Locavores Beware: Don’t touch that meat! It has carbon all over it…

I agree, that was an absurd thing to say. However, it appears that what you eat and where you get what you eat can have an impact on your carbon footprint..

If you have been an avid “food” carbon footprint investigator, none of what I say here should be new to you. If not, take a look:

1. Buying local (referred to as “locavore” now – get it? Local Omnivore?) is generally better because you are preventing all those big rigs from bringing you your meats and eats.

2. Buying organic is better than not (and I am equally guilty in this area). It so happens that fertilizers and such generate a lot of CO2 outputs .

3. Of course, remember to bring your bags, and buy in large quantities. This way you won’t be generating more waste.

4. And now, the Center for Food Safety believes that meat, whether grown local or shipped from Timbuktu is harmful. So, they want you to lay off the meat! Now, isn’t that a splendid controversy to have?

In any case, I am sure that if you want to eat those large birds, you might want to lay off the Colonel and try to buy meat that has been grown locally.

Organic Food – Problem and Opportunity!

There is a significant problem with organic food – it is expensive! It is easy to preach “Organic” off the roof-tops. But guess what, many retailers have decided that “Organic” means “mark-up”. This means that you could think you are doing the environment a favor, and end up doing your local supermarket a favor. This is where the opportunity comes in. Does your local community have affordable organic food alternative?

1. No organic farmer’s market? How about organizing one?

2. How about launching a local campaign to urge farmers in your area to grow at least part of their crops organic?

3. If you are more entrepreneurially oriented, how about starting a local, organic enterprise?

Change comes by looking at problems as potential opportunities!

So, here is your formula for success: Buy Local, Buy Organic, Buy Vegetarian…and if you can’t buy, sell.

Link to Chicago Tribune Story:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/green/sns-green-thanksgiving-carbon-footprint,0,2384061.story

Want more carbon offsetting tips for food?

http://coolfoodscampaign.org/your-tools/