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 >
A little more time can have a huge pay off
Locally grown food cuts out all the pollution that it takes the food to travel to where it is being grown to local super markets. To many people home grown and locally grown food either means more work or more money. Of course its much easier to go to Safeway and buy a carrot but the waste of fuel and carbon emissions that went into getting that carrot make greener to grown the carrot from home. Having a garden at home does require more work to have than just going to the store but the pay off is worth it. Even when your at the store look for things that are grown locally. Not only do locally grown foods help the environment but they also taste better! the products that the companies need to out in food in order for them to be able to travel all the way to you affects the taste. Home grown vegetables are much healthier and greener so in the long run they are the better choice.
I wholeheartedly agree, Elizabeth. Most of the time, people don't think twice about where their food comes from. Yes, of course, the local grocery store is the easiest, most convenient way to put dinner on the table. For a minute, let's just consider the countless benefits of homegrown food. Just like you said, the cost of transporting products from across the country to a store is outrageous. According to an article by the [Natural Resources Defense Council](https://food-hub.org/files/resources/Food%20Miles.pdf), 70,000 tons of CO2 were released by food importing in 2005. That's a big number for something that could be produced in one's very own backyard! Aside from reducing our footprint, homegrown meals also are great for our health. However, fresh-from-your-backyard food doesn't come at the snap of a finger. It takes hard work and patience, and let's face it - not everybody can handle that. Fear not, there is another option that is almost as good: local markets. Finding a market in your area supports small farms and businesses while upholding the greener goal.
I en courage our generation to take a cue from our worlds past, forget the Twinkies and Potato Chips, and toss a salad straight out of our own personal gardens. It doesn't solve the entire problem, but it is a great start towards reducing our cumulative footprint.