"In the U.S., agriculture is responsible for 7 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions," writes author David de Rothschild in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook. Much of that can be attributed to the packaging, storage, transportation and chemicals associated with transporting food from thousands of miles away to your local grocery store, as we discussed in last week's essential skill from the Handbook: Count Your Food Miles.
So anyone who wants to reduce their carbon footprint needs to think seriously about buying locally-produced food. The first step is Essential Skill #30:
Befriend your farmer.
"Your local farmers are important global warming fighters, not relics of the past," writes de Rothschild. "Farmer-to-consumer marekts are cutting out fresh food's middlemen.... At farmer's and green markets around the world, producers bring their goods -- from organic vegetables and fruits to farm-made cheese, preserves, and meats -- directly to the market."
Buying organically-grown local produce makes an even bigger difference, as it acts as a "carbon sink." So much so, that "100,000 organic farms will eliminate almost 12 million cars' worth of CO2 in a year. Industrial farming methods do not sink one ounce of carbon."
To find produce grown by local farmers in your area, check out LocalHarvest.org.
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Ditto on last week's comments:
We typically get our produce at Sprouts, but most of it is shipped in from other states and countries. There's a new Fresh & Easy opening up in the neighborhood, so we'll be checking that out to see if they cater more to locally-produced fruit and veggies. If not, we're going to have to dig deeper into the community for easier access to local farmers' goods.
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