Happy Earth Day 2010!

We all know that how we eat has a major impact on the environment and that given the number of factors involved, it's not easy to understand the impact of our choices and the relative carbon footprint of one choice versus another.

But it seems intuitive and most of us believe that our diet does matter and that we can be better stewards of the environment (land, ocean, and air) and the preservation of species by eating more local, fresh vs. processed, and vegetables and fruit vs. meat.

I encourage you on Earth Day 2010 to learn more about how the food choices you make impacts the environment, as well as your health, and to learn about some changes you can make that will make you feel better about your eating and if done on a collective basis will make a big difference.

One suggestion is to visit page 3 of our Store and buy for $16.32 Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do about It. It is by Anna Lappe, a Brooklyn based writer we know and respect. See product description below.

I also encourage you to submit articles about the impact of our eating on the environment in the "Blogs" section.

Wishing you a great Earth Day (and year!) and good eating! Mark

Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do about It By Anna Lappe: Beyond what we already know about "food miles" and eating locally, the global food system is a major contributor to climate change, producing as much as one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. How we farm, what we eat, and how our food gets to the table all have an impact. And our government and the food industry are willfully ignoring the issue rather than addressing it. In Anna Lappé's controversial new book, she predicts that unless we radically shift the trends of what food we're eating and how we're producing it, food system-related greenhouse gas emissions will go up and up and up. She exposes the interests that will resist the change, and the spin food companies will generate to avoid system-wide reform. And she offers a vision of a future in which our food system does more good than harm, with six principles for a climate friendly diet as well as visits to farmers who are demonstrating the potential of sustainable farming. In this measured and intelligent call to action, Lappé helps readers understand that food can be a powerful starting point for solutions to global environmental problems.