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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The Importance of Locally-Produced Food
Buying locally produced food is an important step in lowering carbon emissions. First of all, buying locally produced food supports small, local farms, which are more sustainable than large, industrial farms. Industrial farms hurt the environment by over-using fuel and water resources, lessening the quality of the soil, causing erosion, and polluting the air, surface water, and groundwater. Smaller, local farms generally follow more sustainable practices such as eliminating pesticides, using no-till agriculture, and composting.
In addition, locally grown food has to travel much less distance between the farm and the consumer. Conventional food has to travel between 1,500 and 3,000 miles on average before it is sold. The travel, extra refrigeration of the food, and extra packaging increase carbon in the atmosphere and waste in the landfill. Locally grown food does not have to travel as far and requires much less packaging and refrigeration, greatly lessening its environmental impact.
Some good ways to support locally grown food is to go to a farmers’ market or even grow produce in a garden at home. My school has a large garden in which we grow many vegetables and sell a soup made from the food grown in the garden every week. Not only does this reduce our carbon footprint, but educates the students about sustainability and healthy eating. I encourage everyone to consider the benefits of locally and sustainably grown food.
Resource: http://www.sustainabletable.org/254/loc … od-systems