Eating veggies isn't too hard

As I sat in a doctors office three weeks ago, I started to skim a book called May All Be Fed by John Robbins. I was so fascinated that I bought his other most recent book called Diet for a New America and I have become a vegetarian. He writes about the food industry and its relationship to the developing world, health, and the environment. Three weeks, so far, and going strong. Look him up online or check out his books if you haven't heard of him already. It may convince you too!!

As a former meat-enthusiast, I thought it would be impossible to give up one of my diet staples, but knowing the impact food has on the environment has made it easy to stick to a certain diet. Knowing that your food choices are so influential to the environment makes diet changes easy.

It is difficult, I admit, to completely buy organic or locally-grown, as it is significantly more expensive and farmers markets are hard to get to. But, I have made small changes like looking where produce is from or buying things with the least packaging. The other day I chose a smaller Fuji apple that said "from Pennsylvania" instead of somewhere in Latin America. I'm hoping that decision will make a difference if I continue to do it in the long run.

Of the latest foods I've eaten, the one with the most environmental impact was probably a cheese that my roommate received as a gift. It is from France, so it was probably flown or shipped over seas, polluting the air with emissions. Then, even more emissions were added when it was shipped by land to the supermarket. It is hard for me to think of other things that would have a greater impact because I am a pretty conscientious eater. I do not eat processed foods, I only drink water, and I buy what little groceries I need from Whole Foods. I recently bought a box of cereal that was probably manufactured in a large factory, caused deforestation for the plant location and the box packaging, and there was trucking to transport the finished product. But the overall environmental impact was probably equal to the French cheese because a box of cereal lasts me at least four weeks to eat, so I will not have to buy other breakfast foods for quite a while.