Food blog Individual diet changes can't fix the global food system To reduce the environmental impacts of food supply chains, government -- -- Buying locally, choosing certified items, reducing meat and dairy intake: while helpful, these individual efforts aren't enough to ensure that the global food system doesn't trash the planet. -- -- Up to this point, we've been fed simple messages about the scope of the problem, and we've been given specific advice about how we can address it individually. Simplicity and a sense of our own agency are important in communicating messages that can contribute to broader change. But, we must be wary of reducing complex problems into overly-simplified -- -- Recognising that government and businesses shape consumer choice It is obvious that as individuals we make choices about what goes into our mouths, but other factors influence these choices. Government health messaging and regulatory frameworks affect consumer choices by -- -- America, provided by food corporations that dominate the system. These firms promote consumer choice and are happy to let responsibility rest with individuals while simultaneously marketing high environmental-impact foods such as highly-processed breakfast cereals, packaged snacks, meat products and frozen entrees. -- -- packaged snacks, meat products and frozen entrees. Individual awareness and choice do matter, but so does corporate behaviour and the regulatory context that governments put in place along the supply chain. Crafting effective policy to bring about more -- -- part of the system. In these less visible parts of the value chain, the role of governments and corporations in shifting diets is far greater than that of individuals. -- Simple messages and a sense of individual agency can be powerful motivators in efforts to shift norms, but it's time to move on to a more sophisticated discussion on food-environment linkages, and