Thursday, January 07, 2010

Five Green Food Actions

Because there are so many people on the earth, our food choices are changing the balance of life around the globe. Human consumption is the main threat to species ranging from Asian turtles and forest primates, to sharks and wild ginseng. Even more species loose their habitat to agriculture. Farms to produce palm oil, corn and soybeans displace creatures ranging from orangutans, to bison and jaguars. The raising of domestic animals for meat uses a vast amount of resources. At the same time over-harvesting of sea life threatens the largest ecosystem in the world, our oceans. We can all make a difference by increasing our awareness of what we eat.

So I'm making a life change with Five Green Food Actions.
  1. Veggie Tuesdays and Thursdays - I started this in December. For the most part it is easier than I thought. I will admit dinner is the hardest meal for me to eat vegetarian.
  2. Harvesting food from my own yard and buying locally produced plants and animals
  3. Buying food items that only contain ingredients that I would use myself
  4. Eliminating products with unsustainably harvested palm oil
  5. Pledging to adhere to Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch - Monterey Bay Aquarium offers guidance regarding which seafood species are being sustainably farmed or harvested. They do the fact finding work and make it easy to be an informed seafood consumer. They have specific species watch lists by geographical location, including a sushi watch list. They also offer Sustainable seafood recipes
I picked lemons this morning and made lemonade. The earth gives to us, it is time we think about the big picture of the earth's health when we use its bounty.

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