Preserve Inspiration

Sitting eating lunch the other day, I was inspired by something sitting on the table. Bon Apetit works hard to provide sustainable, local food to all the cafeterias, and aside from that, they try to educate students about the decisions they make.

The five points outlined in the above picture, ideally examplify how to lower your carbon foot print in what you eat. I love how this is outlined because though it's simple, the steps described are realistic. Bearing in mind that these are steps for a "low carbon"diet, they cater specifically towards lowering ones carbon emissions. I don't necessarily think about my carbon foot print in terms of what I eat; I am more inclined to focus on eating meals that are local because I simply like to know where my food came from. However, these points are attainable, so I don't see why I shouldn't take carbon impact into account.

In the film "No Impact Man" they follow all of these steps on the basis that they are trying to make as little of an impact as possible. In one of the scenes, their meal mainly consists of roasted root vegetables because that is all that is available locally, in New York, at that time of the year. If I was to follow the same plan, living in a mountain town in Colorado, I virtually would have nothing to eat. High altitude Colorado is such a harsh growing habitat that the growing season is limited to June-September (roughly). Living in a remote area reaffirms that merely by eating, you make an immense carbon impact. Though I can easily waste less food, or cut out beef and cheese (as is mentioned in the picture) it is really hard to not eat foods that have been shipped in, eat only seasonal foods, or skip packaging altogether.

I think the eating locally movement is great. I really believe in knowing where your food comes from, eating locally, and eating few processed foods. However, when I really think about it, I see that following that meal plan has severe limitations because of where I live. Overall, it makes me question whether humanity (as a whole) is mean to live in place where the use of modern technology is what mainly enables them to survive?