How much does eating locally-produced food help the climate problem? What are the other potential environmental and social benefits of eating locally-grown/produced food? Do you have a food garden in your school or at home? If not, do you want one?
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Locavores: The hidden solution to the food crisis!
A locavore is somebody who only buys and eats food that is in season for their specific region. This cuts off other types of foods that usually would be shipped across the world using fossil fuel-powered vehicles to transport these foods to the grocery store. The agriculture industry is problematic and negatively affects our Earth for many reasons. First off, farming and industrialization emit a lot of additional greenhouse gases (GHG) into our atmosphere. Methane from cows and nitrous oxide from fertilized fields are just two ways that farms add to the overall GHG emissions. Also, fertilizer factories and food packaging factories contribute as well in that they rely mainly on the burning of oil, gas, and coal (which are all fossil fuels) for energy to power these factories. The burning of fossil fuels add more greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, which is one of the largest factors affecting climate change in our world. Furthermore, deforestation, which refers to the clearing out of natural lands for agricultural purposes, emits carbon dioxide because of the carbon that was originally stored in those plants and trees in the land. Overall, the emissions from agriculture is around 1/4 of all global greenhouse gas emissions created by humans.
This information is significant to considering what one person could change about their eating habits in order to help reduce their carbon footprint and unnecessary emissions. My solution: become a locavore. Local food doesn't have to travel as far to get on your plate which contributes positively to the environment. Sustainable agriculture and safe production (regulating pesticides and other toxins) are promoted by being a locavore. The central idea of being a locavore is to reduce food miles, meaning the distance that your food travels for you to eat it. Whether the food is shipped on an airplane or has to be refrigerated, a lot of greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation. Switching to buying food from a local source will benefit the local economy and it will incredibly impact the food portion of your carbon footprint!
Sources:
https://www.mcgill.ca/foodservices/sustainability/green/local#:~:text=Local%20food%20doesn't%20have,local%20farmers%20and%20other%20producers.
https://theconversation.com/locavore-or … food-51232