Green Planet Eating means thinking about how your food choices impact the environment–when you shop, cook, and eat. Food production uses planetary resources, so let’s choose foods that use those resources with as minimal negative impact to the environment as possible. When we choose our food, we can think about not only the food itself, but also the packaging and the transportation required to get the food to our home. Check out some of our tips to help you go green!
Plants vs. animals
Our planet would be much better off if humans did not eat meat. It is hard for our environment to absorb all the waste products that come from large factory farms. Methane from livestock–both from digestive processes and manure storage in holding tanks or lagoons–is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Excessive quantities of manure leach into ground water and surface water. Local meat from small farms definitely hurts the planet less than meat from factory farms, but it is challenging for many people to purchase local meat, as it might be less available in grocery stores. Eliminating meat from many meals might be an easier way to reduce your impact on the environment than buying local meat for daily consumption. My blog posts offer recipes to make it easy to transition to a diet heavy on vegetables and other plants!
Wasting food contributes to global climate change.
Wasting food contributes to global climate change. Food waste contributes to global climate change in two ways:
1) in the wasteful production of food which did not go towards sustaining human life, including planetary resources involved in growing the food, packaging the food, transporting the food, manufacturing whatever was involved in the food or its packaging . . .
2) food that ends up in a landfill emits methane, a greenhouse gas, which leads to climate change.
Therefore reducing food waste helps prevent global climate change. Using leftover bits of food helps prevent global climate change. By using up what is in your refrigerator, and preventing that food from ending up in the trash and subsequently a landfill, you can help prevent global climate change. You can help our environment. You can reduce carbon emissions.
To help reduce climate change, I try to reduce food waste, both in my own household and in yours. Many of the recipes posted on this site will help you create yummy dishes from the leftovers in your refrigerator!