I just came across this interesting idea in sustainability – live on only the food that is grown in your immediate, 100 mile vicinity. These two Canadians are trying it and it sounds difficult (though they are losing weight). The article draws attention to the things that we don’t think about in terms of our daily eating habits, like the fact that most of the sugar production in the world comes primarily from outside the US and so our sugar travels thousands of miles to reach us.
This whole school of thought goes hand in hand with the idea of reducing our ecological footprint on the earth. Here at work, we have employees who walk to work, carpool (me, me, me!), ride motorcycles and enjoy riding the bus. We recycle. We try to use recycled paper when we can. There are other things we do, but ultimately, it all boils down to trying to do our part for the environment.
But we normally don’t consider our food, where it comes from, who it supports and how far it needs to travel to reach our dinner tables.
Definite um, food for thought.
I dropped in at the farmer’s market this weekend to (a) support local small business and (b) do this whole “reducing ecological footprint through your food” concept and was so happy to find that the social atmosphere was almost party-like and euphoric. Everyone was so friendly and happy at the farmer’s market that it made me want to go back for the good vibes I got out of the whole trip. It was a definite positive experience.
My friend Nicole at peskyapostrophe.com has been trying to do this for some time. I have to say, it is a fabulous idea! And so beneficial to eat good, locally grown food!