Greener Living #13-15

I got a little behind since I was under the weather, so I'm getting caught up on the green tips today. These are excellent suggestions given how easy they are to adapt.

#13 Food Miles Matter: Food is traveling farther than ever. Once upon a time people ate seasonally--artichokes in the winter, cherries in June. Now you can buy most fruits and vegetables practically year-round. The average American meal contains ingredients produced in at least five other countries. The transportation of food and agricultural products constitutes more than 20% of total commodity transport within the US. To help reduce CO2 emissions (released from trucks, airplanes, and cargo ships), it's best to buy food that's in season, organic, and grown locally. Go to ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets to find the farmers' market nearest you.

#14 Go Vegetarian One Day a Week: To produce one pound of beef requires 2500 gallons of water--that's 40 times more water than is used to produce a pound of potatoes. Before buying beef, think about the immense cost of energy used to raise cattle and to transport meat to your supermarket shelf. Besides all this, cows consume enormous amounts of antibiotics and are a prodigious source of methane, which is the number two greenhouse gas; livestock are responsible for almost 20% of the methane in the atmosphere. (Plus, by upping your fruit and vegetable intake one day a week, you will increase your daily fiber and essential vitamins and minerals. Also, did you know that our bodies digest fruits and vegetables daily, but it takes several days for a steak to digest, which gives it time to rot in our body? There are so many reasons why going vegetarian one day a week is good for us, and it is one we can all do so easily.)

#15 Buy Eggs in Cardboard Cartons: Cardboard egg cartons are normally made from recycled paper, which biodegrades relatively quickly, and are also again recyclable--Styrofoam or plastic cartons take a much longer time to biodegrade and their manufacture produces harmful by-products. (With this I would also recommend buying milk in cardboard containers rather than plastic containers.)