Going Green By Supporting Locally Grown Foods and Meatless Mondays

During the November GreenWheaton Program meeting, Ellen Griffiths, a registered dietitian, and Kit Wood, owner of Wheaton’s Green Plate catering, provided advice on reducing both your weight and your environmental footprint by supporting locally grown foods.

Ellen provided the big picture on buying locally to make a difference to the environment and your health. The discussion covered a range of opportunities including local Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), planting your own garden, and eating fruit and veggies as snacks instead of going to the soda machine or the candy bowl (Ellen noted that frozen grapes are popular with the kids).

While the concept of supporting local agriculture is simple, the practice is actually more complicated. Generally speaking, buying locally grown food supports our neighbors and decreases the environmental impact of transportation.

If you do not know what kinds of farming practices are environmentally beneficial, you could inadvertently have a detrimental impact on the environment by purchasing products from farms that do not use sustainable agricultural practices. The issues related to sustainable agriculture like pesticide and fertilizer use, soil and manure management, and transportation practices are too involved for this blog.

One interesting topic discussed was the “Meatless Monday” initiative. This international effort, as the name implies, encourages people not to eat meat on Mondays. Meatless Monday is an initiative of The Monday Campaign Inc. in association with the John Hopkins School of Public Health.

The production of meat, especially beef (and dairy as well), has a large environmental impact. According to the U.N., animal agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gases and climate change. It also wastes resources.

According to Ellen, it takes 7,000 kg of grain to make 1,000 kg of beef. In addition beef production requires a lot of water, fertilizer, fossil fuels, and pesticides.

While a vegetarian diet could have a beneficial impact on your health and the environment, many people are not ready to make that commitment. Because Meatless Monday involves only one day a week, it is a relatively simple way to help yourself and the world.

I have noticed that most of Wheaton’s restaurants have tasty meatless options. So you can really help yourself, the environment, and our local businesses if you walk to one of Wheaton’s restaurants and have a vegetarian meal!

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