25 Ways to Green the World #6-7

Here's how we're doing so far with these next two ways:

#6: Buy Fair Trade

We've bought Fair Trade coffee for years (making sure it was also shade-grown, which is very important for birds). We've sometimes bought Fair Trade tea. Why only sometimes? I'm not sure. I guess I never got in the habit. Also, I started by purchasing shade-grown coffee and then changed to the more-common Fair Trade that was also shade-grown, so I guess I focused on coffee. Also, it seems easier to find FT coffee and there are more choices. Not so with tea. But it is available, and I'll try to choose that kind in future.

I have bought FT chocolate bars and FT cocoa, but I don't buy much of these anyway. Other FT food items, such as vanilla, seem to be even less common than tea. For example, bananas are theoretically available, but not anywhere convenient. I certainly would buy FT/organic bananas if they were at Wegmans. (I buy the organic ones currently.) I also should look for FT clothing, although I don't buy much clothing....

#7 Green Your Food Choices

* Eat lower on the food chain
We're vegetarians, so we're already eating pretty low on the food chain. Yes, we use eggs, milk, and cheese, but not in large quantities - mainly just in cooking. At this point going vegan seems too much of a burden, and I'd miss too many things. I'm content with where we are on this action at the moment.

* Choose organic
We do this for some things - coffee, cocoa, spices, vanilla, flour, bananas, and (until we started making our own) jam. We've started buying organic peanut butter and greens, such as collards. Produce (except for bananas) is a little more difficult. It's quite a bit more expensive and often the quality doesn't seem to be as good. I know this is NOT because it's organic since our home-grown organic produce is excellent, but probably because there's not a fast a turnover in the grocery store. We're working on this one.

* Eat local
We made great strides this year. We bought bushels of locally-grown produce (mainly apples, red peppers, and squash) and preserved it for winter. We bought smaller quantities of concord grapes, blackberries, apricots, and other miscellaneous produce. However, most of these were not organic. First, we didn't get started until midsummer on this task, and second, some of the organic growers had crop failures (hail etc.) and so didn't have any to buy. We'll definitely be pursuing this next summer. Also, it's interesting to note that some produce, such as squash, even though not labeled organic, has really not (according to the farmer) been sprayed except for one small treatment in the spring. Mushrooms might also be in this category? I'm not sure...

* Grow your own
We've always had a vegetable garden, but last year we redoubled our efforts. These efforts include not only being more diligent in producing the food, but also being much more diligent in harvesting, eating, and preserving the food. This is not a trivial thing! In the past, we were much better at growing than using the food. Using it is much more work than growing it and requires intentional efforts. Partly, though, it's just getting in the habit of harvesting each day, and becoming more familiar with preserving methods so they become just part of daily life. And why not? It's so much tastier than store-bought. Surprisingly, we found that one of the biggest benefits was the comfort in knowing our food wasn't contaminated with pesticides or other problems increasingly being reported!

And we're helping more people grow their own food by bringing them together to learn more - for info, visit Edible Gardening CNY.)

* Avoid GM food
I'm not convinced that GM food is unhealthy, but I'm pretty sure this isn't something we want to promote because it most likely has dire consequences for ecosystems. But how do you know what foods are GM without labeling?

* Eat Fair Trade
(See #6 above)