The average meal travels 1,200 miles by truck, ship, and/or plane to reach your dining room table. If, once a month, 100,000 people bought their weekly produce at a local farmers' market instead of at a grocery store, they would collectively prevent more than 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted thanks to reduced transportation of the food.
What You Should Know
- Most fruit and vegetable varieties sold in supermarkets are chosen for their ability to withstand industrial harvesting equipment and extended travel, not taste. This results in little variety in the plants grown.
- Fruits and vegetables shipped from distant states and countries can spend as many as seven to fourteen days in transit before they arrive in the supermarket.
- Local food is fresher and tastes better than food shipped long distances from other states or countries. Local farmers can offer produce varieties bred for taste and freshness rather than for shipping and long shelf life.
- Local food doesn't have to travel far. This reduces carbon dioxide emissions and packing materials.
- Buying local food keeps your dollars circulating in your community and also helps to make farming more profitable and selling farmland for development less attractive.
Easy Things You Can Do
Eat locally grown food. When you buy locally grown produce or locally butchered meat, the benefits are endless. First, you help prevent global warming because your food doesn't travel across the country (or the continent!) in order to reach your kitchen table. Second, you support your local economy. Third, locally grown produce is fresher, better tasting, and more nutritious than transported produce (Since nutritional value starts to decline as soon as food is picked or harvested). Locally grown produce is often cheaper and has less packaging. Last, by buying locally grown food, you promote your region's self-reliance and avoid supporting huge farming corporations that put their own profits over the environment.
- Shop at your local farmers' market and ask your grocery store manager to set up a special section for locally grown foods. Not sure where your local farmers' markets are in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties? Visit http://www.sallys-place.com/food/farmers_markets/sf_mkts.htm.
Eat in season. There's a reason why strawberries taste so good in June and cost a fortune in January. Although financially you may be able to buy fruits out of season, it's better that you don't for the environment's sake. If you eat cantaloupe in January, it was most likely shipped by air, train, and truck from South America, or Florida. When you eat it in July, however, it was probably driven in from a neighboring county. Here's a basic guide of what to eat during each season (this will vary by climate):
| Spring | Summer | Fall | Winter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fruits | Blueberries | Bananas | Apples | Clementines | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cantaloupe | Oranges | Asian pears | Grapefruit | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cherries | Peaches | Coconuts | Grapes (Red) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pineapples | Plums | Cranberries | Kiwi Fruit | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Raspberries | Tomatoes | Grapes | Passion Fruit | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vegetables | Asparagus | Corn | Avocados | Chicory | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carrots | Cucumbers | Beets | Kale | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Onions | Green Beans | Broccoli | Radishes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Peas | Peppers | Cauliflower | Snow Peas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spinach | Summer Squash | Leeks | Sweet Potatoes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winter Squash |
For a more detailed information, visit the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture's (CUESA) website that offers a calendar of when fruits and nuts and vegetables are in season.
Source: http://www.foodroutes.org/ and 51 Easy Ways You Can Prevent Global Warming (and save money!), by Jeffrey Langholz, Ph.D., and Kelly Turner