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 >
Home Grown
Growing your own food or buying locally grown food can reduce your carbon footprint tremendously. When you buy food that is not locally grown, not only is there the growing of the food, but there is also the transportation, packaging, retailing, cooking of food, and the clearing of land to grow food in the first place. "Food produces about 8 tons of emissions per household, or about 17% of the total. Worldwide, new reports suggest that agriculture produces around a half of all man-made emissions" (greeneatz.com).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/ho … lanet.html
http://www.greeneatz.com/foods-carbon-footprint.html
My carbon footprint for food was 3545 kgs which is below the average for my regional average of 5551 kgs. Because I live in Houston, Texas, it is hard to grow local foods. The climate is too hot and humid to sustain many food sources. When we first moved to Houston, my mother had tried to start a vegetable garden but it suffered from the Houston heat and animals outside. Some people may not be able to grow their own food but they could reduce their carbon footprint by buying food with less packaging, reusing foood containers, and bringing reusable bags to put your groceries in.
I would definitely have my food/vegetation growing in my own backyard but the work, time, and space needed doesn't make it possible. As far as the food being locally grown, I agree that Houston weather affects how much there is available.
It is impossible to disagree with the fact that growing food at home would have an extremely positive effect of the environment. That being said, it can be a large inconvenience to grow your own food. As said in the comments above, the climate of your area most likely will not support all the vegetation you want to grow. My family has an indoor basil plant, and even that is hard to keep up with. We also have a lemon tree growing in our backyard, but it has taken a while to sprout, and the lemons are not of excellent quality. Aside from growing some plants, we try to reduce our use of plastic bags from the supermarket by bringing our own reusable bags. Another great way to reduce your carbon footprint for food without going through the trouble of making a garden is to buy locally grown foods.