In honor of Earth Day, here are my top ten ways to eat to save the planet:
1. Eat seasonally. Eat locally. Get to know your local farmers. You know why. Seasonal, local eating means nobody had to truck that food in from who-knows-where, using expensive fuel and polluting the air while they do it.
2. Be a label reader. In the last 6 months, new federal legislation has passed that requires supermarkets to provide country-of-origin labelling on fresh foods including vegetables, fruits, fish, poultry, meat and certain nuts. Knowing where your food comes from will help you to choose products harvested nearest you, and also allows you to avoid taking risks when reports are issued about food safety mishaps such as E. coli or salmonella outbreaks.
3. Avoid packaged foods. These products often contain chemical preservatives and much more sodium, saturated fat, calories and sugar than a home-cooked, whole-foods diet would provide. From an earth-saving standpoint, packaging nearly always involves petroleum-based plastic, paper, and metal, and these things are frequently not recycled or are nonrecyclable.
4. Grow your own. Of course the cheapest, and perhaps most gratifying, way to ensure quality food is to grow it yourself. Even in a relatively small space, you can create an impressive array of foods and you don’t have to wear Birkenstocks to do it (though seriously, they are really comfortable).
5. Choose organics when possible, especially those that are most likely to be contaminated—the dirty dozen, according to the Environmental Working Group—peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes, pears, spinach, and potatoes.
6. Reduce intake of meat; increase consumption of produce. It is estimated that it takes at least 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef (and some sources have estimated it as high as 5000 gallons). Conversely, it takes only 29 gallons of water to produce a pound of tomatoes. You see where I am going with this.
7. Pay attention to the food your food eats. If you choose to eat meat, I would encourage you to consider eating it selectively. Choose grass-fed, pasture-raised organic meats to reduce your consumption of pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics and hormones. Reducing the number of factory farms is likely to decrease pollution, waste, and antibiotic overuse—lessening the likelihood that resistant strains of bacteria will develop, threatening the health of all the planet’s creatures, including us.
8. Insist on Fair Trade. It is my opinion that saving the planet involves being good to the people who live there, too. But if that is not enough, know that many fair trade certifiers also have environmental requirements as well, ensuring protection of watersheds, forests, soil fertility, water conservation, and a chemical-free environment.
9. Plan ahead. Stocking up on those eco-sustainable foods when they go on sale (it happens occasionally) can save some dough. Planning meals so that you only buy what you need reduces waste, as does an efficient use of leftovers—which can be frozen, made into soups, or used as compost for that vegetable garden you keep intending to plant. Reducing waste is a good thing for the planet. Everybody wins.
10. Avoid eating endangered species. Seafood most likely to wreck the planet: Chilean sea bass, swordfish, and ahi tuna. Best fish choices: striped bass, tilapia, wild salmon, domestic mahi mahi, Pacific halibut, and sardines. In terms of other seafood, feel free to enjoy the following without worry: oysters, clams, calamari, and American lobster.
Of course, thinking about all these things will raise as many questions as there are calories in a meal. Is it better to eat an organic apple that’s been shipped in from another country or a conventionally grown apple from a local orchard? Just do the best you can, chew thoroughly, and enjoy every bite.
