Think Green Live Clean

Ruth L

The next time you’re in the produce section in your favorite grocery store, take a look around.  Bell peppers from Scandinavia, strawberries from California, bananas from Central America, apples from the Northwest…… The list goes on and on.  As citizens of a highly developed nation, we have grown accustomed to having these novelty items at any given time of year.  It seems that our peculiar taste preferences have had more of an affect than we know.  It is estimated that the average food item in our grocery stores has traveled about 1,500 miles to get there, producing unnecessary carbon emissions for packaging, shipping, and refrigeration on the way to its destination.

Shopping for your produce at a local farmer’s market is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint while simultaneously stimulating the local economy.  When you buy food from local farmers, the money you spend is likely to circulate within the local economy, rather than being funneled to some corporate entity, which means that you and your family will see it again sooner.  Besides, anyone who shops at a farmer’s market will tell you, the food is better tasting and better for you.  Plant matter begins to lose nutritional value the moment it is picked or pulled from the ground, so it only makes sense that something grown a few miles away would be better for you than those shipped from across the nation.

Aside from reducing carbon emissions and creating a sustainable local economy, shopping at a farmer’s market is a great way to establish personal relationships with farmers and knowledge of the techniques they are using to grow your food.  If you have concerns about a certain aspect of food production, most farmers would be more than happy to answer questions or even give a quick tour of their plots.  The farmer’s market experience brings about a sense of community and interconnectedness that is refreshing in this age of technology.

Having been going to farmers markets most of my life; I have seen the pride most small farmers take in their work and in their place in the community.  A sense of pride in ones duty is the best guarantee of quality in my opinion.  So do yourself and the planet a favor, and GO LOCAL!

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