Eating Green

Truly eating green is not simple or easy, unless you’re lucky enough to have local access to hormone-free, chemical-free, pesticide-free inexpensive produce. Nevertheless, there is much you can do to make your eating habits more gentle to our planet.

  • Stop drinking bottled water. Fill a reusable container from the tap before you leave the house. If you’re not comfortable with your tap water, faucet and pitcher filters are available; there are even filter bottles. (And some bottled water is just filtered tap water anyway.) With this one change, you will be decreasing the number of plastic bottles manufactured, the number of plastic bottles that end up in landfills, the amount of gas devoted to transporting the water, and the amount of water taken from faraway areas that need the water for their own uses.

There is much you can do to make your eating habits more gentle to our planet.

  • Eat local food, in season. If you eat a lovely piece of fruit in a northern state in December, chances are that it has traveled thousands of carbon-expelling miles to your table. In addition, if the fruit had been eaten near where it was grown, its water content would have stayed local in the cycle of growth and rain and decay. But when a fruit travels to a different location, it takes its water content with it. (It is believed that the export of flowers—which can be up to 80% water—from Africa to Europe is partially responsible for the droughts in Africa.) So it’s better for the planet to eat locally grown produce, in season.
  • Limit food packaging. Buying food in bulk uses less packaging. And if you get a sandwich for lunch to bring back to the office, ask for less wrapping. (It’s not uncommon for a café to wrap a take-out sandwich in paper and then put it in a plastic container. And when you pay for it, they put it all in another plastic bag. All for one sandwich!)
  • Eat less meat. One of the main reasons rain forests (the lungs of our planet) in South America are cut down is to make grazing area for cattle. So many cattle are bred to feed our meat consumption that even their burps, which contain methane, may contribute significantly to global warming. (Really!) Also, a pound of meat may require 16 pounds of grain to produce. According to the Center for Science in the public interest, 14 trillion gallons of water are used annually to produce feed for U.S. livestock alone. Eating meat is tough on the environment all around.
  • Grill your food outdoors. You’ll keep the heat out of the house and use less energy than cooking on a stove.
  • Compost your kitchen scraps to use in your garden. You’ll be creating less waste and helping your garden grow.
  • Eat foods labeled “USDA organic.” They are largely free of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, hormones, and antibiotics.

These steps can make a very big difference in the future of our planet. And most of them are better for your health too.

Web Resources

  • The Daily Green (www.thedailygreen.com): This online magazine includes tips, articles, recipes, and more.
  • Planet Green (www.planetgreen.discovery.com): This site, which is affiliated with the Discovery Channel, has extensive information on living green.