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?
Home Grown >
Garden Not Carbon
Have you ever wondered how fruits and vegetables get to the grocery store before you buy them? It is a long and strenuous process that includes specific trucks called reefers installed with refrigerated systems that can keep the foods as fresh as possible. This transportation of fruits and veggies leads to about 36 percent of the total food transportation emissions annually, or over 1 billion tons of CO2 emitted (popsci.com). This is an insanely high amount of carbon just for the foods to look fresh and enjoyable when we are buying them. Why not just make your own at-home garden and plant your favorite fruits and vegetables that are not only fresh, but are also not filled with the chemicals from other farms, and are carbon friendly to our planet. Eating fresh crops that have been grown in your backyard can provide more nutrients than crops that have been treated with chemicals that make them stay fresh during transportation. Vitamins and antioxidants in fresh local or at-home grown crops could be up to 100 times higher than ones that have been imported (GardenTech.com). If I had more space in my backyard, I would definitely be planting my favorite vegetables and fruits constantly because I would want to not only save my planet but also live a healthier lifestyle.
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I agree with you completely. The grocery stores and food producing companies use many pesticides to make there food, which kills many of the animals that try to eat the food. The food that is sold in stores is transported by planes, cars, and trains adding to its carbon emission. If more people made their own garden they would be helping the
environment as the food wouldn't be transported all over the globe.
Absolutely, it's eye-opening to consider the extensive journey fruits and vegetables undertake before reaching our grocery stores. Many of today's fruits and vegetables are also contaminated with chemicals to keep bugs away. I relate to your issue with space, my family owns a small planter box in which we grow tomatoes. We also grow grapes and herbs, and i can guarantee you, they are amazing.