Group gets Co-op shoppers talking about food miles

CAMPAIGNERS took to the Lerwick Co-op on Sunday as part of a global day of action to raise awareness of climate change.

Representatives from a local group of women concerned about the impact of climate change, Da Wives Atween Wadders, were at the Co-op’s Holmsgarth Road store with a stall and handed out free Unison shopping bags with information leaflets.

They also displayed a map showing all the different countries where fruit and vegetables stocked at the supermarket had come from, including apples from New Zealand.

World leaders are this week gathered in Paris for a UN climate conference which US president Barack Obama says could be a “turning point” in efforts to limit increases in temperature.

It is hoped a deal will be signed within the next fortnight aimed at cutting global carbon emissions and limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius.

Jan Bevington of Da Wives Atween Wadders, who was joined by Highlands and Islands list MSP Jean Urquhart, local Unison chairwoman Tracey Leith and her daughter Daisy, said it was important not to let the climate change day of action “go by without us doing something, so we did it as a shared event on Sunday afternoon at the Co-op and had some good conversations, especially about food miles”.

“The Co-op seem to be keen to do something about reducing food miles, packaging and food waste, which we’re really pleased about,” Bevington added.