Food and Its Role in the Environment

Unfortunately, I must admit that I don't really consider the environmental implications when I eat. I try to eat organic produce and such, but I usually think of it as a personal health issue (it's better for my body to eat it as opposed to it's better for the environment to produce it). I pride myself on most of my environmental views and actions, but now, getting into some of our food discussions and articles, I'm starting to think about the issue a little more: where is this grown? How was it prepared? How sustainable is this production?

Of the food I've eaten lately, I would think that the meat has had the most impact. The other day I ate a chicken breast Subway and had ham on my salad. I admit that I love meat and could never see myself being a vegetarian, although I can appreciate the benefits that come with that lifestyle, and I have several friends that espouse it. I'm sure that it took a huge amount of grain to feed those chickens and pigs, that the land was mismanaged in the process, that the workers weren't paid fairly, that the health standards weren't rigorously adhered to, etc. When I go grocery shopping, I try to buy the "all natural" luncheon meat and cheese, and other organic foods when I can afford it. A lot of times these types of food are hard to come by in your local Giant or Safeway, and instead are twice the price in places like Whole Foods. That, I think, is another reason why most Americans don't eat local, organic foods.

One activity that I would like to do on a more regular basis is go to farmer's markets. The quality and prices are great, and the business benefits the community. If more people realized the benefits of partaking in such activities, I think that the state of the environment and people's general health would simultaneously improve.

Essentially, when most people think about environmental problems, they usually think about factory and car pollution, oil spills, smog, etc, but it's not as easy to associate the production of food with environmental degradation. I find myself falling into that trap more often than not.
Unfortunately, because of this and the sheer propensity of fast food restaurants in this country, I think it will be hard to change the way Americans think about food (let alone actually change what they eat!). Hopefully education about these issues will become more widespread...