quite a bit of our comfortable lifestyles in order to save the human race and I don't see it happening, at least not until the planet gets fairly uncomfortable for a lot of us not at high risk. Which means it will be lethal for quite a few poorer people initially. 

He does give a good list of what we can do and one of the easier things is eating in season. He gives a list of fruits and veg grown in Britain by month. If we don't select from this group he recommends going for tinned or frozen to avoid air-freighted luxury items. Interestingly, bananas aren't much of a problem as they are grown with natural sunlight and the keep well enough to be shipped by boat rather than plane. So that's a relief. 

He also gives a website produced by the Marine Conservation Society to help people select the most sustainable fish:  Good Fish Guide. 

However, food only makes up a quarter of the average Brit's foodprint of 12.7 tonnes and we all need to aim for a 5 tonne footprint. Berners-Lee says a meat orientated diet can easily make up the whole of a 5 tonne foodprint. We have a lot of work to do!