Description of Challenge
globalization, industrial food, waste, energy efficiency, nutritionWhile many stress the importance of eating 'organic' food, not that much emphasis has been made on eating 'local' food. Here we explain the importance of eating local plus some ideas on how we can foster an 'all-local' diet.
Solution
‘Organic’ is just a label
Some fruit & veggies can be labeled ‘organic’, yet still grown in conventional, monocultural methods with certain amounts of spraying. Some processed foods can be labeled ‘organic’ yet still contain lots of sugar, margarine or other harmful ingredients.
In this article we stress the importance of eating local and becoming aware of where food comes from. So Why local?
* More sustainable – eating local reduces our carbon footprint – less energy is wasted on transporting the food. Also, native plants are ecologically more compatible with the local climatic conditions, therefore they require much less resources to grow.
* Diversity – monocultural, industrial agriculture damages the natural local biological diversity.
* Health – eating fresh, native plants in their season is healthiest, as you can be sure the food hasn’t been sitting for days or weeks in fridges and on planes.
*Strengthen’s the local economy – become less dependent upon external sources for food. Eating local promotes local food security.
How to eat local?
– Foraging wild edible plants (see separate solution under that name)
– Food Cooperatives
– Community Gardens
– Farmers’ Markets or ‘regular’ markets
– Buy directly from your local farmer
– Grow as much of your own food as possible (in your yard, roof, pots)
– Shop in the local businesses rather than big chains
