Three Ways To Green Your Grocery Cart
Its easy to reduce your impact, even in the grocery store. Try Heather Dubin's eco-savvy suggestions.
Tip: If you can, always begin your shopping trip at your local farmer's market. Here are Local Green Circle's favorite farmer's market locations.
AT THE SEAFOOD COUNTER
Scoop up swimmers that live higher in the water, such as mahimahi, herring and wild Alaskan Salmon. They are brought in by hooks, lines or nets which use less fuel than bottom-trawling (how cod, flounder and shrimp are caught) or dredging for shellfish such as mussels and oysters, says Tim Fitzgerald, M.S., a scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund in New York City.
IN THE MEAT ISLE
Selecting chicken, beef or pork? "There are too many factors-air and water pollution, feed, etc. -to determine which meat is most environmentally sound," says Justin Kitzes, of the department of environmental and science, policy and management at the University of California at Berkeley. But by skipping meat one day a week or even better, skipping it more can shrink your food's carbon footprint by 5-35%.
IN THE PRODUCE SECTION
Choose local, in-season and organic fruit and veggies. Local food requires less gas to get from the fields to your store; Organic offerings involve fewer, if any, harmful chemicals during the growing process. Note: if you are at a farmer's market, you have the advantage of asking the farmer directly if they use chemicals or "spray".
While we can enjoy out-of-season favorites at any time of the year, remember that it takes a lot of fuel to jet produce from afar.
See Local Green Circle's favorite FARMER'S MARKETS here.
by Local Green Circle, September, 2009
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