It’s 2020 – everyone wants to be kind to the environment. You may think you’re doing all you can by purchasing organic food, but is there something more you can be doing? Is buying organic the only answer?
Buying Grass-Fed Products
Grass-fed beef has quickly become the epitome of health. It’s considered better for the environment compared to grain-fed beef because it requires less energy and promotes biodiversity. Sounds great, right? Companies in 2020, however, have taken advantage of this by slapping grass-fed labels on anything — even packaged foods. It’s hard to know what’s real and what’s just a healthful gimmick.
The USDA defines grass-fed as a diet consisting of 100 percent grass. Some companies take advantage of loopholes in the system, so their livestock actually eats little else besides grain. Only 300 U.S. farms are certified with the American Grassfed Association (AGA), which guarantees animals are 100 percent grass-fed. Do your research to find out which companies have the AGA stamp of approval.
“Like other mostly meaningless label terms, grass-fed will become just another feel-good marketing ploy used by the major meat packers to dupe consumers into buying mass-produced, grain-fed feedlot meat,” the AGA says in a statement released in January 2016.
Experts also encourage consumers to shop directly from a farm or local grocer, because those establishments are aware of the farming of their products from start to finish.
The way you eat meat isn’t the only way to change your environmental impact. In fact, a real change starts right in your coffee mug.
Coffee is the second-most traded commodity in the world, but often it is grown in unsustainable and unethical ways. Coffee plantations can promote deforestation, habitat loss, social erosion and unethical treatment of farmers.
To ensure you sip on guilt-free brew, look for coffee beans with The Rainforest Alliance certification. This label ensures that the farm you’re purchasing from stays forested, which protests wildlife habitats.
Some Eco-friendly Foods
- Lentils have a low carbon footprint (43 times smaller than beef) because the legume requires little watering and actually clean soil in which they grow to enrich crops encompassing them.
- Locally-grown tomatoes require little from the environment. The combined emissions amount to only 1.1 kilograms of carbon dioxide – in layman’s terms, that’s next to nothing.
- Mussels are harvested through an eco-friendly process. They are collected on long ropes suspended in the ocean and have a low environmental impact. Not only that, while growing along the ropes, mussels eat food that naturally grows in the water, filtering and cleaning as they do.
- Organic tofu creates 13 times less greenhouse emissions than beef. This protein source produces the carbon emission equivalent to a car driving less than 1 mile (per 4 ounces consumed.)
Some Un-eco-friendly Foods
- Lamb may not always be on the table, but it produces 50 percent more greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram than beef. The amount of pollution created to feed and care for a lamb are similar to a cow, but little of the animal is actually eaten. This is why it tops the list of most un-eco-friendly foods you can eat.
- Beef is equally destructive. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef.
- Pork isn’t red meat, but the environmental impact is still significant. Eating a 4-ounce serving of pork can be compared to the same carbon footprint of driving a car for three miles.
Let’s Talk Labels
How many times have you found yourself rooted to the spot in a grocery aisle with two products in hand, scrutinizing the confusing stickers and stamps on them? While many labels seem attractive, not everything is as it seems.
“Natural”
When a product is labeled as “all-natural,” this usually means absolutely nothing. According to the FDA, there is no legal definition or certification for how the word should be applied.
“Non-GMO”
Make sure products with this label have been made by the Non-GMO Project, but it’s prudent to point out that a 2013 study found “no significant hazards directly connected with the use of genetically-engineered crops.”
“Organic”
The USDA uses three types of “organic” labels:
- Certified organic means that the product cannot contain GMOs.
- One hundred percent organic means that the product can contain organics as well as any synthetics the USDA says are safe.
- Organic means the product must contain at least 95 percent of organics by weight.
Watch Your Waste
The clean plate club is a coveted group that our parents stressed to us when we were young. Little did we know how vital that “club” is now.
Each year, 80 billion pounds of food are wasted in the United States. All of that food required work and resources from the environment — water, energy, pesticides and pollution went into the production of that food. And yet, all of it goes to waste? That means the Earth is taking massive hits to its ecosystem for no reason at all.
- Learn to compost food to keep scraps and waste out of landfills. As minor as it seems, every bit of food in a landfill takes a toll on the environment.
- Freeze food that can’t be eaten immediately, but could be consumed at a later date.
- Plan meals ahead of time.
- Purchase produce that’s imperfect.
Misshapen or oversized fruits and vegetables are often thrown away because they don’t look good enough to sell, but are perfectly fine to eat.
Mallory Arnold is an editor. Feedback welcome at marnold@cityscenemediagroup.com.
