How to make sustainable choices at the supermarket
today i want to bring back some of those
good old game boy memories and play a
little game with you
but i have to warn you this game is far
less innocent than tetris
it takes place in one of the absolute
worst places on the planet it is hell on
earth
if you’re a millennial
with a bit of decision stress
trying to do something about climate
change
i call this place
the cave of consumer traps
now you’ve probably been to this place
before maybe even hundreds of times you
just know by different name
the supermarket
which is a terrible name because there’s
nothing super about it
but before we go in there we need to
choose our character
ah this guy looks a bit too nervous
it’s cute but nah not really my thing
ah
that’s more like it
let’s go with frank a naive dutch guy
with typical millennial issues such as
fomo
when frank was about 15 years old he
first learned about the horrible and
unfair effects of climate change and
ever since then he’s been trying to find
ways to do something about it
like most people for a really long time
frank only heard about all the problems
and had no idea about the solutions
until he found his book drawdown where
scientists calculate the 100 most
effective ways to reduce emissions
and oh by the way his favorite food is
hamburgers
so frank is not a chef
but he decides to make a cookbook for
climate change to make it easier for
himself and his friends to be part of
this food solution
so he goes deep down the rabbit hole of
climate change and food and that’s where
we start the game
by the way if you haven’t noticed yet
i’m frank
okay
let’s do this
i press start the screen turns black and
then i hear the old gamer music and
frank walks into the cave
the objective is simple enough
i just need to find some coconut milk so
frank can make a curry for his friends
so i work my way through the isles but
then i stop
this game is about climate change and
isn’t there a lot of damage for flying
coconut milk halfway around the world
maybe it’s a trap but wait most of the
things from far away they come by boats
so the missions for products are really
low so it’s fine okay just continue
i turn around the corner and there i
spot it the coconut milk but
nobody told me that there would be 13
different kinds of coconut milk how am i
supposed to choose
okay can or carton
what’s inside usually makes a bigger
difference than the packaging okay can
is fine maybe organic but then next to
it there’s another option fair trade
i’m trying to solve this riddle when to
my left i see an old woman walking
towards me staring at me she is
definitely judging if i can pass this
test
okay
if you want to save the world you’ve got
to at least choose the right coconut
milk
i’m sweating my heart is pounding and
the woman keeps staring i feel like tom
cruise has to cut the red or the black
cable and if i choose the wrong one the
whole thing is going to explode
organic fair trade organic fair trade i
close my eyes and choose a can
it’s organic and then
silence
nothing happens the store doesn’t
explode and the woman walks on i quickly
head for the exit and take another look
at my can
what
what if not buying the fair trade option
means that the farmers can’t buy food
for their children and they have to
leave the village in a storm to catch
fish and then the boat capsizes and they
all die oh what have i done but it’s too
late i pay and head out in the cold
night
how am i ever going to give people
advice about eating sustainably i can’t
even get it right myself
sure i made it out alive but this is not
what winning looks like this feels like
game over
so i walk back home with my coconut milk
and i feel small and powerless
what can one person do about climate
change
despite having a few more moments like
this i continue working on the book and
slowly i start to connect the dots
and see the bigger picture maybe it’s
possible to break down this huge
challenge into smaller steps
in a video game you also don’t start by
fighting the end boss you work your way
through all the different levels so you
get character gains more and more
experience until you’re strong enough to
take on the final mission so frank needs
to go level by level
what might be those first couple of
levels of food and climate change
the biggest problem is definitely meat
but oh come on becoming a vegetarian
that’s not a small step
isn’t there some kind of entry level
let’s see if we take all the world’s
wild birds and mammals including the
ones from the sea like dolphins and
whales and then on top of that we add
all the world’s chickens sheep goats
horses and pigs
the weight of all of these animals
combined
it’s less than the weight of all cows in
the world
planet earth it’s more like planet cow
no wonder we have to cut down forests to
feed all of them
and on top of that cows also burp
methane a powerful greenhouse gas
so i know what level one is replacing
beef and you don’t even have to replace
it with tofu
one research calculated that if you
replace beef with pork or chicken so
you’re not even eating less meat just a
different kind of meat this could
already reduce your footprint
of your food by 21
now of course replacing all beef with
chicken is not really the end goal of a
sustainable diet
but it already makes a huge difference
the overall goal is more about enjoying
meat as a luxury product for the weekend
turning beef into a luxury is a great
first step to restore the balance and to
tackle the underlying cause of climate
change
because beef is a great way to unlearn
overconsumption
so frank reduced his beef
turned his favorite food from hamburgers
into curry and passed level one
[Applause]
the other big problem with food and
climate change is food waste so surely
level 2 must be about food waste
that reminds me of a friend who really
doesn’t like breadcrusts
whenever she buys a loaf of bread she
was so honest to admit to me
she throws away both crusts
now
if you came here today you are probably
a super sustainable person who would
never do this
but the statistics say that if i were to
go to your home and open up the trash
bag i would find a lot of bread
because one in every five slices is
wasted
and worldwide more than half of all
wasted calories come from cereals like
bread or pasta
of course we waste a lot more than just
bread crusts but i think eating all
those slices is a great solution for
climate change
first of all there was a study that
showed that people eat their bread
crusts they waste less food in general
but for me breadcrusts have an even
bigger power i think they can help us to
remember what’s most important in life
yes you’re never going to look at bread
crust the same way again
the reason that we waste so much food in
the first place is because because we’ve
kind of forgotten its value
food is our first basic need but it no
longer feels that way because it has
become part of our efficient factory
system so sometimes it’s just cheaper or
more convenient to throw it away
and that’s where the humble breadcrust
comes in every time you buy a loaf of
bread and you open up the bag and you
find this dry piece of crust the symbol
of unwanted food
you have a chance to practice a new
perspective
to see food as one of the most valuable
things in the world to see food
as something priceless
so
frank developed a new superpower
to eat all the breadcrusts that come his
way
past level two
[Applause]
now it starts to get more complicated
what might be level three
maybe if we have so many cows i almost
don’t dare say it
less cheese
i’m not sure i like where this is going
what if i need to become a vegan and
live in a tiny house and move far away
in the forest
of course that would
minimize my footprint but it would also
minimize my interaction with other
people
i don’t just want to reduce my negative
footprint i want to make a positive
impact on the world
let’s see if
replacing b3 can if replacing beef can
already reduce your footprint by 21
maybe that means that convincing one
other person to also replace beef makes
a much bigger difference than the rest
of the steps that i still have to take
what if we worry less about making
perfectly sustainable decisions by
ourselves
and more about
hosting sustainable dinner parties
cooking for your friends has this
mysterious power
i think maybe it can even help us to
change the system
after all in the ultimate consumer world
cooking is for losers instead you just
order a complete meal produced in an
efficient food factory delivered right
to your doorstep
and that kind of makes me feel like one
of those people in the movie wally
where all humans live on a huge
spaceship because earth was too polluted
and they drive around in their
entertainment chairs and they get their
lunch in a cup
and then one day a robot brings back a
small plant to the captain of the ship
and for the first time in his life he
learns about all these magical things
like grass and dancing and putting a
seed into the ground and getting food
from it
they’ve been living on a spaceship for
so long that all the consumer needs are
fulfilled but they’ve totally forgotten
what it means to be human
now
i don’t live on a spaceship like that
but i do live in a concrete jungle
full of ads and screens that constantly
seduce me to buy more stuff and make my
life more convenient
even though that doesn’t make me happy
at all
if we want to escape this consumer
system
we need to replace it with an
alternative vision of
the good life
we need to focus much more on all the
things that money can’t buy
from going into nature and having micro
adventures to having dinner parties
cooking especially together with other
people
cooking especially together with other
people can lay the foundation of this
new version of the good life
we can replace beef and unlearn
overconsumption we can eat our bread
crusts
and we learn that food is something
priceless
so
frank invited his friends over for
dinner to make a delicious coconut curry
past level three
now
it’s time
to return to the cave of consumer traps
once more and see if frank is strong
enough this time to make it out alive
without feeling miserable
ok
i press start and the screen turns black
and then i hear the old game of music
and frank walks into the cave
here we go
organic or fair trade
why can’t i just choose coconut milk
like a normal person
i want to give up but no i can’t voting
between the lesser of two evils is still
better than not voting at all
and then to my left i see the same old
woman walking towards me what does this
woman want for me
i want to ignore her but then i
accidentally catch her eye
okay quick try to smile
and then
she smiles back
and she asks me where she can find the
cashews
oh i know that just take a right and let
the wine bottles take a left and look to
the bottom right shelf
man i know how to get around in this
part of the store
and then it hits me i know this part of
the store with the nuts and beans i know
it much better than the meat aisle
in fact i can’t even remember when i
last walked through there
ah i must be doing something right
and in fact today i even had some
breadcrusts for lunch and tonight i’m
making a plant-based curry for my
friends
here i am obsessing over which type of
coconut milk to buy but maybe it makes a
much bigger difference then i’m standing
here in this part of the store buying
coconut milk
rather than being in the meat ow buying
beef
okay
i’ll take organic for now it’s not like
my decision is set in stone i can always
come back and choose fair trade the next
time
so head for the exit and take another
look at my can
sure it’s not perfect but together with
everything else i buy i think it points
in the right direction it points towards
a world where we give back space to
nature farm in harmony with our
environment and pay farmers a fair price
so pay and head out into the cold night
full of fresh air
the supermarket is still a horrible
place
with a terrible name but now i know how
to play the game
frank defeated the cave of consumer
traps
[Applause]
so walk back home with my coconut meal
i walk back home with my coconut milk
and i feel excited that i live in a time
where something so mundane as grocery
shopping can have such a powerful impact
three times a day i can use my food to
practice a new version of the good life
three times a day i have a chance to
vote in what kind of world i want to
live
now i love the hard work of cutting the
vegetables and i’m making a huge mess in
the kitchen and then serving my very own
coconut curry to a group of friends
this is what it feels like to be human
rather than a consumer
i’m only at the beginning of my journey
of cooking for a better world but i’m so
excited about everything that lies ahead
i can’t wait to see what’s behind those
mountains and who else is going to join
me on this adventure
i wish you all the best on your own
journey
and may the forks be with you
thank you