Sadie and Sally Kneidel are a daughter-mother writing team in North Carolina.  Sadie Kneidel is a teacher and community activist as well as the co-author of two books. She lives in a collective household and concentrates her efforts on community gardening, biking and neighborhood organizing.  Sally Kneidel, PhD, is the author or co-author of eleven books on nature, conservation, and science topics.  Two books from Fulcrum co-authored by Sally and Sadie are Going Green: A Wise Consumer's Guide to a Shrinking Planet (May, 2008) and Veggie Revolution: Smart Choices for a Healthy Body and a Healthy Planet (Nov, 2005).

Sadie and Sally Kneidel--

“I recently spent a day with three other environmental activists, traveling to a conference near our home. We spent the day talking about climate change, pollution, and agribusiness. We discussed the ways we've made changes in our own lifestyles, from the cars we drive (or don't drive!) to the rain barrels under our eaves. Yet, when we stopped for dinner, my three companions happily tucked into a pizza laden with conventional meat and cheese.

Does this seem strange to you? It does to me, but I'm not surprised by it. Diet is undoubtedly among the most significant yet most overlooked lifestyle choice we make. Even the most ardent treehuggers are often quite unaware of the environmental impact of their food choices.

Did you know that your diet may contribute more to global warming than your car does? That's right – if you eat the standard American diet, then more fossil fuels are used to put food in your fridge than to propel your car around town. After all, the average bite of supermarket food in America travels 1500 miles from farm to fork. The most fuel-intensive foods are animal products, and Americans eat more of those than any other nation per capita – a whopping 248 lbs of meat per person per year. In short, by the time you eat that pork chop dinner, it's guzzled more gas than you have.

One of the most effective choices consumers can make to protect the environment is to change the way they eat. To become a low-impact eater, here are the most important qualities to prioritize in your food:

1. Local - Researchers have determined that eating food produced in your county or state requires as little as 6% of the fuel of the system described above. Local food requires less shipping as well as less packaging and less refrigeration. It also supports your local economy.

2. Seasonal - Eating local won't work without eating seasonal as well. Seasonal eaters purchase foods only in the season when they naturally grow - peaches in summer, apples in fall. Buying food out of season requires suppliers to ship products from other hemispheres (wherever it is in season) and to use petroleum-based fertilizers as well as heating and cooling systems to coax out reluctant produce. You can eat seasonally without deprivation by buying in bulk when foods are in season. For example, a bushel of apples or potatoes purchased from the farmers' market in October will keep in the basement all winter long.

3. Family farms - Family farms tend to be smaller than corporate farms, and do more work by hand than with gas-guzzling machinery. They are also more likely to sell locally, at farmers markets and in CSAs, than through the wasteful supermarket system. Family farms are also more likely to use heirloom and other rare seed varieties, perpetuating the genetic diversity we need to keep our food supply safe.

4. Organic - The petroleum-based fertilizers and chemical amendments used in conventional agriculture destroy soil quality. They render the lively soil ecosystem into dead matter, which becomes incapable of supporting life in just a few years. Chemicals wash into nearby rivers and streams, polluting water and killing wildlife. Genetically modified seeds crossbreed with wild plants and spread dangerous traits into wild populations. Organic certification guarantees that no chemicals or GM seeds have been used.

5. Vegetarian or vegan - Cultivating animal products adds several extra steps into the food production process. Instead of just raising a plant crop and selling it, a feed crop must be raised and trucked to the animals, who are then trucked between different factory farms for each phase of their growth and eventual slaughter. Raising livestock requires much more fuel and land than is required for an equivalent amount of plant-based foods for humans. Massive livestock factory farms also leak noxious waste, air-borne ammonia, and bacteria that are immune to antibiotics. Simply reducing your consumption of animal products, and buying those that you do consume from small local farms, will reduce this impact significantly.

6. Bulk - The more packaged the food, the less healthy, so says a standard rule of thumb. When we buy in bulk, we are more likely to purchase whole ingredients such as beans, grains, and produce, rather than processed, pre-made foods. Buying in bulk also cuts down on packaging and saves money. Many stores offer as much as a 10% discount for buying in bulk.

Make the effort to prioritize local, seasonal, plant-based food, grown on family farms without the use of chemicals. Buy in bulk when you can. You'll save your family's health and money, and you'll dramatically reduce your environmental impact to boot!”

Related: 10 Tips For Greener Living

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