5.2.17 (HL)—Diet sustainability variations

Diet sustainability depends on production method, trophic level, water and energy inputs, supply-chain efficiency, food miles, storage, waste and nutritional adequacy.

The planetary health diet is a plant-rich pattern centred on whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts, with smaller amounts of dairy, meat or fish; it aims to combine health with lower pressure on planetary systems.

A local winter crop grown in a heated greenhouse can use more energy than a seasonal crop transported efficiently from a suitable climate, so distance alone cannot decide the result.

Compare like-for-like nutrition across the full supply chain and state how farming technique, seasonality and societal shifts toward more or less meat alter the outcome.

Plant-rich is not the same as zero-impact, and food miles are only one part of a life-cycle judgment.