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can produce up to 1.5 million tonnes of sugar (16/17), almost all of which is produced in the UK. However, because of the 2017 abolition of the EU sugar production quotas, farmers are paid around £10 less per tonne than pre-reforms. As a result, ‘beet’ farmers are diversifying to grow other cash crops, leaving the UK with a shortage of homegrown white sugar. An alternative source of sugar for the UK is Papua New Guinea, where soil fertility has been reduced by 40% within 30 years due to sugar production. Moreover, research has shown that sugar production is the primary cause of biodiversity compared to other similar crops. This can be attributed to the usage of toxic chemicals, release of polluted wastewater and the destruction of habitats for plantations. The use of fertilisers is also a problem when they are washed into bodies of water by rainwater. This starts the process of eutrophication. The nutrients in the fertilisers encourage the growth of algae which forms a green bloom over the water’s surface, preventing sunlight reaching other aquatic plants. The plants then perish because they are unable to carry out photosynthesis and, as a result, bacteria then decompose the dead plants, using up all the oxygen in the water as they do so. The oxygen levels eventually reach a point where no life is sustainable. The next time you fancy a slice of cake, look for one that contains stevia instead of sugar. A carbon and water footprint assessment from one of the largest stevia producers found the carbon footprint of stevia was 55% lower than ‘beet’ sugar. These are just three of the many ingredients constituting the layers of a cake, which are all equally detrimental to our precious environment. As seen by the world leaders’ shortcomings at COP26, it is down to us, the average consumer, to be a positive force for change on our rapidly deteriorating planet that we call home.

survive. On a local scale, the palm oil plantations threaten 193 of the world’s critically endangered and vulnerable animal species, including the Sumatran and the Bornean Orangutan. On a global scale, Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) is released into ponds for treatment, which releases greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen sulphide. Methane is more than 25 times more potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse effect. Boycotting palm oil would be an impossible solution as roughly 20% of the Indonesian population depends on the industry, and any solution found to move away from it would need to involve massive structural change involving consumers as well as national and transnational corporations. Along with palm oil, vanilla extract constitutes a major part of the sponge. In high end cakes, the vanilla is extremely expensive due to the intense labour process of gathering the flowers that it stems from, and the distance it must travel. The highest quality vanilla extract begins with the vanilla pods imported from Madagascar. Food miles were conceptualised by Professor Tim Lang in the early 1990s, the distance that food is transported from the time of its making until it reaches the consumer. By the time the vanilla extract reaches our homes in London, it has travelled approximately 6,000 miles. The higher the food miles, the more detrimental to the environment as the plane has more time to emit carbon dioxide and other harmful gases. Air Freight is used for high value goods like vanilla extract and accounts for 11% of the UK’s food transport emissions. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) estimates that moving food is responsible for 25% of all miles covered by heavy goods traffic in the UK. Transporting food within, to and around the UK produces 19 million tonnes of CO2 annually, equivalent to 5.5 million cars. To put that into context, the amount of carbon dioxide generated by food transport annually in the UK is roughly equivalent to the CO2 produced by every car registered since 2018. Moving onto the icing of the cake, something we all know is copiously bad for our bodies due to the sheer white sugar content. British Sugar, the UK’s only ‘beet’ white sugar refiner

56 | Geographical Magazine • Merchant Taylors’ School

2021/22 Edition | 57