This article seeks to explore the potential for wild food to play a significant role in our transition to a climate friendly and sustainable food culture. From an environmental and climate change perspective the most relevant distinction to make is that between the animal and the plant based diets. This article explores the argument that from this perspective there are at least two very good reasons to include the distinction between cultivated and wild food as a climate damaging and, potentially, climate friendly diet, respectively.

One is my conviction that there are untapped, abundant sources of food to be found in various natural habitats, in forests, on heaths, meadows, pastures, beaches etc.. Since many of us don´t know that many of the most common plants found around us are edible, or simply don´t think much about it, this resource remains untapped, and, I would argue, much more abundant than we realize, because we know only a small fraction of the edible plants, fungi and seaweeds available to us. 

The other part of the argument is that scientists and environmental organizations call for, not more animal agriculture and also not more vegetable agriculture, but more trees to be planted as the best tool against climate change. Of course, forests range from old-growth forests with natural patterns of biodiversity to secondary forests, in the worst cases monocultural plantations. For the best result in terms of biodiversity – and therefore also ecosystem services such as provision of food and water, regulation of the climate, the management of nutrient cycles and production of oxygen, as well as provision of recreational spaces – the type of forest or natural habitat should be free from industry, urbanization and agriculture. In other words: wild.

To sum up the argument: Habitats of wild plants, fungi and seaweeds constitute, it is argued here, abundant, untapped food sources, and, since they don´t emit any greenhouse gasses or pollute in any other way, can therefore play a potentially significant role as part of the solution to the environmental damage and emissions of greenhouse gasses resulting from our agricultural system. In addition to this potential, habitats of trees, and plant matter generally, are the best tool to fight climate change due to their capacity to sequester and store greenhouse gasses, thereby functioning as sinks retracting the gasses from the atmosphere. Since this function of nature to store greenhouse gasses is seen as an essential component in the fight against climate change, why not utilize fully the climate change fighting potential of our natural habitats, not only let them grow and expand to larger areas and then function as untouched sinks storing greenhouse gasses, but, since we need these habitats anyway, also as food chambers abundant with common as well as exotic and tasty, zero emission delicacies?

The problems of climate change and land use caused by our current agricultural system

To many of us this is an old song by now: The warning from scientists that our contemporary agricultural system is unsustainable and one of the worst contributors to climate change. The World Resources Institute and UN´s Food and Agricultural Organization have estimated the contribution of the agricultural sector to be between 14% and 18% of total emissions. With a contribution of about 13.5% the entire transportation sector emits less than agriculture.

The effect of our global agricultural system on the warming of the planet comes from different sources such as methane emitted by ruminants – their farts and burps – CO2 from production and use of fertilizers, use of farm machinery and from deforestation to make space primarily for cattle grazing and cultivation of soy for animal fodder.   

Due to the demand for meat, pastures for cattle is the primary driver of deforestation. In other words, meat is also the main reason for the destruction and disappearance of tropical and other forests. With cultivation of soy, primarily for fodder to the farm animals, as the second most significant driver of deforestation, (perhaps together with palm oil), meat consumption is not only the directly most important driver of deforestation, but also the second most important due to the indirect effect from the cultivation and production of this soy fodder.

On 21/12 2018 The Guardian published yet another article warning us against the dangers of our current agricultural system, stating that eating less meat is the most important thing we can do for the planet in 2019. The article refers to “a swathe of research (that) over the past year has laid bare the hefty impact that  eating meat, especially beef and pork, has upon the environment by fueling climate change and polluting landscapes and waterways.” It should be clear that we need less a less meat-oriented agriculture.

The Potential for Large Scale Provision of Wild Food

The obvious response to these problems of animal agriculture is to suggest that our food culture must become more plant based. And I agree, every informed article I have read about the topic comes to or supports this conclusion. But we can do it even better than going much more plant based.

An article in the Scientific American calls forests “the most powerful and cost-efficient carbon-capture technology the world has yet seen.” The article continues to inform us that recent research confirms the perception of trees and other “natural climate solutions” as being essential in mitigating climate change. In fact, these natural climate solutions can help us achieve 37% of our climate target and nevertheless only receive 2.5% of public climate financing.

The carbon sequestering and storing power of forests is so great that intact forests can store as much carbon as is being emitted by entire countries such as Colombia and Peru. Even the power of individual trees is amazing: the process of tree growth enables one individual tree to store 48 pounds in a year.

But biological matter in general has the same carbon-capture and storage functions. This is the case for all plants and for soils as well as for trees, though, of course, the old oak has a greater capacity than the individual dandelion. But we need a holistic perspective on sustainability: Trees and biological matter not only function as sinks for greenhouse gasses, but provide a wide range of ecosystem services such as provision of clean air and water, prevention of floods and erosion of soils, as well as constitute habitats for 1.6 billions of humans as well as for the vast majority of the world´s plants and animals. Biodiversity is the key, not monocultural plantations. We need to plant many more trees, yes. But we need wild nature, more generally, to function as carbon sinks as well as a provider of clean air and water, to prevent floods and soil erosion and to continuously provide habitats for forest dwellers, animals and plants.

Most articles on the matter would stop here. The main point of this article is, however, to argue that since the protection of natural habitats is so vital for sustainability and to fight climate change, why not also become aware that as well as being the most powerful technologies to combat climate change and essential providers of ecosystem services, forests and other natural habitats provide us with an abundance of various nutritious foods the provision of which depends on leaving nature alone, as opposed to the current system of (primarily) animal agriculture that depends on the annihilation of all nature on the planet.

On numerous walks and bicycle rides have I seen an abundance of delicious wild foods that no one eats, and that is therefore left to decompose on the branches or soils. Some abundant species where I forage, in Denmark and Germany, include rowanberries and hawthornberries. These two berries alone could substitute for a great amount of the jams and other fruit based products from the supermarkets. Other abundant species are rosebushes, from which both flowers and fruits are edible, and even apples, which, in many, are cases left to decompose in gardens. I have also seen sandy beaches during winter which were abundant with out-of-season and unappetizing sea buckthorn berries left to decompose slowly, because nobody eats them.

This decomposition of wild food is not a problem in itself. The problem is that our food system is unsustainable, and just like preventing food waste, committing to the healthy foraging activity of reaping what we have not sowed has potential to substitute for, perhaps, a significant part of our conventional, cultivated diets. And becoming a widespread pastime, foraging could be a significant tool to decrease the greenhouse gas emissions from our food culture.

Yes, changing our food culture significantly to a more wild one would be a challenge in terms of changes of habits. But I don´t suggest this as a stand-alone solution, rather as one among many significant solutions that all need to come into play. Yes, a lack of knowledge is a big challenge too. But all solutions need commitment to development and to overcome challenges of one kind or another, and it seems to me that the number of books on foraging on the shelves in book stores is increasing rapidly.

Think about it again: Wild food emits zero greenhouse gasses. It does not depend on clearing forests or destroying nature, but on leaving everything but the ripe, edible parts alone. As part of natural habitats the wild food plants facilitate clean air, water and other vital ecosystem services. And hereto comes the personal benefits: it is healthy to be active in nature and to enjoy the now mostly unknown flavors and thereby benefit from the nutritional richness found in the numerous wild plants, fungi and seaweeds we usually don´t eat. And, finally, when foraging, you get the treasure hunt thrill of finding for the first time a plant that you have so far only heard and read about as well as the adventure of meeting a lot of interesting and lovely people who are curious as to why you gather the unpretentious weeds on the meadow or park, or dig holes in the ground with your trowel. Imagine the further increase in astonishment and disbelief expressed in their faces, when you tell them that you are digging up chicory roots to make delicious, chicory coffee, or that the withered flower cluster you hold in your hand contains wild carrot seeds! Welcome to the forager´s world.

Sources:

The Guardian: Why eating less meat is the best thing you can do for the planet in 2019

Scientific American: The Best Technology for Fighting Climate Change Isn´t a Technology 

Observations of an abundance of wild food that no-one eats