Grow Your Own Food

This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

Food is one of the primary reasons that civilization was formed.  Specialization in agriculture allowed a smaller number of people to dedicate their lives to food production.  The rest of the population were free to think up other ways to contribute to society, and coincidentally degrade the environment.  Now, I am not suggesting that everyone quit their jobs start a self-sustaining farm, but the food industry and our role as consumers presents a great way to go green.  I have advocated buying local before, but lets take it a step further, what could be more local than your back yard.

Check out JD's garden project @ Get Rich Slowly.  He uses his land to grown his own vegetables, and takes detailed notes.  If you are new to gardening, which I assume most of you will be, I would avoid taking on such a large project initially.  Figure out what is normally grown locally, then research on the internet or library, so you are comfortable with how to plant, maintain, harvest and store your chosen crops.  Don't be too adventurous at first, buy already started plants, and use their seeds in the coming seasons.  Just try to get started, the first step is everything is always the hardest. 

Although there will be some upfront costs and labor, it will be worth it when you harvest your first crops, knowing that you are not contributing to the environmental damage of factory farms and commercial agriculture.  I wager that the fruits (or vegetables) of your labor will be much tastier and more nourishing, than their store-bought cousins.

I know that a lot of you live in urban areas and probably think its impossible to grow food in these areas.  This should not stop you though.  Look into getting a parcel at a local community garden, such as Boston's Back Bay Fens. Another option is to grow herbs or a potted vegetable plant on the apartment balcony. 

If you want to take it even further, and have the space, consider raising livestock.  Chicken are probably the easiest, and only require a chicken coop, and the necessary food.  Your chicken will have offspring quickly, and your flock will develop providing you with eggs and roasters, if you are so inclined.  

If you are extremely busy or absolutely do not have a green thumb, at least take steps to source food locally or from organic sources.  This will not have the same effect, but will lower environmental damage.  Vote with your dollars to support the local economy and companies or individuals involved in green agriculture.

Food Industry

The food industry is one of the things I think about the most, and I am sure will be a common topic on Think, Act, Prosper.  So much of the American diet is based on processed foods created by large companies.  Even the fruits, vegetables, and meats which should make up the majority of our diets are altered or grown in ways to make them more profitable, and less healthy.  I definitely do not advocate becoming a vegetarian, as we are humans, we evolved to eat meat, and I believe meat is one of the best sources of nutrition.  I am a follower of the primal food philosophy, which encourages eating WHOLE foods, that have not been processed, cooked simply, avoiding added sugars and grains, which are body is not designed to eat. 

Let's think about the food industry from an economic perspective, using the apple as an example.  Obviously the most basic way to sell an apple is just raw and fresh, but you are not going to make much money from selling a simple apple.  There is a lot of competition and the only way to make more money is to produce them cheaper.  Ways to make food cheaper to produce are by producing it in such large quantities, you can not pay attention to individual plants closely.  Other techniques are using pesticides to ensure none of your crops are spoiled.  This results in apples that are not grown naturally, lets not even mention genetic modifications!  All of this is before we even get into processing.

Food companies can only make so much of a profit from selling plain, raw fruit, so how can they increase profits?  Their answer is by processing the apples into some other kind of food.  Candy coated apples?  Great now we can charge $3 an apple instead of 50 cents because we added caramel to the outside.  Or maybe we can bake it into a cake using 20 cents of ingredients and sell the cake or pie for $5.  Most of the time when they process these foods, they are using the lowest quality (cheapest price) ingredients and are definitely going to add preservatives which are essentially just chemicals.  Your body did not develop to eat these chemicals or the ingredients that have to be cooked and processed to be appealing, your body developed to eat APPLES.  All of this economic activity is very costly to the environment, shipping the apples across the country to be processed, cooking new things at an industrial scale, all of it just to make more profit off of YOU, at the expense of the planet's resources.

By purchasing the raw, whole ingredients rather than processed food, we are saving the planet, not to mention our health.  If you can obtain your food from a local source, that's even better for the planet, and if you can meet your farmer, you can see they are not some faceless corporation existing to serve their shareholders at your expense.  Organic products are guaranteed to be completely natural and pesticide free, as they are inspected and required by law.  If you find a local farmer who follows these principals, then you do not necessarily need the organic guarantee.  

Many people will use the excuse that they are on a budget, to cover up the fact that they are lazy or stuck in their ways.  Think about what I said about the processing increasing profits for companies, just because it "seems" cheap to buy these processed foods, think about the implicit costs you are costing your environment as well as your body by eating this crap.  If we stop buying it, the companies will stop producing it, each time you buy something, its essentially a "Vote" of confidence.

Go Green: Literature/Media

 

The writing industry uses a ton of paper and by regularly buying books, magazines, videos, DVDs, and CDs you contribute to this process. Luckily there are many ways in which you can get the same items in a much more environmentally friendly manner. We have talked about clothing and furniture purchases, there are many ways to find these items used and at a discount. Yard Sales, Thrift Shops, Craigslist, Ebay, and Amazon are all great sources of used media, so that there is no need to buy a brand new copy at Barnes and Noble.

My favorite way to acquire books and other media is at the library. Libraries are funded with the tax dollars you are paying as a resident of your state, town or county. You simply need to walk into a library with proof of your residence and claim the right to use the service you are paying for. Not only are libraries filled with books, but there are also periodicals, tv shows, and movies in a variety of formats. You are also not limited to the single library in your hometown. Almost all libraries have an agreement with a network of libraries and they can deliver content to your local library within several days.

There are also a number of sites that offer credit for trading books or simply just give them away for free. Check out FreeCycle.com. Also, along the same lines as clothes, thrift shops stock a number of books, although they are not as easy to search for as other options, they generally will run you a dollar or two. Thrift shops are a much superior option for old records/vinyl if thats what you are into.

There are a large number of websites offering used books including the well-known Amazon as well as Ebay, and Half.com, its subsidiary. My favorite is http://www.addall.com/ which allows you to search a large number of vendors at only one site, giving you the best possibly price as well as inventory! Use this as a last resort if you can simply have to OWN the book.

Newspapers may be very quaint and nice to read during your morning routine, but the are especially wasteful.  All of this information is stored electronically and can often be accessed for free.  I like to check out local news at Boston.com which is a subsidiary of the Boston Globe, but will also check WSJ.com for business news, and various other specific news outlets based on the type of information I am looking for.  This means you save money and save the environment.

Tips to Lower Environmental Impact of Clothing and Furniture Purchases

Shopping for clothing and furniture is one of the best opportunities to go green.  The first step is completely exhaust the items you already have, a penny saved is a penny earned.  However, once you have determined that you absolutely need a replacement, then it is time to consider your options.  Buying these items through the traditional channels can be extremely costly, both financially and in terms of environmental impact.  Many of these items are constructed overseas, and oftentimes the raw materials come from another overseas location, then the company that produced it will resell it to the retailer, and most of the time there are even more steps.  All of these intermediaries use energy to transport and build this product, and each step of the way, the end price increases.  Of course, this is good for the global economy, but it is not necessarily the best course of action.

There are a number of great alternatives though, if you want to save money and also lessen your environmental impact.  My favorite option is thrift stores.  These are pretty easy to find, and many of them are even run by charitable organizations, so the profit that these stores makes goes to a great cause.  All of the items in a thrift store come from donations.  People are allowed to donate items that are worn, but usually the items are in great condition and sometimes even brand new, for a FRACTION of the price.  Although, you are not going to be able to go to the mall and get the latest fashions, you can get great items for an affordable price.  So not only does this option benefit you financially, leaving you with more cash to spend on green products you might otherwise not be able to afford, but you are repurposing items, which means they do not go to waste.  Although they have probably already been produced overseas and gone through the whole process, they were donated locally, and the environmental effect was extremely minimal. 

Along the same lines, Craigslist is a great place to score all kinds of items.  There are a number of free items, such as used appliances or furniture, if you are patient and jump on a good deal quickly.  Another great tip is to look for people who are moving and are willing to sell things at even lower prices because they do not want the added cost of transporting it.  Buying goods here accomplishes the same environmental saving effects as shopping at a thrift store, except there is no energy needed to run and operate the store, all transactions are done from seller directly to customer.  Another similar option is Ebay, where a multitude of options exist, but the cost is oftentimes higher both financially and environmentally, as these items almost always are shipped from another part of the country or the world, much less energy is expended and wasted than on purchasing a new item.  

I am also a big fan or yard/tag sales.  Check your local newspapers for weekends during the summer or drive around ritzy neighborhoods, looking for signs.  THere will often be great deals, and once again lightly used/brand new items can be found at a fraction of their original cost, and with no additional negative impact to the environment.

Feel free to post a comment with any of your thoughts!