There are many factors affecting the temperature of our planet, and governments and organizations are working to halve carbon emissions by 2030, which led to the emergence of electric cars, the gradual discontinuation of the use of fossil fuels and their replacement with renewable energy sources to operate factories, and the interest in growing forage plants to store carbon in the earth.

As for the individual level, research is still underway on how to reduce the emissions of each person, which prompted a number of researchers to study ways to change the diet of individuals in the interest of the environment.

Edit menus

A group of researchers from the German Julius-Maximilian University-Freiburg published a study on May 11, aimed at identifying the effect of modifying the basic meal options in the menus of German restaurants, and measuring the role of adding cards that indicate the carbon footprint of each meal.

The results of this study were published in the journal PLOS Climate.

The press release published on the Eurek Alert website stated that the study was conducted online, and 265 volunteers participated, some of them users of Facebook and Instagram, and others from the circles of the study authors' acquaintances, and each participant chose a main dish from one of the nine menus. available.

Those menus included meals from multiple international cuisines, and the options varied to include meals with different carbon emissions.

For example, participants were able to choose between high-carbon beef, medium-emission shawarma, and low-emission falafel.

The results indicated that participants chose "environmentally friendly" meals, which were characterized by the presence of cards indicating the amount of carbon emitted as a result of their processing, or low-emissions meals placed as automatic options on menus, such as vegetable dishes or vegetarian burgers.

According to the press release, the study authors commented on their findings, saying, "If we want to make dining in restaurants a climate-friendly option, it is necessary to highlight all of the contents of the dishes - including their environmental impact - within the menus, which is the easiest option available to restaurant owners."

A nudge is the minimal change that influences people's decisions and directs them to practice beneficial behavior (Shutterstock)

Influencing people's decisions

The two previous interventions (using cards and changing automatic choices) belong to an application of behavioral science known as 'nudge' or 'push'.

Researchers define "nudge" as making a minimal change to influence the decisions of individuals with the aim of directing them to practice a specific behavior that is beneficial to them and those around them, provided that their freedom of action is not restricted.

And “nudge” urges individuals to modify their behavior for the greater good. It is one of the behaviorally informed interventions;

This means not using drastic interventions while trying to influence people's behavior, such as prohibiting the use of something, and not relying on rewards or economic sanctions to modify behaviour.

In the study, researchers divided carbon cards into two types: Disclosure cards, which are cards that provide the individual with environmental information about the type of food, such as greenhouse gas emissions resulting from its manufacture and consumption.

The second type is warning labels, which are cards that provide clear information with sentimental value, such as using the colors of traffic lights to show how food types affect the climate.

Much research has been done on the relationship between food choices and overall health and the impact of what we eat on the environment (Getty Images)

new try

According to the authors of the study, many previous studies have been conducted on the relationship between food choices and public health, and the impact of what we eat on the environment. This is the case in the current study.

Those previous studies indicated the success of "nudge" techniques in simple modification of the behavior of some individuals.

The authors explain two reasons for their decision to conduct this study:

  • The first is the need for the population - especially those in industrialized countries - to reduce the amount of their own greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change.

  • The second is that there is a possibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by modifying the nutritional behavior of individuals, which is important because those individual emissions resulting from nutrition - in industrialized countries - represent about 15% of the total per capita emissions of these gases.

The researchers conclude by explaining the reasons for conducting the study on the main role of restaurants in providing food to the population of industrialized countries;

Visiting restaurants and cafes is one of the daily activities practiced by the residents of those countries.

This view is supported by the results of a study conducted in Germany in 2018, which indicated that 20% of the study participants ate outside their homes at least once a week.