Cheap food comes at a high cost to the environment. Here are five ways to eat better and protect the planet.
1. Meatless Monday
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Skipping meat one day a week is an easy way to reduce the environmental impact of your diet. One study finds that going meatless just one day each week can reduce your carbon footprint more than buying all your food locally. Of course, you should still…
2. Buy Local
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Food’s 1500-mile average journey from farm to processor to supermarket to table uses a lot of energy. Buying local, from farms within 100-250 miles, makes a dent in greenhouse gas emissions. It helps local farmers. And protects biodiversity.
3. Go Organic
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Organic agriculture is farming without “synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, veterinary drugs, genetically modified seeds and breeds, preservatives, additives and irradiation.” Keeping all those chemicals and pesticides out of agriculture keeps them from ending up in our waterways and ecosystems.
4. Eat Better Meat
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The humane alternatives to factory meat are not only kinder to the animals involved – they’re better for the environment, too. The millions of pounds of waste pollute air and water. Antibiotic resistance is kind of a problem. While organic, humanely raised animals still consume a lot of resources and produce a lot of waste, keeping this system natural and small scale isn’t so destructive to the planet.
5. Grow Your Own
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For the freshest vegetables and lowest environmental impact, garden-to-table is the way to go. Growing your own vegetables – even raising a chicken or two – is a great way to slash your carbon footprint.
