Where does your food come from? I live in Minnesota but love to eat bananas, avocados, and mangoes. This is a problem. Those foods have to travel great distances to make their way to my plate, and that means energy. Sustainable food isn’t just about WHAT we’re eating but about WHERE we’re eating it. If my meal requires planes, trains, and automobiles to reach me, that’s a lot of fossil fuels being burned.
Grow it.
Clearly, the best option is simply to grow as many foods as possible on your own. In my former home, I had the space for a large garden and was able to provide fresh vegetables and herbs for my family all summer long and was also able to can enough tomatoes to last us the whole winter. Now, I live in a home that has less garden space, so gardening is no longer an option, but that doesn’t mean that I still don’t have choices!
There are plenty of community gardens that I could participate in, and a surprising amount can be grown in simple container gardens that take up very little space on a patio or other similar locale.
Shop Farmer’s Markets
Another great option is to shop at local farmer’s markets. The produce that you buy is locally grown. You support local small businesses and do a great service to the planet. Win-win!