30 Aug Reduce Your Carbon Footprint AND Eat Better: Eat Local!

One of the best ways to reduce our carbon footprint is to reduce our "food footprint", the impact of producing and transporting and marketing the food we eat. And of course, a great way to reduce this food footprint is by eating local.

By building our diet around locally grown fresh food, we cut the costs of transport and packaging associated with a diet centered on factory-farmed food that comes from thousands of miles away. Fortunately it's easier than ever to eat local these days. There are two ways to eat local: 1) grow your own (which more and more folks are doing at least a bit of); and 2) buy from local growers and makers. (Or from retailers like Wheatsville Co-Op and in.gredients that specialize in local and organic food.)

Organic produce from small family farms used to be a lot more expensive than conventional produce, but prices are approaching parity and in some cases are actually equal. True, some organic and local stuff, particularly prepared foods like cheese and nut-butters, is still more expensive than the run-of-the-mill article from your big supermarket chain. But I've heard that because of the superior nutritional value and flavor of fresh local food, you can actually be satisfied with eating less, so the price works out to about the same. I've actually tried this and found it to be true — and I tend to be a big eater.

Although my income has mostly hovered around the poverty line for some years (a deliberate choice, and a subject for another post), I'm able, by making carbon-footprint reduction and personal wellness top priorities in my life, to build my diet around local rather than factory-farmed food. 

Austin has a thriving local food scene. Even in the hot months (the "low season" for central Texas growers) it's not hard to be a locavore here. And there are many resources to help you. (See below for some of my favorites.) By eating local, you'll be doing your body, your soul, your community, and the planet a huge favor. Bon Appetit!

EDIBLE AUSTIN magazine is my favorite source of local food information, including articles highlighting small local food businesses. You'll also want to bookmark Edible Austin for their various events such as Eat Drink Local Week, "Austin's premier local food event" coming up December 1-8.  

LOCAL HARVEST: national online directory of farmer's markets, farm stands, CSAs, and retailers offering local food. Type in your city or zip code to find local food sources nearest you.

CITIZEN GARDENER: Founded in 2008 by Brandi Clark Burton and Dick Pierce, this highly popular program is the quickest and most effective path I know of to getting started on growing your own food. CG has a 3-class series starting this Saturday September 1 – you can register here. 

AUSTIN PERMACULTURE GUILD: To learn more about the connections between our food footprint (and all of our other footprints) and the state of the world, and how we can sustainably meet ALL of our basic human needs, study permaculture design. Austin Permaculture Guild offers classes and a thriving listserve. The quickest and easiest way to plug into good news and current events related to permaculture is to join our Facebook community.