Five Principles for Climatarian Living

By Dr. Emily Connally and Michael J. Hines

Our researcher and writer Michael Hines joins our founder, Dr. Emily Connally, in co-authoring this piece. In 2024, we were developing a cookbook to help people learn principles for consuming a more climatarian diet. In the process, we recognized that some of the key principles applied not just to cooking and food but how we consume more generally. By keeping these principles in mind, we can all reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and lower the Carbon Cost of our choices. From this work on our cookbook, we’ve developed our set of five principles for climatarian living.

What is climatarian living?: Climatarianism is a lifestyle choice involving consumer decisions to reduce one’s environmental impact, specifically aiming to combat climate change.

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The Things You Buy Are the Biggest Cause of Climate Change

Climate literacy is spreading, and you’ve perhaps learned about changes you can make to help stop climate change:

• Driving less or using public transport
• Turning off the lights, using efficient bulbs, or buying green electricity
• Insulating your home or lowering the thermostat in winter

Indeed, transport, electricity use, and building heating get most of the attention regarding climate change. Further, these are all important considerations for climatarian living.

However, most emissions globally come from food production and industrial processes. 
This means that your impact on the climate comes primarily from what you choose to buy, including as food, clothing, and household goods. We can all make a difference to climate change. To do that, the first step is to re-evaluate our shopping habits.

Your individual power to fight climate change comes primarily from changing what and how you buy the stuff you eat, wear, and keep in your home.

Demand Sustainable Products to Mitigate Climate Change

Remember that economics course you took in A levels and learning about market supply and demand? What you buy sends a powerful economic signal to the marketplace–it tells producers what is being demanded, and therefore what to supply (make more of). If you buy more food than you need, the market produces so much food that we waste a significant quantity: In both the UK and the USA, up to 40% of food is wasted. If you replace clothing or electronics quickly and buy more of them than you need, it tells manufacturers to make more and more. 

This linear economic model depends on ever-rising consumption of new items, generating voluminous greenhouse gas emissions and using more resources than the earth can regenerate. At the current rate the global economy consumes resources, we use 1.7 earths a year in 2024, which means we are consuming resources 1.7x faster than the planet’s capacity to regenerate them.

In a more sustainable circular economic model, we would help reduce waste and keep goods in circulation as long as possible, thereby cutting emissions. One of the best ways to help guide companies to adopt circular principles is by using your purchasing power to change demand. You might have heard this referred to as voting with your wallet. 

Cherwell Collective has developed five principles for climatarian living that help you use your purchasing power to demand sustainable industries. Sustainable products cut waste, lower consumption, and reduce emissions. 

Employing these simple principles in your daily life could be your most significant contribution to global efforts to mitigate climate change.

1. SHOP SURPLUS FIRST

The best way to keep items in circulation, reduce waste, and prevent overproduction is to shop surplus first. Shopping surplus providers is a key tool for participating in the circular economy.  Surplus includes unsold items being marked down or given away or anything you find used or second-hand. That includes participating in goods swaps, flea markets, or visiting second-hand stores and marketplaces. This applies to pretty much anything you might buy – including food, clothing, or household goods. 

For instance, when it comes to food shopping, look to larders, community fridges, and the reduced sections of shops to plan your meals and top up whatever else you need. By demanding surplus first, you reduce consumer waste as the first priority, and long term, we can inform supply chains not to overproduce.

There are many ways to Shop Surplus First:

• Be willing to buy “ugly” fruit and vegetables, often at a discount. These products are misshapen due to random genetic chance and are marked down because of how they look, even though they are just as nutritious and have the same flavour. Our partners, Wonky Veg Boxes and Oddbox can help. 

• Use apps like Too Good to Go to help restaurants and shops sell leftovers and cut waste. Participating restaurants sell food at the end of the day for a fraction of the usual price and you can pick up great deals from local shops and cafes. 

• Visit second-hand clothing stores to keep lightly worn but discarded clothing items in circulation and reduce demand for new clothing and fast fashion. You might find a stunning vintage item! It’s already hugely popular with many younger adults, but anyone can do it. Examples of prominent second-hand markets include Vinted and Selfridges’s marketplace for second-hand goods, Reselfridges.

• Check out online marketplaces, including CraigsList and Facebook Marketplace for buying second-hand goods.  Ex: CraigsList Oxfordshire.

• Consider buying refurbished and remanufactured appliances and electronic items to keep older equipment in circulation longer.  Again, you often get a significant discount versus buying new.

• Participate in community-based item swaps and surplus giveaways such as those provided by our Cherwell Larder Marketplace!

• Libraries of things pool resources whenever possible within ar community and use these shared resources rather than buying numerous items which a single house would rarely use. For instance, Oxford Party Library provides a collection of party items to borrow when needed rather than buying new or disposable items.

Cherwell Collective’s annual No Waste Noël marketplace, filled with surplus and repurposed items, is an example of how to Shop Surplus First.

What’s more, you can help supply the surplus goods economy by decluttering mindfully rather than sending your unwanted items to landfill. If you are ready to say goodbye to an item you own, think about the ways you can provide this “surplus” to others who might want it by using the same distribution methods listed above

Related: Our 2024 No Waste Noël marketplace will be held on 7 December at St. John’s Church, Kidlington.

2. BE INFORMED

As they say, knowledge is power. Learning a bit of information about where products come from and how they are made can help you live a climatarian life.

For instance, it can help to know a little bit about greenhouse gases. This includes the fact that the global warming effect of methane is 28 times greater than carbon dioxide. Much of the world’s methane comes from producing red meat. Armed with this information, you can make choices, like reducing red meat consumption, that have a significant climate benefit. Learn about the Carbon Cost of your food choices. Our experiment at Oxford University found that when people know the Carbon Cost of their food choices, they choose lower Carbon Cost items from the menu!

As another example of knowledge enabling smarter decisions, by some estimates, the fashion industry is responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.   That means we can all make a significant impact by purchasing durable clothes and staying away from fast fashion. We share several tips for reducing the carbon cost of fashion choices in our blog, Our Collective Thoughts.

Consider learning more about how to repair things like electronics and clothing. In fact, one big victory for people fighting climate change was a recent policy change enforcing a right to repair in the UK and similar legislation in three U.S. States (California, Colorado, and New York). What does that mean? Manufacturers must make it easier for you to access replacement parts and repair instructions for certain product categories. The single UK law alone will save consumers £75 a year on average.  If you can make simple repairs, your goods can last longer and stay out of landfill!

Cherwell Collective hosted a mending workshop where participants could learn to stretch the life of their favorite garments through simple repairs.

The more you learn about how things are made, including the materials and processes used, the more you can make more informed consumer choices with an eye toward reducing emissions.

3. BE FLEXIBLE 

Flexibility is the key character trait to living a more climatarian life. It’s the willingness to break out of well-worn patterns and habits and adapt to changing circumstances.

Remember, this is a journey, and we can move along together by being more creative and trying to use what we have and what has already been produced. This could mean borrowing, swapping, or repairing to prevent buying new items, etc. It could mean swapping out some lentils for some meat in your favourite recipes. A little change goes a long way if we all decide to make these changes together.  Consider these ideas:

• Learn to make substitutions in your favorite recipes that cut meat consumption or reduce the use of out-of-season fruit and vegetables. Embrace flexitarian recipes that offer you the latitude to use whatever fruit and veg happen to be in season or available as food surplus to make a favorite dish. Consider using pork or poultry, which have a lower Carbon Cost, instead of red meat. Or even incorporate more vegetarian entrees into your life!

• Ask some of your similarly sized friends to borrow an outfit you like rather than buying something similar for yourself, then return the favour if asked!

• Use public transport whenever possible if it can get you where you need to go. Try taking the train to Europe from the UK, rather than flying. Even though it takes longer, make the transport a part of your holiday, and bring special snacks or drinks to make it a festive ride.

• Consider not owning items you will use infrequently. Rent them occasionally, ask a neighbor, or borrow them from a “library of things” like our Oxford Party Library.

Occasionally choosing a vegetarian meal, like this roasted kabocha squash and quinoa entree, is one example of being flexible to live a more climatarian life. 

4. THINK SMALLER

When it comes to so many consumer choices, choosing the smaller option is often a powerful way to cut emissions. We encourage you to “think smaller.”  Here are some examples of what we mean.

Switching to energy-efficient, compact appliances can dramatically cut household energy use. When making food, choose the smallest appliance possible to get the job done, as it is usually the most efficient way to cook:

• An electric tea kettle is more efficient than using the hob.
• A microwave, toaster oven, or air fryer is more efficient than using the oven because it heats a smaller space.

Also, consider smaller portion sizes when making food for yourself and guests or when picking items at a restaurant, which helps prevent food waste. 

Smaller homes use less energy for heating, cooling, and lighting and require fewer building materials, which reduces emissions from construction. Compact, fuel-efficient cars or switching to electric vehicles (EVs) can reduce emissions from transportation. Smaller boutiques have traceable supply chains that reduce emissions related to fashion. 

Embracing a minimalist lifestyle naturally leads to buying fewer products, and focusing on quality over quantity reduces demand for manufacturing, packaging, and transportation, all of which generate emissions.

5. BUY LESS BUT BETTER

When you buy less of something, usually at a lower cost, one upside is that you can afford to buy better options even though they might be more expensive. This is the final principle of climatarian lifestyle. If you are going to buy new, buy less but better things.  Let us share some examples.

Food: As part of the philosophy of a climatarian diet, we don’t insist on veganism or vegetarianism. We love meat! You can cut the Carbon Cost of meals by using less but better meat.  The savings we gain by buying less can be used to buy better, such as meat that is local, pasture raised grass fed, and even the best cuts (less processed).

Clothing: Though it can be cheap, fast fashion isn’t the way to go for a climatarian lifestyle. Producing each fast fashion garment generates new emissions, and the items often fall apart or go out of style within a few years.  As a result, you are constantly in a cycle of buying new replacements. Instead, buy new items less frequently and buy fewer of them. 

When you do buy new, invest in timeless, well-made garments that will last for years or that are made from salvaged, organic, or recycled materials. Consider brands that stand behind their products with warranties, like Patagonia, Cotopaxi, Fjällräven, Filson, Arc’teryx, and too many others to count. Though clothing from some of these brands might cost more initially, it tends to last for years and years, saving you and the planet in the long run.

Your co-author, Michael, is in the 18th year of wearing his red Patagonia fleece. It is well-made, durable, and designed in a timeless style, not to quickly go out of fashion.

Buying new should be a last resort in a truly circular system. 

If you must buy new, refuse items that are not from sustainable supply chains, including items that cannot be repaired or recycled.

Be strategic with your choices to reduce your impact on the planet. You can eat less but better meat, buy fewer but better home essentials that can not be acquired second-hand, and be conscious about high-emitting activities like travel, choosing to travel less but better as you do so!

After you embrace these principles in your life, please share them with a friend. Every small step we take together doubles our impact on climate change.