Food

Sustainable actions in relation to food are all about the health of people, care for the environment, and support of the local economy.

Did You Know?

• You could avoid producing an average of 832lbs of CO2 each year by composting your kitchen scraps.
• In 2008, the world grew enough food to feed 11 billion people, but nearly half of it was fed to livestock.
• In the current industrial agriculture system, it takes 10 calories of fossil fuel energy to produce 1 calorie of food energy.
• The EPA has found manure from chickens, hogs, and cattle have already polluted over 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 U.S. states.

What Can You Do?

1)   Go meatless. Reduce your consumption of red meat—or all meats when possible! Try Meatless Mondays to start out. See “Betty’s Favorite Links” for some recipe ideas!

2)   Shop local. Check out farmer’s markets, and look into joining a CSA. And even when you shop at big-name grocery stores, bring your own reusable bags and try to avoid products with excess packaging.

3)   DIY. Composting, gardening, cooking, baking—pick up a new, simple hobby!

Want more tips? Visit Betty’s Home Menu for ideas, and take the pledge to green your home!

Betty Blogs

Want to know more about food sustainability as Betty sees it? See her blogs, below:

• Calling all yogurt lovers! Reduce waste and try a DIY yogurt!
• Clouds in my coffee… Learn about sustainable and fair-trade coffee & chocolate.
• Time for a Pantry Raid Check out local, sustainable, and fair-trade alternatives to basic food products here.
• Farm-fresh food for ALL A charitable CSA system helps local people.
• How to Recycle Food (None Perishable) Great local resources!
• First try at composting Helpful composting tips.
• Get Ready, Get Set, COMPOST! More composting tips.
• How to Recycle Organic Waste See here about a useful local company!
• The Story of Gerry Newman’s baking company Read all about a local bakery.
• Local vendors highlighted A grocery store’s involvement with recycling, donating, and organic, local food.
• Two Green Eats… Recycling, composting, and local foods at local restaurants.
• Betty Knows: Green Your Kitchen Various tips—from composting to cooking to washing dishes!
• Sitting around the dinner table… Betty’s discussion on where your food comes from and gratitude.
• Congratulations Cville Foodscapes  Read about a local business that can help you get into gardening and growing your own food!
• The Bruce & Betty show on 1061 w/ Paige Mattson: Gardening Grow your own food!
• Take the Bruce and Betty Local Thanksgiving Challenge Why not try to make your family’s Thanksgiving meal local?
• Integrating Local Foods into Your Life Advice and resources on eating local!
• Lower Your Cookprint with These Tips Cooking methods and supplies that are greener than the alternatives!
• Cooking for a Cooler Planet How to reduce your carbon footprint and lower energy consumption while cooking.
• What’s the Greenest Grilling Option? For all your summertime grilling concerns!
• Betty’s Kale Frittata Recipe A vegetarian yet oh-so savory and delicious dish!
• Easy like Sunday morning… Baking homemade bread and how “slow” can be sustainable.

Betty’s Favorite Links

Check out some great resources about food and how making certain changes can impact the world around you!

• Vegetarian Summer Entrees
• 12 Complete Proteins Vegetarians Need to Know About For your Meatless Monday recipes!
• The Environmental Impact of Meat
• We’re growing enough food to feed everyone on the planet. Why aren’t we eating it? The culture of high meat consumption is draining the world’s resources.
• Here’s how much UN scientists think we should cut our meat and dairy consumption
• How Green is Tofu? An article that explores deeper into the discussion of the environmental impacts of various foods, explaining why foods that locally sourced and closest to their most basic form are “greenest.”
• Green Gift Guide: the Foodie Sustainable gift options for the foodie in your life.
• Why it’s a good idea to stop eating shrimp An article exploring environmental impacts of shrimp.
• Sustainable Food Quiz Take National Geographic’s Sustainable Food Quiz, or any of their other Green Quizzes, including the Green Kitchen Quiz and the Seasonal Food Quiz.
• The Future of Food: How to Feed Our Growing Planet National Geographic’s new online portal that approaches the issue of feeding a world with accelerating population growth. It has numerous articles providing information on interesting topics—and some can pertain to local daily life! This includes urban farming & beekeeping, sustainable seafood, and looking inside the American food industry.
• Did Your Mom Ever Tell You To Finish Your Meal Because Of Starving Kids? Why refusing to waste food is sustainable and helps other members of your community.
• Europe thinks it’s time for ‘best before’ dates to expire Really look at your food and decide if it has gone bad before you toss it.
• 10 Steps for a zero-waste shopping routine How to avoid waste when grocery shopping.
• The dirty dozen & clean 15 of produce If you’re on a budget, prioritize some organic produce for the sake of your health.
• 5 ways to optimize your CSA experience Tips for eating local and purchasing a Community Supported Agriculture share.
• Seasonality Chart: vegetables Find out which kinds of produce are in season!
• Green Herring? Picking out sustainable seafood.
• Good Guide A rating system of store-bought goods, including food, based off of your personal values of sustainability, animal welfare, fair trade, nutrition, etc. Also a mobile app!