Eating locally produced food can help the climate change problem a lot because most of the food that we eat are imported from places far away. If we eat locally grown or locally produced food, less fossil fuel would be burned to bring the produce to the grocery stores. I do have a food garden where I grow a variety of vegetables like Kale, Potatoes, Peas, and many more. When you grow food at home, the vegetables are fresh, it contains no pesticides or chemicals and last but not least it's actually fun! If you have some spare space in your backyard, don't hesitate to give it a try!

I don't think most people realize how many fossil fuels are burned and carbon is released during the process of growing, importing, and selling foods. That is why this is such a great idea. In your backyard try growing the bare necessities, Back or front yards are completely suitable environments to grow plants such as basil, tomatoes, lemons, lavender, kale, fennel, apples, and oranges. That doesn't even begin to catalogue all the options you have when it comes to growing your own food. And when you cannot grow your own food or don't have a specific food, try to buy from your local farmers market or just from anywhere that sells locally grown products. By doing this you are decreasing your carbon footprint because you are skipping many of the fossil fuel releasing steps that cause your carbon footprint to increase. Did you know that a lot of food that is not locally grown travels at least 1,500 miles to get to you? According to (),  a normal meal purchased from a conventional supermarket chain can use 4 to 17 times more petroleum for transport than the same locally grow n ingredients. It is little steps like these that amount to a surprising and amazing improvement in our carbon footprint.

My mom tries to buy local produce that is in season. We live in Oakland, California and there is a lot of produce grown in the area, that we can buy from local stores or farmers markets. When I asked her about it she said that she generally does a pretty good job buying locally but there are somethings that she buys even if they are brought in from farther away because she likes to cook and likes to have the ingredients she wants.  One thing she said surprised me. On and off over the years we have had an organic fruit/vegetable box delivered and we have used different services. One of the companies used partly local produce but supplemented it with produce brought in from far away.

Dear Jackie,
I agree, growing locally or buying from local produce stores can cut down the carbon emissions by a significant amount. Personally I grow vegetables and fruits myself, but it comes with some difficulties, Some people may not have the space and animals can easily raid the produce, but I do agree that trying to grow produce can really help the environment.