Problem

Conventional Food Transport Systems Cause Global Warming

• In the U.S. alone, food sold in grocery stores must travel 4,000 to 5,000 miles.
• During the past 20 years in North America, food imports and exports have tripled.
• In North America, food accounts for more than one-fourth of all goods transported by road.
• Food is the number one item shipped by airfreight item; air travel is the most polluting form of travel.
• Conventional food delivery systems create 100 times more greenhouse gases than those obtained from local markets by locavores.
  

Solution

Locavores Eat Local Food, Embrace Sustainable Living and Reduce Global Warming

• Local food distribution systems are more environmentally friendly than traditional truck-delivered food systems, which are four to 17 times more environmentally damaging.
• A locavore meal prepared from ingredients at your local farmers market only has to travel an average 63 miles.

Go Green Tips

Enjoy a weekly outing to your local farmer’s market, farm store or even roadside farm stand.  Plan locavore meals around what you find there. 

In your health food store or regular grocery store, choose any items labeled as local over those that are not.  Oftentimes stores will specially label these foods to attract locavores.  If local foods are not specially marked, be alert to the producer’s geographic location, which may be noted on the label.  For example, choose potatoes grown in your home state instead of those grown 3,000 miles away. 

Super Green Tips

Shift to an entirely locavore diet to eat local food only.  This reduces global warming and climate change greenhouse gases that are the equivalent of driving 1,000 miles annually. 

If you choose to eat meat a few times a week, be sure it comes from a local farmer.  Small family farms are worlds more environmentally sustainable than factory farms. 

When you go green by becoming a locavore, you also invest in your health.  Leafy veggies lose 50 to 89 percent of their vitamin C within 24 to 48 hours of being harvested.  Spinach loses half of its carotenoids and folate after being refrigerated for four days. 

You will also notice that you may save a sizeable chunk of money on your weekly grocery bill when you go green as a locavore.  Depending on the size of your family, you may save $20 to $40 per week.  Your savings will continue to increase as gas prices soar, which skyrockets the price of foods shipped great distances.    

There’s only one drawback to becoming a locavore is that you will become a food snob.  That’s because when you eat local food, you will notice that it has much, much, much more flavor than conventional grocery store food.  Your kids will magically start to devour their veggies and fruits because they actually taste great and are literally dripping with flavor! 

Effectiveness / Result