Eating a locavore diet is probably, in my personal opinion, one of the best ways to have a positive impact on the planet. You are doing so much when you eat locally grown, locally produced foods. Local foods are also seasonally grown, which has plenty of nutritional benefits. The food isn’t shipped from across the country, or in today’s culture across the world. So, we reduce our carbon footprint.
When you shop local businesses, you aren’t paying for some CEO’s third house on the beach. You are helping people in your own community. Which can help you out, as well.
But, this being Plastic-Free July, what does buying local do to reduce your plastic waste? Turns out, it can help a lot.
More Local, Less Plastic
The locavore lifestyle, and farm to table trends, use far less plastic than most other producers of food. Yes, I have found bags of mixed greens at the farmers market. And I have seen local bakeries with their breads or baked goods in plastic containers. But plastic is used far less often than if you bought these items in a store.
At the local farm stand, I can put cherries in my own bags and have it weighed. Strawberries come in compostable cardboard containers. At the farmers market, the sheep farmer sells his yogurt in glass containers. To keep the cost down, he gives you a discount when you return them.
Most produce looks like it’s fresh from the farm. A lot of it still has specs of dirt on the leaves or stems. This doesn’t bother me a bit, because I know it’s super fresh, super organic, and super local. If it traveled all the way from Timbuktu, it wouldn’t have a spec of dirt on it.
These items are never wrapped in plastic, and the vendors rarely hand out plastic bags. They are always happy to see someone with their own bags, or reusing one from another table.
For the 7th day of Plastic-Free July, I will be at the farmers market, not only supporting my local community, but helping them reduce their plastic waste. We’ll be making produce bags out of old T-shirts, and inviting people to learn how to eat clean, live green, and train positive. And I know I’ll come home with lots of goodies.
Have you thanked your local farmer today? Connect to them, and the earth, in a healthy way.