What foods have the least impact on the environment?
March 12th, 2010 | 
Author: Most foods are taxing to the environment in some way… What can I eat that has the least impact on the environment? And where is the most eco-friendly place I can buy food?
Most foods are taxing to the environment in some way… What can I eat that has the least impact on the environment? And where is the most eco-friendly place I can buy food?
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one food that doesnt effect the envioroment is naked mole rat
hope i can help
Organic – no environmental impact from pesticides and pesticide residues.
Non-GM – genetically modified foods have been linked to a decline in the bee population.
Raw foods – less cooking means less energy usage which is self-explanatory.
Sprouted seeds, beans and grains – a powerhouse of goodness produced relatively cheaply at home using only water, a warm space and some patience.
Local produce not imports and home grown produce if you have the space ! – self explanatory again and supports local growers. If you live in a flat make use of your window sills and balcony to grow in pots.
Local suppliers – farm shops – supports the farmers who get a raw deal by supermarkets who are just plain greedy for profits!
Most eco-friendly place – I would have thought your local farm shop from your local organic farmer if you can find one.
Also ….do as much home cooking and baking as you can. Use a microwave oven for speedy cooking that uses less energy if you have one. And be careful not to waste food. Stale bread can be used to make the old-fashioned bread and butter pudding….as long as it is not moldy it is fit for that. Don’t eat moldy food it is really bad for health.
Best wishes.
Eat very little and only organically produced foods. To be eco-friendly you really have to grow it yourself or go to a farmers markey where you meet who it came from.
Grains are best. But not genetically modifed. And beware of X4 pollen cross breeding.
All meat is the most taxing. Simply reduce. Local farmers markets have the least impact as well.
You want to avoid so called ‘organic’ food due to the fact that it requires more land to grow (due to the lower productivity caused by not using modern technology such as some synthetic fertilisers) and land use is the biggest environmental effect of farming.
GM foods are still in their infancy but show great promise to reduce pesticide usage as well as increase yields (allowing us to produce more food on less land) and are very helpful if you want to do no-till farming.
Conventional agriculture done right can always do better in every way than ‘organic’ agriculture (except maybe making idiots feel good or letting stores overcharge for food) due to the fact that everything that is allowed for an ‘organic’ farm is also allowed for a conventional farm while many helpful methods and technologies that aren’t allowed for ‘organic’ farms can be used by conventional farms, this basically means that if an ‘organic’ farmer comes up with a better way of doing something, the conventional farmer can copy it where improvements in conventional farming often can’t be copied by ‘organic’ farmers because they use technologies that aren’t allowed on ‘organic’ farms.
It should also be noted that many synthetic fertilisers and pesticides are allowed for use on ‘organic’ farms but that the ones that they do allow are often worse than the ones they ban (and conventional farms have a tendency of preferring to use the better one that ‘organic’ farms aren’t allowed to use) and there are enough inconsistencies to make it apparent that it’s all based on nonsense.
Factory farms are another source to consider (at least for meat) as the size allows for the waste to be dealt with much better than a lot of smaller free range farms spread all over the place (of course that depends on the owner of the factory farm dealing with the waste given off properly, if they don’t then a factory farm can be a big local pollution problem instead of being cleaner).
As for where to buy it, basing that on convenience and price (along with the quality of the food they sell) is probably the best way to do things, not paying extra for ‘organic’ foods also leaves you more money to spend on other things which you might be able to put towards the environment.
Foods that are grown organically are a good start since they do not use synthetic herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, etc.
Also foods that are grown locally do not have the negative transportation effects of using fossil fuels to deliver the food long distances. Check out localvore and CSA programs in your area.
Foods that do not require a great deal of fresh water for irrigation are good.
Best place to buy foods is through a CSA, Community Sponsored Agriculture Farm where you are buying locally directly from the farm. Also local farmer markets. Also buy local food in season (ie don’t eat strawberries not in season flown in from Chile).
Trader Joe’s market is great (poor mans Whole Foods)
the food that have the least impact on the environment are the foods that you grow yourself in a garden why? because those vegatables and plants don’t have to be trucked in with a diesel truck to be delivered to you nor do they have to be bagged for shipping and then bagged again when you take them home, the best way to shop eco friendly is to buy all your vegatables from your local farmers market during the season or just grow your own.. also these products can be put in a composter saving more fuel from trucks that have to come and pick up your garbage, if everyone did this I’m sure tons of pollution would not be cast into the environment..
Crops are bad for the environment simply due to the fact that so many are grown with the aid of fertilisers and pesticides. These chemicals are the things that do the damage as oppose to the foods themselves.