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How to Reduce Your Food-Related Carbon Footprint

How to Reduce Your Food-Related Carbon Footprint. What is a carbon footprint?. A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment.

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How to Reduce Your Food-Related Carbon Footprint

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  1. How to Reduce Your Food-Related Carbon Footprint

  2. What is a carbon footprint? • A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment. • It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc.

  3. Is Carbon Good or Bad? • Carbon is both good and bad depending on where it is. • When it is in the soil, or locked up in oil and coal, it’s good. • When it’s in the atmosphere, it’s bad. • Carbon-in-the-air i.e. carbon dioxide is something we need to breathe OUT. • In the case of current planetary concerns, rising levels of carbon dioxide (or CO2) create rising greenhouse gases – too much of which contributes to climate change.

  4. What You Should Know • Eating habits in the U.S. generate 5% of the world’s total greenhouse gases. We can lower the total by knowing the difference among different foods. Eating a low carbon diet can really make a difference! • Meat and diary products are high carbon foods because these animals naturally emit methane, a gas 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide! • Air is the highest carbon method of transporting food.

  5. General Rule of Thumb • Buy in-season - avoid out-of-season produce because it will most likely have traveled a long distance to get to you. • Buy organic - when plants decay, the carbon is stored in the soil; organic farmers use this natural cycle to replenish the soil. • Buy local – think of the carbon produced from transportation • Avoid highly-processed food - processing and packaging both require high-energy input Ex.] 6 oz. of OJ usually takes 4 oranges; than it has to be transported to a chilled container (usually a far distance). Compare that orange juice to a simple orange. • If you're really keen to lessen it even more - grow your own food.

  6. Work Citations • http://www.carbonfootprint.com/ • http://www.eatlowcarbon.org/# • http://realfoodlover.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/eat-organic-reduce-carbon/

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